The response by DHH and Jason wasn't really to ban politics though, it was that only their political stance was acceptable. As a result of the policy, it's not that Basecamp had no opinion on the names list - instead, the outcome was that they did have a stance that it was bad, but not bad enough that you could link it to systemic racism.

"No politics" is a smokescreen. What it means in reality, here or anywhere else its instituted, is that "leadership decides the acceptable position on political issues."