Corporate America isn't welcoming former Trump Cabinet officials with open arms, headhunters say

[demmiblue]

The toxicity of the former president’s brand is choking off traditional money-making opportunities for members of his inner circle.

Before she joined the Trump administration as transportation secretary, Elaine Chao earned millions of dollars over the past decade by serving on the boards of big public companies such as Dole Foods, Protective Life and Wells Fargo, according to corporate filings.

She offered sterling credentials to businesses eager to keep current with the Republican leadership: A former banking executive, she became the first Asian American woman to serve in a Cabinet when President George W. Bush tapped her to serve as labor secretary. She has been a regular at conservative think tanks including the Heritage Foundation and the Hudson Institute. Her husband is Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

But now Chao is encountering a fraught reentry into the private sector.

Headhunters who have sought similarly prominent work for Chao have found little interest, according to two headhunters she’s consulted personally. The headhunters, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions, said top executives wary of backlash from associating with former Trump officials are boiling down Chao’s four-decade Washington résumé to its most recent entry: long-standing ally of Donald Trump, despite her resignation the day after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/07/former-trump-cabinet-officials-corporate-seats/

[Solomon]

1. Good.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Mrs. Turtlesucker?

[Clash City Rocker]

3. We've already heard stories like this about anonymous lower level staffers

So hopefully this is a trend with all of them. The stink of Trump is on them all, hopefully they pay the price for their association with him.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Time to retire?

[Claire Oh Nette]

17. This

Help the economy by opening up your position. She's not young, Mitch is old, and rich, and they don't need to work. Must be soething that drives them...

oh, right, greed.

[2naSalit]

5. Ya know...

She's a master manipulator and coconspirator with her husband and has been all along. She has been working the same scam as MM only behind the scenes. This true of many from the former admin so I hope they all find out what it's like to to fall into poverty, and prison real hard.

[John Ludi]

6. Why

would anyone want to hire dishonest and untrustworthy people? Party loyalty can sometimes slip away when the threat of your OWN company being compromised rears its head.

[Harker]

22. I suspect she'll be okay.

There's bound to be an opening at "My Pillow" soon.

[Vogon_Glory]

7. Well, why should they hire them?

The Trump administration was one of the most corrupt administrations in the last hundred years. Why should a major corporation, even one that stayed aloof from the sordid goings-on of the previous four years, potentially disrupt their operations by hiring someone likely to bring federal investigators trooping through their doors looking for wrongdoing?

[Faux pas]

8. I

doubt she and moscow mitch need the money after all they have stolen from taxpayers. Greed is the deadliest sin.

[NQAS]

9. Maybe she's not a good example

She’s a multimillionaire provable destined to inherit millions more in the family’s shipping dynasty. Why would she even care about future employment. Same with Mitch.

[MLAA]

31. Ego

I guess she has grown accustomed to the ‘respect’ and groveling that comes with leadership positions. Besides, who will run her errands if she doesn’t have a large staff to abuse.

[tanyev]

10. Oh good, schadenfreude for breakfast this morning!

[marble falls]

11. Why does a person with a private fortune of upwards to $100M need a job?

[hatrack]

14. Because "Enough" doesn't exist for Elaine Chao . .

See also:

Steve Mnuchin
Wilbur Ross
Peter Thiel
Robert Mercer
Rebekah Mercer
Etc.

[Hotler]

19. And to hurt democrats. Selfishness has is also in the equation.

The I have mine, I'm going to keep you from getting yours.

[hatrack]

30. Yep. Zero-sum "morality"

.

[machoneman]

21. Let me explain why. People like her have enjoyed the perks and attention that success...

..brings. They end up power hungry. They truly believe that their business acumen and smarts put them head and shoulders above almost everyone else. They flaunt it with expensive, chauffeur-driven cars, for her, designer clothes, Board-paid private jet flights, unlimited expense accounts and far more. After awhile, they believe themselves invincible even when proven wrong or after a poor business decision smacks them.

See, the lure of power, the trappings of success and the desire to make more money is very hard to overcome. And in our society, money is how we "keep score" of just how smart, successful and wonderful we really are. I'll apply your question to her henchman boss, Trump. Why did he need a job?

It's the same reason one never reads about the truly rich simply saying, enough is enough and I'm retiring to the good life and enjoying the fruits of my labors. Their success is like a cancer, one they can't get away from and it does feed upon itself over time. This odd manifestation of "I can do no wrong" is often the reason why alleged business wizards like Trump make fools of themselves with one failure after another. There is no filter after awhile that triggers one to second guess their moves. Think: what did he know about steaks, airliner travel, college-level teaching, wine, casinos and more? Nothing, hence multiple business failures yet giving the trappings of success in a false way.

Btw, the above comes from working for some folks with these same attributes.

[lagomorph777]

12. Ciao!

Her association with Turd and Turtle, and her record of bad behavior, has earned her a place on the GQP shit pile forever.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/03/weird-how-trump-doj-declined-to-investigate-elaine-chao-sketchy-behavior

[mezame]

16. Turd and Turtle

OMG, great name for a new pub!

[Wounded Bear]

13. They say that like it's a bad thing...

Perhaps they have grifted enough already. Time for forced retirement.

[rickyhall]

15. I'm thinking the repugs have finally had their run.

The tunnel is painted on the wall.

[TlalocW]

18. Republicans are so short-sighted

They constantly do things for short term gains not thinking of any long term consequences.

They insisted that congress and staff be put on Obamacare because they thought dems would balk, and they would have a gotcha moment, but democrats thought it was great. Suddenly staffers could pick health care packages with all kinds of options for birth control as well as abortion coverage.
They passed their religious freedom laws just thinking it would benefit Christians, and in some cases like schools being allowed to have literature from local churches available to take from a table in the hall, those programs are quickly abandoned with Muslims and atheists demand their fair share of time to do so.
They just naturally assumed big business would always be behind them so they made corporations into people and money into free speech.

I can only imagine the difference in how Trump staffers felt joining his administration thinking they were going to "pwn some libs" to now wondering what they were thinking four years ago. It must feel other-worldly to go from sitting on top of the world to not being able to find a job.

TlalocW

[Turbineguy]

20. Only the ones having

a "Kill Our Customers" department.

[Peacetrain]

23. Alrighty now!!! you danced with the devil.. no one is taking you home..

[Frustratedlady]

24. Is Chao still being investigated or are they deciding her fate?

Once she resigned, things quieted down and I haven't seen mention of her case for a while. Surely, her resigning didn't wipe the slate clean?

[bucolic_frolic]

25. Fear of corporate insurrectionists

and Gaetz-wannabe's

Yeah I could see that would shake the business plan a little

[wryter2000]

26. I'll bet she knows who these headhunters are

Not exactly anonymous. Whatever...this is wonderful to hear.

[C Moon]

27. Maybe that's another reason Moscow Mitch is so pissed at corporations.

And what the hell reason is there for either one of them to be working? They have enough for retirement.

[East-A-Squared]

28. I send tots and pears.

[The Conductor]

29. Oh, So Sad...

If you had the finest electron microscope, you might be able to measure the amount of my sympathy for those Trump suckers. Let them rot in the unemployment line. I once quit a job when they didn't pay me what they promised. How much faster should anyone working for a wannabe, tin pot dictator have quit?

They can't even use the excuse that they didn't know what the orange moron was. Anyone paying even the slightest attention knew he was a slimy, ugly, ball of insecure stupidity and racism. That they went along with all that so clearly demonstrates their lack of judgement that any sensible employer who Hope's to stay out of jail will have nothing to do with them.