Randall Lane, the editor of Forbes Magazine, has warned corporations not to hire former Trump officials. If they hire them, said Lane, they will be viewed as a “funnel of disinformation” by the magazine.
Business Insider writes a summary of how Trump’s failed coup attempt inspired Forbes to issue its warning. Money hungry corporations, who would do anything for a buck, should proceed at their own peril.
In the wake of Wednesday's attempted coup, Forbes — the American business magazine — has issued a warning to companies hoping to hire former officials from President Donald Trump's administration.
Businesses that choose to hire Trump administration alumni will, the editor said, be held to account.
"Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie," the magazine's editor Randall Lane wrote. "We're going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we'd approach a Trump tweet," Lane added.
Robert Lane of Forbes Magazine writes:
Yesterday’s insurrection was rooted in lies. That a fair election was stolen. That a significant defeat was actually a landslide victory. That the world’s oldest democracy, ingeniously insulated via autonomous state voting regimens, is a rigged system. Such lies-upon-lies, repeated frequently and fervently, provided the kindling, the spark, the gasoline.
snip
From Day One at the Trump White House, up has been down, yes has been no, failure has been success. Sean Spicer set the tone with the inauguration crowd size – the worst kind of whopper, as it demanded that people disbelieve their own eyes. The next day, Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer’s lie with a new term, “alternative facts.” Spicer’s successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied at scale, from smearing those who accused Trump of sexual harassment to conjuring jobs statistics. Her successor, Stephanie Grisham, over the course of a year, never even held a press conference, though the BS continued unabated across friendly outlets. And finally, Kayleigh McEnany, Harvard Law graduate, a propaganda prodigy at 32 who makes smiling falsehood an art form. All of this magnified by journalists too often following an old playbook ill-prepared for an Orwellian communication era.
As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed. The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who don’t follow the civic norms. Trump’s lawyers lie gleefully to the press and public, but those lies, magically, almost never made it into briefs and arguments – contempt, perjury and disbarment keep the professional standards high.
So what’s the parallel in the dark arts of communication? Simple: Don’t let the chronic liars cash in on their dishonesty. Press secretaries like Joe Lockhart, Ari Fleischer and Jay Carney, who left the White House with their reputations in various stages of intact, made millions taking their skills — and credibility — to corporate America. Trump’s liars don’t merit that same golden parachute. Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.
Trumper’s can dish it out with the best of traitors, but they can’t take it.