Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday railed against the backlash from top businesses over Georgia Republicans’ suppressive voting law in wake of the Major League Baseball (MLB) organization’s decision to pull its All-Star Game out of Atlanta.
Having apparently become concerned about corporate influence on politics all of a sudden, McConnell complained in a statement that “we are witnessing a coordinated campaign by powerful and wealthy people to mislead and bully the American people.”
The GOP leader accused Democrats and the corporations of spreading “disinformation” about the law, which imposes new limits on absentee voting, amps up voter ID requirements, gives state legislators more say over election administration, and even makes it illegal to give food and water to people standing in long lines at polling places.
“It’s jaw-dropping to see powerful American institutions not just permit themselves to be bullied, but join in the bullying themselves,” McConnell complained.
The GOP leader also threatened corporations with “serious consequences” if they “become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order.”
“Businesses must not use economic blackmail to spread disinformation and push bad ideas that citizens reject at the ballot box,” he said.
Georgia-based corporations like Coca-Cola and Delta have been speaking out against the voting restrictions in response to pressure from civil rights advocates.
On Friday, MLB commissioner Robert Manfred Jr. announced that the organization would be relocating its All-Stars game from Atlanta, saying the MLB “fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
Republicans are outraged over the decision, and on Saturday Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) trotted out the now-predictable “cancel culture” grievance and blamed Democrats for the fallout over the law.
