As threatened, politics makes an appearance today, so I will understand completely if you’d rather go read something else. I promise, things will be back to normal tomorrow. But I’m prompted to write by this story (open access) at BioCentury. Steve Usdin and crew went to the trouble of looking through the corporate donation records of various biopharma companies, since after the January 6th riot last year many of them publicly pledged not to donate to any members of Congress who had voted to decertify the election.
Let me turn my cards over before going further. I believe that Joe Biden was fairly elected in 2020, and that there was no fraud and there were no procedural issues that called out for objections to the electoral count. Since the election, I believe that former President Trump and his allies have disgracefully repeated a long list of lies to the contrary, throwing dirt on the US election system in every way that they can think of. I believe that this effort (the “Big Lie”) has done a great deal of harm to the country on many levels and is continuing to do so. I am furious at what I see as attempts to weaken the electoral system in ways that would have thrown 2020 into post-election chaos and will surely be used for that purpose by Trump himself, should he run in 2024, or by anyone else with a similar lust for power. All he needed to force a crisis in 2020 was a few more people willing to go along with him in all that “Stop the Steal” nonsense. This is all absolutely terrible. It weakens our society and our democracy, and it plays to the absoute worst parts of our natures. I am frankly not very interested in arguments to the contrary right now, and – let’s save time – I will not engage with anyone who wants to try to talk me out of any of those points. Let me also say that I rue the day that I found it necessary to do everything I could to elect Joe Biden president, because I’ve never cared for him much as a politician. Nor am I sure that he and the Democratic Party are up to the job facing them. But a second Trump term was unthinkable, and I would have voted for a roadkill possum if it would have kept that from happening. Just so we’re clear.
Back to the contribution issue: you can guess what’s coming, can’t you? Between January 6th itself and November 30, 2021, nine biopharmas (and the BIO trade group itself) have contributed to 42 separate lawmakers who voted against certification. Three of them had donations from at least six companies and/or the BIO group. You can see the whole list at the BioCentury link. The most extensive set of contributions has come from Pfizer (25 legislators) and Merck (19), even though both companies made statements at the time that they would do no such thing. Admittedly, there was no expiration date on those pledges, but it would be interesting to know just when these companies and others wadded them up and threw them in the trash. My best estimate, based on this article, is about six months, tops. So if you were wondering how long a set of principles can stand without a wad of cash to prop them up, start with that figure. That link will also show you that biopharma isn’t alone: there are at least 170 companies and trade groups that proclaimed that they wouldn’t support any members of Congress who voted to decertify who are nonetheless sending checks to Kevin McCarthy, who will be Speaker of the House if the Democrats lose their majority this fall.
Why have so many companies gone back on their public statements once they thought no one was looking? Politics, politics: Steve Usdin notes that McCarthy has publicly said that he will retaliate against companies that use the election certification votes as a test for contributions, and against companies that comply with subpoenas from the Jan. 6 investigative committee. There you have it. This is exactly what it looks like. McCarthy himself, of course, has debased himself by completely going back on his initial comments made right after January 6th itself and groveling to Donald Trump, but he’s not alone, of course. A few Republicans have had the nerve to say that Trump lost the election, but most of them are firmly committed to hanging on to power by building the Trump Party for Trumpers to get more Trump, and apparently to have it that way that forever if that can be arranged.
Let me unburden myself of a few more blunt opinions. As far as I’m concerned, Kevin McCarthy is ten pounds of garbage in a five-pound bag. He behaves exactly like a man with no principles whatsoever except perhaps the one that Kevin McCarthy needs to be rich and powerful at all costs. That’s surely why he has so little problem licking Donald’s Trump’s shoes until he can see his own pitiful face reflected in them. I mean, having no regard for anything but power is how Trump has behaved his whole life, and let us not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Every company that has gone back on its stated intent not to contribute to those who objected to the Electoral College certification is letting its policy be dictated by fear of this contemptible man and by fear of his capacity for revenge. Enjoy it, won’t you.
I know, I know: these are publicly traded companies who owe it to their shareholders to brush Kevin McCarthy’s suit off and ask him if he’d like that drink freshened. I know how business works, and I know how politics works, but how have we gotten ourselves into such a vile situations? Well, while the world is the world, we need not bow down to it. As far as I’m concerned, “Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me” These contributions are money being paid in service of a lie.
