Hold Your Ground

“Stand for something or you will fall for anything. The mighty oak is but an acorn that stood its ground”

—Rosa Parks

Get up, Stand up!

For our purposes, a “capitulator” is a business or institution that, when faced with unreasonable or even unlawful demands from the Trump Administration, chooses to accede to the demands rather than stand on principle and fight for what is right. Why do these entities capitulate? Invariably the leaders of these businesses and institutions explain that the Trump demands constitute an “existential threat” and that the risk presented by resisting is simply too great and far outweighs any reputational harm or other cost of simply “rolling over.” We don’t envy the dilemma facing these leaders – Trump has placed them in a very difficult position. Our goal, however, is to make them see that there will also be a cost if they capitulate.

The “hold your ground” group communicates with businesses, institutions and other public facing entities targeted by Trump to encourage them to hold their ground and to discourage capitulation and compromise. We will continue to build resources available on our website, including names and contact information of capitulators (and potential capitulators), and a portfolio of model letters that can be used for every scenario, including entities that have capitulated, those that have thus far held their ground, for companies that rely on legal services from capitulating law firms, for State Bar organizations overseeing law firms that have capitulated, etc.

Actions

The list of companies, colleges and other entities facing pressure from the Trump Administration is long and getting longer. We continue to compile a list of these entities (those that have
already capitulated and those that have, as yet, held their ground). Our current list of businesses, colleges and law firms is set forth below. We will continue to update the
list with current contact information.

We have also attached several sample letters that can be downloaded and personalized. These letters can be simple and to the point. Each should set forth the reason for the letter followed by a statement of any particular relationship or “standing” you have with the entity (e.g. shareholder, customer, alumni, etc), followed by a specific “ask” or demand with a statement of
consequences for capitulation (e.g. “Should you choose to capitulate to Trump’s bullying, ABC’s reputation for integrity and independence will be lost and I, and others like me, will take our
business elsewhere.”)

Companies that have already capitulated:

Companies that have watered down their commitment to DEI in public facing documents:

• IBMConstellation Brands (including Corona and Modelo beer)
• United Health
• Victoria’s Secret
• Lowes
• Warner Bros
• Paramount
• Goldman Sachs
• BofA
• Citigroup
• Pepsi
• Disney
• Google
• Accenture
• Meta
• McDonald’s
• Molson Coors
• Ford

UC Unbowed Petition

Sign this petition rejecting giving control to the federal government: https://alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org/petitions/university-of-california-reject-the-federal-government-s-political-control

Email the University of California

The Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) has a link you can use to send personalized emails to President Millikin’s office and to the Regents with a brief 2-3 sentence reason why Newsom and UC Regents should not capitulate. It will take less than 2 minutes to copy this link into your browser and fill out the letter. You can also forward this link to one or two of your friends and ask them to send their brief thoughts to UCOP and to the UC Regents to stand firm: https://cucfa.solidarity.tech/tell-ucop-and-the-regents-not-to-negotiate

Contact “donors” for Trump’s ballroom

CNN published this list: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/us/trump-white-house-ballroom-donors-invs

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Sample Letters

We have a growing collection of sample letters. Please edit as you see fit!

Download or copy and paste, then edit and send.

Add your own personal zeal and and let these companies and organizations feel supported by real people to have intetgrity and stand up to the unreasonable (and even unlawful) demands.

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Sample letter to Apple

Letter requesting Apple consider integrity when chosing outside law firms

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Sample Letter to GM

Sample of a strong call to action for GM to not work with capitulating law firms

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Sample Letter to Home Depot

Concerned about ICE? Write the board of Home Depot and let them know!

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Sample Letter to New York State Bar Association

Letter to the NY State Bar about blatant quid pro quo corruption

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Sample Letter to Target about DEI

Sample letter urging Target to re-consider if they have a backbone and possibly restore their tarnished reputation

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Sample Letter to the Regents of the University of California

Example of how to write to an institution to ask them to hold firm to their values

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Sample Letter to a Non-Capitulating Company

You can also write letters to companies like Costco that have not capitulated.

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