“There should be no hesitation in condemning hate speech or white supremacy by name.”
Two more prominent CEOs have left President Trump’s council of manufacturers following criticism of the president’s tepid response to the actions of white supremacists in Charlottesville, VA. The chief executives of Under Armour and Intel claimed that they were stepping down on Tuesday because of the current political climate.
Brian Krzanich, the CEO of Intel, said in a statement that he was resigning because “many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them.” He then went on Twitter to criticize the president’s response to the events in Charlottesville:
Kevin Plank, the CEO of Under Amour, said he was leaving to “focus on inspiring and uniting through the power of sport.” Here is the statement he tweet on Tuesday.
Their resignations follow the angry departure Monday of Kenneth Frazier, the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck.
Frazier, who is African American, criticized Trump for not “clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.” As head of Merck, Frazier leads one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and —along with Krzanich and Plank— was among two dozen CEOs invited by the president in January to form the American Manufacturing Council. The group has been advising the administration on ways to boost the US manufacturing sector.
On Monday morning, Frazier said he was resigning from the council as a “matter of conscience” and to take a stand against intolerance and extremism. Here is his entire statement tweeted by Merck:
Less than an hour later, instead of clarifying his condemnation of white supremacists and their actions in Virginia, Trump attacked Frazier instead:
While Trump’s tweets can often lead to chaos on Wall Street, there was no sign Monday that Merck’s stock prices were in trouble. In fact, they seemed to be doing quite well:
Merck, which is based in New Jersey, makes brand-name drugs like Gardasil, Propecia and Januvia.
