“In my opinion, ESG is a worldwide human satanic organized effort. A manmade sabotage of God.”

North Dakota House Representative Bill Tveit, R-Hazen

A mean looking demonic, red devil with horns holding trident pitchfork and sitting on a throne. (Photo: iStock)

Yep. He really said that. I read it in a February 20, 2023 posting of Valley News Live. I do not know Mr. Tveit so I’m not sure what motivated him to make this declaration. My guess is that he wanted to add a little rhetorical punch to North Dakota House Bill 1345 (HB 1345). Yep again. Another Red state bill going after ESG. I’ve already written about a similar bill in Indiana which could cost its pension system $6.7 billion over the next 10 years. Gotta tell ya I’m having a hard time keeping track of all these exciting bills!

In the case of HB 1345 it demands that those in charge of investing the state’s funds should give priority to companies that support agriculture and the state’s energy industry. Not, of course, companies that support ESG investment strategies. Let’s put aside the fact that the fiduciary duty of fund managers is earning a return for their beneficiaries and not taking on the government role of industrial policy. (Nice irony of a Red state wanting the government to replace the free market.) Like what if these turn out to be bad investments? Let’s also put aside the sheer lack of comprehension in the call to boycott companies that support ESG investment strategies. Ummm. It’s investors who have investing strategies, not companies.

Getting down to the real issue, you have to admit that it’s far more compelling to mobilize citizen support against a worldwide human satanic organized effort than to get them fired up about ESG and investing. And this is why I’m urging Mr. Tveit to run for President in the Republican Primary! Probably most of you don’t know Mr. Tveit. He is a retired farm equipment owner/dealer. Which means he has time to mobilize and focus on a campaign. He’s also a family man with three children (I have four), 10 grandchildren (I have 11), and two great-grandchildren (I got none so he beats me there ).

The case for his candidacy is a very strong one. Consider the arc of ESG bashing in three of the probable (only one who has declared) Republican aspirants to be President of the United States. Let’s start with Mr. Pence. I’ve written about his call to action against ESG in a May 26, 2022 letter to The Wall Street Journal. He declares that “ESG is a pernicious strategy, because it allows the left to accomplish what it could never hope to achieve at the ballot box or through competition in the free market. ESG empowers an unelected cabal of bureaucrats, regulators and activist investors to rate companies based on their adherence to left-wing values.” He also moans about the Engine No. 1 campaign which placed a highly qualified former oil and gas CEO, Greg Goff (R), on the board of ExxonMobil. I’ve also done an interview with Mr. Goff about climate change and ESG. In discussing the former he states “My view is that this is the biggest challenge of my lifetime. In addition to having a sense of urgency, it is important there is very well-developed framework to drive change as we decarbonize.” He also provides some excellent ideas for addressing the problem of climate change. Yet for Mr. Pence, Mr. Goff is one of the three “environmentalists” placed on the ExxonMobil board who he claims are “are now working to undermine the company from the inside.” While the company has a current market cap of around $460 billion, ranking it the 12th largest company in the world by market cap.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the most serious current contender to former President Donald Trump, has upped the game on bashing ESG. To be fair to Mr. Pence, Mr. DeSantis has the benefit of being a very popular governor in a large state where he can get anti-ESG legislation passed at the drop of a hat. On February 23, 2023 his office issued a press release announcing “Legislation to Protect Floridians from the Woke ESG Financial Scam.” Mr. DeSantis emphasized that “Today’s announcement builds on my commitment to protect consumers’ investments and their ability to access financial services in the Free State of Florida.” Gotta admit I’m kinda scratching my head on this Panglossian Orwellian “Free State of Florida” phrase, but whatever. I’ve written about the awkward fact that the University of Florida Investment Corporation uses ESG factors to ensure the returns for its beneficiaries. I suggested to Mr. DeSantis that he move swiftly to put a stop to this. I mean, you can only take freedom so far, right, when you’re trying to protect it?

