Immoral support

Moral support is a powerful thing. More than just applause, it’s validation  -  the feeling that what you’re doing is right and that people are behind you. That kind of support can push someone to succeed.

Sounds wholesome, right? Not so fast, turbo.

There’s a darker side to moral support. I call it “immoral support.”

Immoral support is the public endorsement of actions that break rules, bend norms, and put disruption ahead of integrity. It’s celebrating power wielded without accountability and the sacrifice of principles in the name of “progress” or profit.

We expect people like Trump or the AfD to thrive on such reckless disruption. But here’s the issue: serious businesses, with their unprecedented influence of today, are backing this trend. Openly. They’ve become full-blown immoral supporters.

When figures like Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Cook adopt this playbook, it normalizes the unspeakable. It sends a clear message: “This is fine.” Seriously, it almost makes me miss old-school lobbying.

This isn’t about principles (“freedom of speech,” really?!?). It’s about capitalism. Profit is the goal. But there’s a point where chasing profit erodes the values that hold us together. And isn’t a functional society a better market, anyway?

Michael Cembalest, JPMorgan’s chairman of market and investment strategy, recently talked forecasts with Derek Thompson on Plain English. It’s must-listen stuff. He had an interesting definition for these disruptors: “alchemists”. Makes sense — they are willing to toss deregulation, deportations, tariffs, tax cuts, crypto, oil and gas, anti-vaxxing, anti-abortion, and anti-gender ideology into a flask and slap on the label “the solution to everything.”

Cembalest’s professional hunch? Things will break.

The alchemists are getting away with murder because their chaos is being dressed up as courage — a very convenient way to dodge responsibility. It’s edgy. It’s cool. It turns the disenfranchised into fans, giving them someone or something to rally against and breeding tribalism. And it makes it easy for companies to support them while keeping a clear conscience.

So, what’s a responsible business to do?

I’d love to give you bullet-pointed solutions with emojis, LinkedIn-style, but I don’t have answers. I just hope there’s a way for businesses to reject this wave of immoral support and still succeed. A way to not stay silent.

What do you think? Can businesses challenge this trend and still thrive?