Some major corporations are weighing in on last week’s events on Capitol Hill. They have decided to let their money do their talking and that includes putting a stop to writing checks to Republican lawmakers who participated in voting against certifying Joe Biden’s election victory.

This should be no surprise to anyone. Corporations have been under pressure for almost a year to prove they are as woke as possible. First, it was support for Black Lives Matter. Corporate boards of directors are meeting demands to diversify as well as committing money to support black-owned businesses. Now they are using their corporate purse strings to punish Republican lawmakers who voted to overturn the results of the November presidential election.

Marriott International Inc, the world’s largest hotel company, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) both announced last night that they will no longer contribute to politicians who voted ‘no’ to accepting the votes of state electors last week. Other corporations are quickly jumping on board with this action.

“We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election,” Marriott spokeswoman Connie Kim said, confirming a report in Popular Information, a political newsletter.

BCBSA, the federation of 36 independent companies that provide health care coverage for one in three Americans, said “in light of this week’s violent, shocking assault on the United States Capitol, and the votes of some members of Congress to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results, BCSBA will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.”

JPMorgan Chase said on Sunday that it will pause all contributions from its political action committee for at least the next six months, saying “the focus of business leaders, political leaders, civic leaders right now should be on governing and getting help to those who desperately need it most right now. There will be plenty of time for campaigning later.”

Citigroup Inc said in a memo to employees seen by Reuters that it reviewed lawmakers who led the charge against the certification of the Electoral College results and found it gave $1,000 to the campaign of Republican Senator Josh Hawley.

“We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” wrote Candi Wolff, head of Citi’s global government affairs. “We intend to pause our contributions during the quarter as the country goes through the Presidential transition and hopefully emerges from these events stronger and more united.”

(Bloomberg) – Marriott International Inc. will suspend donations to Republican senators who voted against certifying President-elect Joe Biden, after considering the “destructive events” at the Capitol last week.$MAR ⁦@business⁩ https://t.co/AsJOvSEdnC

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) January 10, 2021

They can all afford to suspend contributions right now, of course, because the election cycle for 2022 isn’t in full swing yet. This is corporate virtue signaling. There is plenty of time for Republican lawmakers to make amends and for lobbyists to do their thing. In the meantime, this is the free market at work. Let them donate to whom they wish to align. If, for now, that means the party of socialists and Marxists, so be it. Consumers with objections can make their own choices – support Marriott and Blue Cross Blue Shield and the others with your own pocketbook or not. That is conscientious consumerism and it is more effective than just grousing from the sidelines.

Walmart Inc. is taking this kind of step into consideration. Ford Motor Co. hasn’t made a decision. Stripe Inc., a digital payments company, will stop processing payments for Trump’s campaign website because of the riot on Capitol Hill.

The actions taken last week by Republican lawmakers and President Trump shook lifetime Republicans like myself. I’m not a Populist like Trump and his supporters but I do understand the frustration felt by many Americans that the political system doesn’t work for them. I’ve written favorably about Trump’s agenda and his policies because they have been traditionally conservative ones. Trump came into office because of the failure of Republican lawmakers to distinguish themselves from Democrat lawmakers. However, Republican lawmakers like Senators Cruz and Hawley must be held accountable for promoting a fantasy pushed by Trump that Mike Pence could stop the certification of Biden’s victory. As I wrote about on Saturday, these actions will have long-term repercussions. Feeding false hope to those who don’t understand the electoral process or are unable to accept that Trump lost the election was unconscionable. The fact that both Hawley and Cruz did it out of sheer political opportunism and brought along 2/3 of House Republicans is disgraceful.

I’m still seeing fall-out leveled toward Cruz here in Texas. The Dallas Morning News has an article about Cruz’s longtime friend and former finance chairman in the 2012 Senate bid. He also chaired Cruz’s presidential campaign. Chad Sweet is a former CIA operative, investment banker, and chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. On Sunday Sweet denounced Cruz’s actions as an “assault on our democracy.”

“Donald Trump and those who aided and abetted him in his relentless assault on our Democracy – including Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz – must be denounced,” wrote longtime Cruz friend Chad Sweet, a former CIA operative, investment banker and chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. “In particular, I made it clear to Senator Cruz, whom I have known for years, before the Joint Session of Congress, that if he proceeded to object to the Electoral count of the legitimate slates of delegates certified by the States, I could no longer support him.”

I’m not clear on his timing for this public denouncement but he should have done it much sooner if it was to be taken sincerely.

Mob violence and the insurrection on Capitol Hill can’t be normalized or excused. What is most infuriating is the fact that a Republican president and his supporters suddenly looked like Democrats. Hillary Clinton still hasn’t accepted the results of the 2016 election. Her supporters and liberal radicals caused destruction across the country while marching and protesting Trump’s victory. Republicans are supposed to be the party that supports law and order, constitutional procedures, and a peaceful transfer of power every four years. That didn’t happen this time and now there is some real soul-searching in order.

There are plenty of people in my life trying to convince me that those storming the Capitol were peaceful protesters simply demanding that lawmakers stop their work and acknowledge that the election was stolen from Trump. You can agree that irregularities and some shady things happened, mostly because of adjustments made due to the coronavirus pandemic while still understanding that Joe Biden won the election. It doesn’t make sense that he won, I know, but it is what happened. I get that people are angry and upset. Those feelings don’t override facts, as we Republicans tell liberals all the time. What is true for them is true for us.