President Donald Trump called on Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice immediately or "pay the consequences," a sharp response after the former Obama administration official used a podcast appearance to openly threaten corporations that she claims have bent to Republican pressure.
Rice, a former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. who now sits on Netflix's board, made the remarks Thursday on the "Stay Tuned with Preet" podcast hosted by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Her message was not subtle. She warned that companies she accused of having "taken a knee" to Republicans should expect retribution when Democrats return to power.
It was not immediately clear what specific actions the Trump administration might pursue. Netflix did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
Rice did not couch her remarks in the usual diplomatic language you might expect from a former ambassador. She laid out what amounted to a promise of political punishment for companies that cooperate with the current administration's agenda.
"If these corporations think that the Democrats, when they come back into power, are going to, you know, play by the old rules, and, you know, say, 'Oh, never mind. We'll forgive you for all the people you fired, all the policies and principles you've violated, all, you know, the laws you've skirted.' I think they've got another thing coming."
Note the framing. In Rice's telling, companies that comply with federal law, respond to shareholders, or simply step back from progressive pet projects are guilty of violating "policies and principles." Whose policies? Whose principles? The left's, naturally. The quiet assumption is that corporate America's default setting should be progressive, and any deviation is betrayal.
She went further, forecasting an "accountability agenda" aimed at "those entities" and predicting an electoral shift in the upcoming midterm elections. She pointed to what she described as waning public approval for Trump's economic and immigration policies, though she offered no polling data or specifics to support the claim.
"This is not going to be an instance of forgive and forget. The damage that these people are doing is too severe to the American people and our national interest."
The language is telling. Rice frames corporate decisions she dislikes as "damage" to the "national interest," borrowing the vocabulary of national security to describe what amounts to a political disagreement over DEI programs and governance commitments.
There is a deep irony in Rice's position, and it is worth sitting with for a moment.
For years, the left accused conservatives of being in the pocket of big business. Corporations were the villains. Citizens United was the apocalypse. Money in politics was corrupting democracy. That was the line for a decade.
Then something shifted. Major corporations began adopting progressive causes wholesale: diversity mandates, ESG commitments, public statements on social issues that had nothing to do with their products or services. Suddenly, corporate America wasn't the enemy anymore. It was an ally. And the left grew accustomed to having the Fortune 500 serve as an enforcement arm for its cultural priorities.
Now that some of those companies are reconsidering, or simply responding to consumer and shareholder pushback, figures like Rice treat the retreat as treason. The message is unmistakable: align with us, or we will use government power to punish you when we get the chance.
This is not the language of democracy. It is the language of a protection racket.
It is worth remembering that Rice is not some retired commentator lobbing opinions from a podcast studio. She is a sitting board member of Netflix. She occupies a fiduciary role. Her job, legally speaking, is to act in the interest of Netflix shareholders.
Instead, she used a public platform to threaten corporate America with political retribution and signal that Democrats intend to punish companies for lawful business decisions. Her statements positioned her as an enforcer for a future political regime.
If a conservative board member of a major public company went on a podcast and threatened industries with government retaliation for supporting progressive causes, the corporate press would have the story in rotation for a week. There would be calls for resignation, shareholder resolutions, and think pieces about the death of corporate independence.
Rice does it, and Netflix stays silent.
Trump's demand puts Netflix in an uncomfortable position. The company now faces a straightforward question: Does it stand behind a board member who is openly using her platform to threaten American businesses with political retribution? Or does it recognize that Rice's comments create a liability, not just politically, but in terms of the fiduciary obligations a board member owes to shareholders?
The broader dynamic here matters more than any single personnel decision. Rice's comments reveal what many conservatives have long understood about the left's relationship with corporate America. The partnership was never principled. It was transactional. Companies were useful when they carried water for progressive priorities. The moment they stop, they become targets.
That is not accountability. It is coercion dressed in the language of governance.
And Rice said it out loud.