WASHINGTON — The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a trade group representing businesses that contribute $2.35 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, has called on Vice President Mike Pence to "seriously consider" working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy.
NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons disclosed the group's stance Jan. 6 during the assault on the U.S. Capitol by large groups of "armed Trump adherents" as members of Congress met to count the electoral votes of the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Timmons called the action sedition and said it "should be treated as such. The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit.
"Armed violent protesters who support the baseless claim by outgoing President Trump that he somehow won an election that he overwhelmingly lost have stormed the U.S. Capitol today, attacking police officers and first responders, because [Mr.] Trump refused to accept defeat in a free and fair election," Mr. Timmons said.
"Throughout this whole disgusting episode, [Mr.] Trump has been cheered on by members of his own party, adding fuel to the distrust that has enflamed violent anger. This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. …
"This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend," he added.
"Across America today, millions of manufacturing workers are helping our nation fight the deadly pandemic that has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives. We are trying to rebuild an economy and save and rebuild lives. But none of that will matter if our leaders refuse to fend off this attack on America and our democracy — because our very system of government, which underpins our very way of life, will crumble."
NAM represents 14,000 member companies, ranging from small family businesses to iconic global brands in every industrial sector. It states 90% of its members are small- to medium-sized manufacturers.