CEO Whisperer: GOP Executives Fear Trump Threat to Democracy More Than Tariffs
Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld says business leaders worry political instability and a weakened democracy could undermine free enterprise, even as they rate the economy under Trump as disappointing.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor known as the 'CEO whisperer,' says corporate leaders are more worried about President Donald Trump’s threat to democracy than about any single economic policy. In an interview with CNN's Newsroom aired Monday, Sonnenfeld noted that Republicans account for roughly 70% to 75% of the executives who participate in his CEO gatherings, but about 80% of those leaders say the economy under Trump has been disappointing.
"They’ll go through specifics about what they don’t like. Tariff policies and the independence of the Fed," Sonnenfeld explained. "But more than anything else, it’s the corrosive effect on and threat to the free enterprise system of not having a functioning democracy that most worries them."
Analysts see the remarks as a window into how corporate leaders weigh political risk alongside policy preferences. Sonnenfeld leads Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute and has long tracked how business executives respond to shifting governance and regulatory environments. While his surveys show a GOP-leaning attendee base at many CEO forums, his comments underscore a broader concern: sustained political instability or erosion of democratic norms could raise long-term costs for American markets and investment, even if policy changes such as tariffs or central-bank independence remain hot topics in the near term.
The interview also reflects a practical tension for corporate boards and investors. Tariff proposals, the independence of the Federal Reserve, and other policy frictions are frequent flashpoints for business leaders. Yet Sonnenfeld emphasizes that the overarching worry is systemic: the prospect that a nonfunctioning democracy could undermine the rule of law, complicate enforcement of contracts, and create unpredictability in the regulatory environment. Such conditions, in turn, can influence corporate strategy, capital allocation, and risk assessment, beyond the reach of any single policy.
The remarks come as markets and executives monitor political developments at a time of heightened partisan polarization and global economic shifts. While few expect a rapid transformation of the political landscape, the concerns raised by Sonnenfeld point to a long-running calculus in which governance quality and institutional stability are treated as core components of business confidence and market health.