Expensify CEO David Barrett claims that there may be a “civil war” if President Donald Trump loses in the upcoming presidential election. The bizarre claim is part of a mass unsolicited email to millions of Expensify customers begging them to vote for Joe Biden. According to Barrett, voting for Trump is a “vote against democracy.”
“Any excuse to question the election is an opportunity for Trump to refuse to leave the White House, plunging this country into a Constitutional crisis bordering on civil war,” insisted Barrett in a mass email urging the company’s millions of clients to vote for Joe Biden.
The CEO went on to claim that “the only way to ensure a peaceful transition of power is to ensure this election is an overwhelming, undeniable landslide in favor of Biden,” or else, Barrett claims, President Trump will not honor the election results.
“No matter how slight that risk might be, the consequences of it happening would be so catastrophic to society and the economy, we need to do all we can to prevent it,” added Barrett.
Barrett added that a vote for Trump would be “a vote against democracy.”
“I know you don’t want to hear this from me,” the CEO acknowledged. “And I guarantee I don’t want to say it. But we are facing an unprecedented attack on the foundations of democracy itself.”
“If you are a US citizen, anything less than a vote for Biden is a vote against democracy,” Barrett affirmed.
The CEO justified his decision not to remain neutral at a company, arguing that Expensify “depends on a functioning society and economy; not many expense reports get filed during a civil war,” and even claimed that he is “obligated on behalf of shareholders” to get political.
“As CEO of this business, it’s my job to plot a course through any storm,” he said. “And all evidence suggests that another 4 (or as Trump has hinted — 8, or more?) years of Trump leadership will damage our democracy to such an extent, I’m obligated on behalf of shareholders to take any action I can to avoid it.”
Barrett then claimed that he doesn’t believe the country’s democracy will survive another four years with Trump as president.
“I am confident our democracy (and Expensify) can survive a Biden presidency,” added Barrett. “I can’t say the same about Trump. It’s truly as simple as that.”
Not everyone, however, was pleased with Barrett’s unsolicited email.
Daniel Rothschild, the executive director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, shared his email response to Barrett on Twitter.
“I’m writing about the unsolicited email that you sent last night to many of my colleagues — and, I gather, millions more users around the globe,” wrote Rothschild in his email to Barrett. “My feelings on politics aren’t as strong as yours. But I do have strong feelings about another matter: trust.”
I sent an email to the CEO of @expensify pic.twitter.com/RmdRM55m43
— Daniel M. Rothschild (@danrothschild) October 23, 2020
Rothschild went on to explain to the Expensify CEO how his unsolicited email “contributes to the breakdown in social trust” in American society today.
“We selected Expensify as a vendor based on trust — after all, you have financial information for us organizationally as well as the personal information of hundreds of my colleagues,” wrote Rothschild. “You also have our email addresses. We trusted you with our private information. You have violated that trust.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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