Bill Hagerty, a GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Tennessee and President Donald Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to Japan, resigned on Saturday from an agriculture firm that he discovered was promoting Black Lives Matter (BLM) extremism.
Hagerty, who is endorsed and supported by President Trump, made the decision to resign from the board of R.J. O’Brien when he found out the firm was actively promoting the Marxist BLM movement.
Hagerty wrote in his resignation letter to R.J. O’Brien’s CEO Gerald Corcoran, which was obtained by Breitbart News:
I have been humbled to work with the R.J. O’Brien family and to be part of this more than century old company that has been a foundational pillar of the agricultural industry. The role that R.J. O’Brien plays in the stability and soundness of U.S. agricultural markets is vital to the future of our nation’s farmers, and I have valued being a part of that. At the same time, I have learned that the firm has promoted support for the Black Lives Matter movement, a Marxist organization that seeks to destroy the America that I know and long to support. One of the leaders of the BLM movement has said, ‘If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.’ And the BLM movement seeks to destroy the nuclear family, calls for violence, promotes anti-Semitism, tears down monuments, and seeks to completely defund and dismantle our police departments.
In the next paragraph, Hagerty noted that he as a board member did not approve of or condone any of the firm’s decisions on this front and cannot in good faith remain associated with the firm as long as it is promoting such radical ideas:
Though as a board member I never approved nor engaged in the firm’s corporate decisions to promote outside entities, I cannot in good conscience remain affiliated in any way with the promotion of a radical political movement that seeks to use this moment to overthrow the government and usher in Marxism. This movement wants to rip apart the fabric of our country and destroy many aspects of what makes America exceptional. I vehemently oppose their calls for violence and relentless march towards socialism. Please accept this as my resignation from R.J. O’Brien effective immediately.
This move by Hagerty is significant in that it represents the beginning of a broader GOP pushback on the radical ideology associated with the BLM movement. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), the newly-appointed U.S. Senator from Georgia and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream WNBA team, also pushed back on the BLM radical movement in recent days. Both Loeffler and Hagerty have deep and long careers in business before they got involved in politics. Loeffler, whose husband Jeffrey Sprecht is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, was CEO of a major financial firm before her appointment to the U.S. Senate. Hagerty, before and after his appointment as U.S. ambassador to Japan by Trump, has been deeply involved in a number of business and financial institutions like the board position at R.J. O’Brien.
Seeing these Republicans fighting back against the BLM radicalism makes it easier for other GOP members of Congress and Republican officials around the country stand up to the ideology espoused by these people. It may represent the beginning of a broader pushback on it, especially as national Republicans including the top of the ticket like President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence tie presumptive 2020 Democrat nominee former Vice President Joe Biden closer and closer to the radical left.
In an interview with Breitbart News on Thursday that aired on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel this weekend, for instance, Pence very closely tied Biden to the radical left.
“In Joe Biden, you have a candidate that’s being driven by the radical left calling for more taxes, more regulation, and advocating the kind of policies that will literally trample on the Second Amendment rights and values,” Pence said, for example.
But Hagerty’s and Loeffler’s moves are also significant in that they are demonstrating there are most certainly reasonable business community leaders who do not wish to associate with BLM radicals on the hard left. This comes as many companies across the country at the beginning of racial unrest in the immediate aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis – as BLM protesters rioted in American cities and looted retailers in many of them – quickly bowed down before what many on the right call “the mob.” But this rush to “woke” positions fon the part of corporations might not have been the wisest business decision, as the country cools off heading into the middle parts of summer.
These moves come as the CEO of Goya stands up for President Trump amid criticism from the left, including calls for a boycott of Goya products, has stood firm against the left. The backlash was immense when he said America is “truly blessed” to have Trump as president, but under further criticism he has only doubled down.