Donald Trump built his brand as a businessman. But behind closed doors, many of America’s top business leaders are privately fuming over his economic agenda.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale business professor known as the “CEO whisperer,” told CNN that 80 percent of his CEO focus group participants—most of whom are Republicans—are disappointed with the economy’s performance under President Trump.
Sonnenfeld, who leads the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, said the top concern among executives isn’t inflation or taxes—it’s democracy.
“We’ve had a serious erosion of the foundations of democracy,” Sonnenfeld said. “It’s the corrosive effect and the threat to the free enterprise system of not having a functioning democracy.”
According to CNN reporter Matt Egan, many business leaders are alarmed by Trump’s recent moves, which they view as out of an authoritarian playbook.
He cited the recent firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and the dismissal of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics shortly after a gloomy jobs report.
Egan also pointed to Trump’s decision to take a 10 percent stake in the tech giant Intel, and the abrupt suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the Trump-appointed FCC chairman threatened ABC.
“It’s as if MAGA has gone Maoist, if not Marxist,” Sonnenfeld said.
Despite their concerns, Egan noted, most business leaders remain publicly silent.
“They don’t want to poke the bear,” he said. “But privately, some of them are concerned.”
But clearly, the stakes are more than political. Research suggests that democracy is a major driver of long-term economic health. A Brookings Institution analysis found that democratization increases GDP per capita by 20 to 25 percent.
“Autocrats are just not good at managing economies,” Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings, told CNN. “Policymaking tends to be erratic as democratic institutions decline.”
That decline, research shows, can lead to discriminatory access to government contracts, extortionary demands for political contributions, and punitive use of taxation, regulation, and licensure.
The White House did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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