About
Stephen Soukup is a prominent critic of ”woke capitalism” and author of The Dictatorship of Woke Capital: How Political Correctness Captured Big Business (2021). He cofounded the Political Forum Institute (wokecapital.org), a project housed at the right-wing National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR). He and former fast-food chain CEO Andy Puzder also co-authored Other People’s Money: How Progressives Hijacked Your Investments to Achieve Their Aims (2023). Soukup is also a senior fellow at Consumers’ Research.
Since early 2023, Soukup has been publishing a digital newsletter that highlights ongoing battles in the “woke capitalism” wars and is promoted on NCPPR’s website. He also claims to be the senior commentator, vice president, and publisher of the Political Forum—what he calls an “independent research provider”—but it’s unclear to what extent this organization (with a name registered in Lincoln, Nebraska) actually exists.
Soukup met his long-time collaborator Mark Melcher (with whom he cofounded the Political Forum) when they were both at Lehman Brothers in the early 2000s. Both are associated with the Culture of Life Foundation, an anti-abortion advocacy group.
Soukup studied political science, and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Actions
- Delivered a “straight talk” at the 2022 Fall National Meeting of the State Financial Officers Foundation (11/14/22)
- Participated in a panel discussion titled “Wokeism in America’s Boardrooms” facilitated by William L. Walton with Justin Danhof, then executive vice president at the National Center for Public Policy Research, at the 2021 Fall National Meeting of the Council for National Policy (9/24/21)
- Signed an open letter to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink demanding that the asset management firm not take ESG factors into consideration when making investments (4/15/20)