Donald Trump Tarnishes The Reputation Of Successful Businesspeople Like Myself

Were Mitch McConnell and other Republican senators who steered Trump’s tax bill through Congress to encounter me on a golf course or in a Palm Beach restaurant, they might elect me as a poster boy for the tax bill and other Donald Trump goals. “Here,” they would say, “is a 70-something fiscally conservative white male who launched and managed his own business before selling it and pocketing millions of dollars. He stands to benefit enormously from Donald Trump’s focus on supporting Americans and represents the core of our support!”

Well, I’m nobody’s poster boy — especially not Donald Trump’s.

Among the numerous ways Donald Trump demeans the United States of America, none is more disturbing and ominous than this: He has succeeded in convincing substantial numbers of Americans that successful business people share the same ethically degenerate and extravagantly decadent moral values as his own. And it is a lie. The overwhelming majority of American business people do not reflect the core of Trump’s foul record of doing business.

I, along with countless other business people in America, abhor the idea of emulating Trump’s record of corporate bankruptcies, fraudulent enterprises, disregard for the truth and constant bullying of opponents and competitors. Not to mention his repulsive treatment of women and minorities.

My fear is that too many Americans — many of whom already have a less-than-admirable view of business — will assume Trump’s style is the norm and adjust their opinion of business people dramatically downward.

No matter how many benefits Trump may throw at me and other businesspeople, I reject any suggestion that all successful business people in America agree with Trump’s policies. We do not. And we need to express our rejection — not just because we are Americans who honor traditions that Donald Trump treats like wrappers from Big Macs. It’s because his vaunted and unsubstantiated reputation as a shrewd businessman is corrosive to American society generally, and American business in particular.

The people best-qualified to reverse this trend, in my opinion, are those who have achieved maturity and financial success through their business efforts and acumen. Call us Country Club Republicans, call us Upper-Middle Class, call us what you will. But do not call us to lend even verbal support to the destructive and embarrassing actions of the current resident of the White House. Instead, we need to call on ourselves to state, passionately and publicly, what we are and what we are not: We are successful supporters of American free enterprise who reject Donald Trump’s corrosive manipulation of its values.

Many of us remain silent out of embarrassment. That’s understandable. But unfortunately, others assume that silence means consent. We need to end that confusion. We need to speak up and say, “Donald Trump may think he represents the ideal American businessperson. But he doesn’t speak for me.”

Donald Lee Sheppard is the author of the forthcoming book The Dividends of Decency: How Values-Based Leadership Will Help Business Flourish in Trump’s America (April 2018).