If you’re the CEO of a large corporation, your life pretty well sucks right now. Relying on a tactic that goes back over fifty years, the left is threatening boycotts in order to move your position to openly oppose state vote suppression legislation. Ever derivative on issues that inspire feelings of victimhood, the right-wing Rosas have responded in kind, and have also suggested that they will take your beloved tax cuts away if you don’t keep quiet. It’s the corporate equivalent of “shut up and dribble.”
What in the name of Dr. Seuss is going on here? And should the public feel sorry for you?
From a structural/political perspective, the left is trying to use its cultural power for a specific political end–to peel the PBPs away from their Reactionary allies. The right, for its part, is determined to coerce the PBPs to stay on side.
As to the second question, under other circumstances, one might feel some twinges of sympathy for the poor CEOs. In today’s America, however, if you’re not fighting against right-wing attempts to create an illiberal system, you’re part of the problem. If you believe in liberal democracy, as opposed to tax cuts and short term profits, you have an obligation to stand up and say so.