Monday, May 26, 2025. In the United States of America, it’s Memorial Day, a federal holiday that honors those who died serving in the U.S. military. By extension, it’s also a day to ruminate about what it means to us, to each of us, to be an American.
One could argue that of all the liberal ideas and ideals that undergird the American experiment none is as foundational as liberty. According to the U. S. Constitution, our right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is unalienable. Patrick Henry’s line, “Give me liberty, or give me death” is as much of a clarion call now as it was 250 years ago. And the Statue of Liberty remains in the present as in the past: a colossus in New York Harbor emblematic of its name.
However, liberty is realized only if it is exercised. If Americans do not exercise their freedom that freedom is an abstraction. Pretty on paper but irrelevant. Irrelevant not only to the powerless but to the powerful. Specifically, liberty is irrelevant to leaders who choose not to use it. No matter how much power, authority, or influence an individual has, if they decide to be passive as opposed to active, to stay silent rather than to speak up, then liberty lies fallow. In which case liberty – like a muscle that has atrophied – is as useless as pointless.
So far, during President Donald Trump’s second term in office, America’s corporate leaders have been even more reluctant than they were during his first to speak truth to power. They stay silent even when the president says or does something that not only threatens their business but drives them nuts. Such as on tariffs, a subject on which Trump bobs and weaves as rapidly as regularly. Still, even leaders whose businesses are most directly affected by Trump’s every move are fearful. Fearful of invoking Trump’s wrath lest he retaliates not just against them but against the companies for which they are responsible.
A few weeks ago, the CEO of Mattel, Ynon Kreiz, said on CNBC that he did not intend to move manufacturing to the United States. When word of this reached Trump, he was furious. He threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on Mattel’s products, commanding the company would not “sell one toy in the United States.” Then Trump gilded the lily. He added, “I wouldn’t want to have him [Kreiz] as an executive too long.” In response to these sorts of warning shots, Yale Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld told the New York Times that it was prudent for chief executives not to challenge the administration. He added that which I incessantly point out – to effect change corporate leaders must take collective action.
Though America’s corporate leaders have enormous clout, in their relationship to Trump they are virtually without exception followers. Followers who are servile. Followers who have been cowed not just into submission but into silence.
Which returns me to how pointless liberty is unless it is exercised. To which the titans of corporations would reply their hands are tied because their first responsibility is to their shareholders. Shareholders who would be threatened by even a single potshot from the White House.
Jamie Dimon has been CEO of JPMorgan for 20 years. On his next birthday he will be 70 years old. Tim Cook has been CEO of Apple for 14 years. On his next birthday he will be 65 years old. What would happen if these two leaders acted like leaders not followers? Especially if they did so in concert. If just one time they opened their mouths and said what they really think and feel about the Trump administration as opposed to remaining mute.
From Dimon and Cook’s long history in business, and from their deep familiarity with financial markets both at home and abroad, we can safely surmise that not everything that Trump has said and done in recent months is to their liking. Apple particularly has been a favorite Trump target. But publicly Cook has remained deaf, dumb and blind, failing to make a single public statement that might irk the president. But… if the likes of Cook and Dimon believe that they cannot, given their positions, speak truth to power maybe they should resign their positions. It’s why I single them out. They have had all the power that anyone could ever want. And they have all the money that anyone could ever need. What’s left for them other than to exercise the liberty that rightfully is theirs?
Bruce Springsteen is a different animal. I do not compare him to the likes of Dimon and Cook. Springsteen is a leader – but another sort entirely. A leader who has never had to play the part of a follower. Who has always believed he was at liberty to tell his truth. So, it’s liberating to see and hear him put his money where his mouth is. To take on a man who cows near everyone else into denying what rightfully is theirs – liberty.
Here is Springsteen last week at a performance in Manchester, England.
Liberty. Leaders who don’t use it lose it.