From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

The Trump administration is preparing an executive order to penalize institutions that “debank” Americans over their political views, a practice the president says he was personally subjected to.

The Wall Street Journal reports it has seen a draft of the order, which has not been finalized, that tells federal regulators to review financial institutions for potential violations of federal laws by dropping customers or denying service for “impermissible factors” such as political views and review and rescind any policies that might have played a role in doing so. “Violators could be subject to monetary penalties, consent decrees or other disciplinary measures,” or potentially even referred for prosecution in extreme cases, the Journal reports.

President Donald Trump recounted his own experience with the issue earlier this week during an interview on CNBC, during which he said that Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan “was kissing my a– when I was president, and when I called him after I was president, to deposit $1 billion plus and a lot of other things… ‘no, we can’t do it.’ That’s because the banks discriminated against me very badly. And I was very good to the banks. I had the greatest economy in the history of our country when I was president. They discriminated against many conservatives.”

“The banking regulators do everything you can to destroy Trump. And that’s what they did. And guess what? I’m president. How did that happen?” he boasted.

When asked about the president’s comments, Moynihan said his company “has been working with the Treasury administration today in this administration trying to figure out how to get these roles balanced so that we’re not subject to this swinging back and forth” and insisted “we bank everybody,” but did not specifically address Trump’s claims about their interaction.

Over the past several years, there have been numerous instances of banks, credit card companies, and crowdfunding platforms cutting off services to conservative individuals and groups, thanks in large part to the influence of left-wing groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League and corporate trends such as ESG (environmental, societal, governance) scoring. 

The Biden administration’s interest in centralized digital currency further intensified fears of a future in which Americans’ basic economic freedoms are tied to conformity with the views of those in power. Thanks in part to such overreaches by the previous Democrat administration, the United States is now widely perceived as being in the midst of a widespread political and cultural backlash against so-called “woke” ideology.

From The Center Square

By Tom Joyce

“BlackRock is playing a game of deceit. Fink and his team are trying to say all the right things to conservatives while quietly doubling down on their activist agenda behind the scenes.”

A group of 26 financial officers from 21 states sent letters to 18 major financial institutions this week, warning them to abandon environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices if they wish to continue doing business with their states.

The letters said ESG has undermined the traditional fiduciary duty that firms owe their clients, focusing solely on financial return, and instead prioritizes advancing political agendas.

“Fiduciary duty has long been a critical safeguard that facilitated efficient capital allocation grounded in financial merit rather than political ideology,” the letter said. “But that clarity is being diluted under the banner of so-called ‘long-term risk mitigation,’ where speculative assumptions about the future, like climate change catastrophe, are used to justify ideological conclusions today.”

Signers include state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers from states like Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Utah. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and 17 other financial leaders were recipients of the joint letter. Others include executives from Vanguard, Fidelity, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and State Street.

The letter said that while some firms have started leaving global climate coalitions and reducing ESG-related proxy votes, the state financial officers want “durable assurances” that fiduciary duty, not politics, drives investment decisions.

“While some firms have recently taken encouraging steps, such as withdrawing from global climate coalitions and scaling back ESG rhetoric and proxy votes, and some states have permitted incremental reintegration, more work must be done,” the letter said. “The number one issue is a recommitment to the foundational principles of fiduciary duty, loyalty, objectivity, and financial focus.”

The move comes after Texas removed BlackRock from its blacklist earlier this month and resumed investing with the firm – a move that drew criticism from others still pushing back against ESG. The letter indicates that many states won’t follow suit.

“Financial institutions wishing to compete for our states’ business should provide durable assurances that their practices align with these principles,” the letter said. “Our responsibility is to ensure public assets are managed in the best financial interest of beneficiaries and taxpayers.”

O.J. Oleka, president of the State Financial Officers Foundation, said the states are right to demand proof that ESG is no longer a factor in investing for these companies.

“Actions always speak louder than words. Requiring America’s financial giants to prove their independence from woke ideology with concrete steps before doing business with a state’s dollars is fully necessary and just makes sense,” Oleka said. “These financial officers are doing the right thing for their states and the taxpayers whose financial security they’ve been entrusted to protect.”

Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, also praised the letter.

“BlackRock is playing a game of deceit,” Hild said. “Fink and his team are trying to say all the right things to conservatives while quietly doubling down on their activist agenda behind the scenes.”