Mr. DeSantis continues, “By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda.” I get the elite bashing now popular in one wing of the ESG but I wish he would have given Mr. Pence credit for getting the jump on him about the “radical ideological agenda.” I’m also puzzled about the “arbitrary ESG financial metrics phrase.” I thought the anti-ESG angst is because this isn’t “pecuniary,” (i.e., financial) as the Governor likes to say.

Singer Bob Dylan performs at the White House (Photo: Alamy)

And then we have entrepreneur, best-selling author, and co-founder of Strive Asset Management 37 year old Mr. Vivek Ramaswamy boldly declaring his candidacy for President of the United States on a very slick and well done website. (Much to the excitement of The Wall Street Journal who sees his and Nikki Haley’s declared candidacy as a sign the dreaded Dems are losing the Indian American vote.) Like Mr. Pence and Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Ramaswamy is going after the elites which include Washington, D.C., Big Tech, Corporate America, and the financial services industry. YIKES 😱. Sure are a lot of elites out there!

When you’re the very, very long shot, you might as well take your cue from Bob Dylan in “Like a Rolling Stone.” “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” Thus this very confident young man  has challenged all declared Republican candidates to sign HIS “Anti-Woke Policy Pledge.” Yep for the third time. He’s really done this! Quoting Mr. Dylan again, “Ahh you’ve gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely.” In this case the uber elite Harvard College and Yale Law School. Among other planks in his shrieking platform Mr. Ramaswamy wants to eliminate the Department of Education and not just de-fund the FBI but completely trash it and do something else. Oh, and taking his cue from Tucker Carlson he wants to “Abandon climate religion in all forms.” Whatever that means.

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE US rock group with Grace Slick at the Filimore East, New York, on 29 November 1968. Photo Jeffrey Mayer | Alamy

Mr. Ramaswamy is already running a strong campaign of poisonous populism which he mystifyingly declares is meant to unify us into one big happy American family. As he explained in a recent New York Post article, “Trump sets a high bar.’” Mr. Ramaswamy continues, “He’s a friend. I know him. I genuinely believe he cares about national unity.” But get this. The title of the article is “GOP hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy rips Trump, vows to banish FBI and 10 fed agencies.” I know, I know. Alt-Right politics is genuine Jefferson Airplane “White Rabbit” territory. Quoting Gracie Slick in Verse 4:

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen’s off with her head
Remember what the Dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head

But let’s get back to Mr. Tveit which is what this piece is really about 😍. You can see how the bar keeps getting raised for using strong, compelling, inflammatory, and shrieking rhetoric to warn Americans about how the threat of ESG could be turning American into the Land of Wokedom (and not Free like Florida). Mr. Pence, Mr. DeSantis, and Mr. Ramaswamy have done some pioneering work here, each shriller than the one before. Their achievements should not be diminished. But none of them have put their finger on the real problem. “ESG is a worldwide human satanic organized effort. A manmade sabotage of God.” I mean, what could possibly be worse than this 🤷🏽‍♀️? And hence my enthusiasm for Mr. Tveit as a candidate in the Republican Presidential Primary!

To help get things started in the campaign we can thank The Rolling Stones for their epic song “Sympathy For The Devil.” The song begins and italics are mine:

Please allow me to introduce myself (ESG)
I’m a man of wealth and taste (A woke elite)
I’ve been around for a long, long years (Mr. Tveit)
Stole million man’s soul an faith (Pernicious progressives)

You can see the campaign power in this. Invoke an acid rock band to connote evil, tie one of their songs to ESG, and directly connect it to Satan himself. Then leverage this with all the content in their 1967 album “Their Satanic Majesties Request.” Done right I’m absolutely convinced Mr. Tveit can sweep the field and be the GOP nominee!

Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones (Photo: Alamy)

I’m a registered Democrat so I won’t have any say in the Republican primary. But for those Republicans who fear ESG and how Woke is taking over our great country (where 69 percent of the top five executives are Republican), I strongly urge the formation of a grassroots movement to draft Mr. Tveit to run for President of the United States of America!