"I'm surrounded by a bunch of women in this department. And that includes the men." - Ron Swanson, "Parks and Rec," libertarian
Not to paint with too broad a brush here, but to a company, leaders of corporate America have become a group of cowardly, PC, CYA wusses. I think we can trace the decline to the domestication of cats and the advent of men wearing fanny packs and man buns.
What happened to gutsy corporate titans like Rockefeller and Ford of old, and Bernie Marcus and Ted Turner of not too long ago? Henry was the last of the truly ballsy Fords.
This is playing out with the recent pusillanimous moves by Apple and Google in not supporting the Hong Kong protesters, and in the way the NBA whimpered when China objected to the Houston Rockets GM tweeting support for democracy and freedom as personified by these courageous protesters. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who already looks like a hairless weasel, equivocated support for free speech when in reality he sought to curtail it with his players.
The obsequious groveling and apologizing to the Chinese government by the NBA and other U.S. corporations are embarrassing. One wonders if this is not the same government we are creating in America when electing socialist Democrats, where the central government is so powerful and menacing that it must be placated for greedy Democrat donors to make money. In China, you have to pay the government to operate, and that is the way Democrats would like for it to be here: Average citizens toil to pay taxes to them as they prosper. They must emasculate business - and people - so they can be in control.
The next move by the NBA wanting to get into the German market would be to apologize to the Third Reich for the way Jesse Owens contradicted their Aryan narrative in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Supporting freedom for people who just want a repressive government to leave them alone should not be so hard. It was heartwarming to watch those Hong Kong protesters wave the American flag and sing our patriotic songs during their marches. It should have served as an embarrassing reminder to Americans that we are supposed to stand for something noble.
Keep in mind, the NBA was willing to pull out of North Carolina when that state voted to make people use public restrooms based on their genitalia, not how they self-identified. It's not how I would have voted, but really, NBA? Those are your priorities? Hey NBA, Google what China does to transgender and gay people. And you oppose North Carolina?
How does the NBA fit in China anyway? The players cannot love it there. Just for starters, China's one-child policy is problematic.
Trump, who was one of the few ballsy CEOs left, has had the guts to take on China. With trade rebalancing and his firm stance, he is willing to poke the panda. China does not know what to make of him, as no American politician, CEO or journalist has stood up to it for years. It is probably because its communist agenda is what most on the left want America to become, as long as they are in charge of it. History teaches us that socialism only works financially for those in charge of it.
Say what you will about Trump, he stands firm on freedom and traditional American values. That is why totalitarian regimes like Iran, Iraq and China hate us. The same holds true for the Coup Clutz Clan of Adam Schiff, Elizabeth Warren, Jerry Nadler and Nancy Pelosi who want to destroy Trump. After so many comic failures to "get" Trump, these Wile E. Coyotes of Congress have had to appropriate more tax dollars to buy more Acme products to try and trap this Road Runner of a president.
China and the left are after Trump. Trump has another rally in Dallas this week, and if he has a Chinese dinner beforehand, I hope his fortune cookie tells him to "Avoid grassy knolls."
Ron HartView other columns by Ron Hart
Contact Ron Hart, an op-ed humorist and frequent guest on CNN, at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.