https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/democrats-have-corporate-power-they-should-use-it-1.1524181
(Bloomberg Opinion) – For decades America has used its soft power as an essential tool in the battle against authoritarianism abroad. Now the Democratic Party and supporters of democracy must exercise a variation of soft power in the struggle against authoritarianism at home.
The past two weeks of rage against election math have confirmed how thoroughly illiberal the Republican Party has become. But some institutions that aid and abet the party’s assault on democracy have been shamed into ending their support. Such efforts, and similar extensions of cultural and commercial power, will be necessary to raise the cost of anti-democratic behavior.
Two powerful law firms, Jones Day and Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, abandoned their support of President Donald Trump’s dispute of the 2020 election results after internal conflicts over the role the firms played in attacking democracy became public. The reputational damage to the firms was twofold: First, they were exposed as assisting efforts to undermine faith in the election, which Trump’s own administration called the “most secure in American history.” Second, because their legal claims had no factual basis, the firms could be accused of shoddy lawyering. The firms surely understood that commercial damage might flow from reputational self-harm.