Billionaire LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman slams business leaders who support Trump: A 'reliable legal system is not a given'
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- The LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman blasted business leaders supporting Donald Trump.
- Hoffman argued in The Economist that a robust legal system is essential for US business prosperity.
- Trump, Hoffman argued, would upend that system.
Reid Hoffman, the billionaire cofounder of LinkedIn, slammed business leaders who support former President Donald Trump, arguing that a 2024 win for the Republican would actually be bad for the economy.
Hoffman, who cofounded LinkedIn in 2002, wrote an op-ed article in The Economist last week criticizing his fellow executives' "myopia" in backing Trump's presidential run.
He argued that a "robust legal system" is critical for American business to prosper because it keeps things in check. Courts of law and impartial juries are necessary, he said, to "enforce contracts and punish fraud."
"But a robust, reliable legal system is not a given," Hoffman wrote. "It is a necessity we can ill afford to live without. We trade it away at our peril.
"Which makes it all the more lamentable that a growing number of America's corporate and financial leaders are opening their wallets for Donald Trump," he added.
Hoffman argued that, if elected this November, Trump — who was convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to the adult-film actor Stormy Daniels — could upend the legal system that the American economy and American businesses rely on.
So why would business leaders ever support someone who could lead to their downfall? Hoffman has a few explanations. Some, he said, are merely kidding themselves that Trump "can be normal and controlled."
Others, Hoffman argued, believe President Joe Biden would be even more dangerous to American business than Trump would — though he described that position as misguided because the stock market, oil and gas production, employment, and GDP growth had hit highs during Biden's presidency.
Hoffman argued that some business leaders believe a Trump presidency would skyrocket them to the top of a new oligarchy, while others simply fear retaliation if they don't pledge themselves to Trump.
But what many business leaders really want, Hoffman argued, is lower taxes and fewer regulations — even at the expense of an impartial judicial system and democracy itself.
A growing number of business leaders have publicly supported Trump. Pershing Square Capital Management's CEO, Bill Ackman, is reportedly leaning toward voting for Trump this November, as is the billionaire Nelson Peltz.
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman and the venture capitalist Douglas Leone have already endorsed Trump, while over a dozen other billionaires have pumped money into Trump's campaign.
Elon Musk has not endorsed Trump but has defended him on X and has said he's unlikely to vote for Biden.