US business leaders never took to Trump and now the gloves are off

US business leaders never took to Trump and now the gloves are off

It is fair to say most of America's business leaders never took to Donald Trump.Now, in the dying days of what has arguably been the most divisive presidency in US history, the gloves are off.

US business leaders are taking to the airwaves and queuing up to condemn the outgoing president for egging on those who violently stormed the US Capitol this week.Some have been firing employees who were identified as participating in the rioting.And others have sought to reduce Mr Trump's ability to campaign or to make money from merchandise sales, such as Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce giant whose platform previously hosted two of his websites.

This has been a long time coming.

Even before his election in November 2016, it was notable how few business chieftains were prepared to support Mr Trump publicly.

By contrast his Democrat rival that year, Hillary Clinton,