Editor’s Note: Some readers might find language offensive
After Donald Trump’s victory Nov. 8, several business leaders freaked. The post-election response even included a CEO’s threat on Trump’s life, but none of the major broadcast evening news shows picked up the hysteria.
Business leaders despaired, told employees to resign for disagreeing with their virulently anti-Trump views and warned of “extremely dangerous times.” But threatening violence and intimidating employees for their political views apparently wasn’t newsworthy for the networks.
From election day on Nov. 8, to Nov. 22, broadcast evening news shows failed to cover anti-Trump reactions from business.
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PacketSled CEO Matt Harrigan responded in the worst way when he threatened to assassinate Trump. “I’m going to kill the president. elect,” Harrigan said in a Facebook post on Nov. 8.
Despite the fact that Harrigan led an online threat-detection company, he posted a detailed plan for shooting the president-elect in the White House. “Getting a sniper rifle and perching myself where it counts. Find a bedroom in the whitehouse that suits you motherfucker. I’ll find you,” Harrigan said.
Harrigan also seemed to attack Trump supporters when he said, “In no uncertain terms, fuck you America.” Gizmodo reported on Nov. 14, that Harrigan’s company placed him on administrative leave. Harrigan apologized and claimed his posts were a joke.
Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney apparently wasn’t joking, however, when he asked employees who disagreed with his anti-Trump views to resign. The day after the presidential election, Maloney sent a company-wide email that denounced Trump’s “hateful politics.”
He also slammed Trump’s behavior on the campaign trail, and said the president-elect would have been fired from GrubHub if he behaved that way as an employee. If employees disagreed with any of his email, Maloney said, they should resign.
“If you do not agree with this statement then please reply to this email with your resignation because you have no place here,” Maloney said at the end of the email.
Maloney’s comments seemed to damage Grubhub online and in the market. According to Fox News, Grubhub’s stock dropped by nearly five points while others online rated Grubhub’s app poorly. Social media even called for people to boycott the company.
Trump’s win provoked despair as well. Silicon Valley tech investor Shervin Pishevar suggested Trump’s win brought a dangerous mix of “hatred”and “absolute power.” “We are in extremely dangerous times,” he warned.
Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi claimed that her employees were “all crying” and feared for their safety. CNN Money reported on Nov. 10, that Co-Founder of Slack and Flickr Stewart Butterfield reacted to Trump’s wins on election night. Butterfield suggested Trump’s win led him to drink away his sorrows.
“We’re drinking the expensive stuff,” he tweeted on Nov. 8.
