- On Monday, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier announced he was quitting President Trump's American Manufacturing Council
- Using
the official Merck Twitter account, Frazier said he was exiting the
group because American leaders needed to clearly condemn group
supremacy
- President Trump's response
to violence in Charlottesville has been widely panned as he hasn't
called out KKK members, neo Nazis or white supremacists
- He did call out Frazier in under an hour, saying now the Merck CEO 'will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!'
- Frazier was the only African-American CEO to serve on the president's American Manufacturing Council
The only black member of President Trump's
American Manufacturing Council quit on Monday over the president's
response to the violence in Charlottesville, calling on American leaders
to clearly reject 'expressions of hatred, bigotry and group
supremacy.'
Kenneth Frazier, the CEO
of the pharmaceutical giant Merck, bowed out of the board, saying it was
a 'matter of personal conscience' that he take a 'stand against
intolerance and extremism.'
President Trump quickly hit back on Twitter,
writing, 'Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from
President's Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF
DRUG PRICES!'
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Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier quit President Trump's American Manufacturing
Council over President Trump's lackluster response to violence in
Charlottesville caused by white supremacist groups
President Trump quickly hit Frazier's decision on Twitter Monday, by suggesting Merck overcharged for its drugs
President Trump (left) is photographed with Kenneth Frazier (right), the
CEO of Merck in July, as the only black member of Trump's manufacturing
council exited the group over the president's inability to call out
white supremacists by name
On Monday morning, the official Merck Twitter account sent out CEO
Kenneth Frazier's statement on why he decided to quit President Trump's
American Manufacturing Council
The president is now facing a business
backlash over his much-panned response to the violence that broke out
Saturday in Charlottesville, in which one counter-protester – marching
against hate groups gathered in the Virginia town – was killed.
Nazi
sympathizer James Fields, a 20-year-old from Ohio, used his Dodge
Charger to run over counter-protesters killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer
and injuring 19 more.
He's been charged with second degree murder.
Two police officers who were responding to the violence were also killed when their helicopter crashed.
On
Saturday, Trump made a statement from his Bedminster resort in New
Jersey saying, 'We condemn in the strongest possible terms this
egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many
sides.'
Critics, including a handful
of Congressional Republicans, suggested that Trump was falsely equating
the neo-Nazis, KKK members and white supremacists protesting the removal
of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee with those marching
against the hate groups.
Since then, an unnamed spokesman for the
White House has updated the statement to say 'of course that includes
white supremacists, KKK, Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.'
But Trump hasn't personally condemned the hate groups by name.
Kenneth Frazier (left), the CEO of Merck, was the only black member of President Trump's (right) American Manufacturing Council
Members of white supremacist groups are photographed gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia, Friday night
Members of hate groups including the KKK are escorted by police past a group of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia
Counter-protesters and members of hate groups clash in Charlottesville,
Virginia. One counter-protester was killed, along with two police
officers in a helicopter crash
Instead, Trump spent his
Sunday out of journalists' sights, not making public appearances and
staying off Twitter throughout the day.
Around
6 p.m. he finally retweeted several pieces of positive coverage, but
made no mention of the Charlottesville violence again.
It took Trump under an hour to respond to Frazier's decision to quit the manufacturing board.
On
Sunday night, Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump's response and
by Monday morning Attorney General Jeff Sessions had also chimed in.
'He
made a very strong statement that directly contradicted the ideology of
hatred, violence, bigotry, racism, white supremacy,' Session, during an
appearance on the Today show, argued.
But that wasn't enough to sway Frazier, whose statement from the official Merck Twitter account quickly picked up steam.
'I am resigning from the President's American Manufacturing Council,' he wrote.
'Our
country's strength stems from its diversity and the contributions by
men and women of different faiths, races, sexual orientations and
political beliefs,' Frazier said.
Frazier's exit marks the fourth time a prominent CEO has walked away from one of Trump's White House boards.
On
the heels of Trump exiting the Paris climate accord, Tesla CEO Elon
Musk, also part of the American Manufacturing Council, threw in the
towel. Disney CEO Bob Iger, who served on the president's Strategic and
Policy Forum exited over Paris too.
Now
former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick left Trump's boards in February over
the administration's travel ban, which targeted Muslim-majority
countries.
Another member of the manufacturing board, Under Armour's Kevin Plank, also tweeted about Charlottesville on Monday, but didn't say if he, too, would leave the group.
'We
are saddened by #Charlottesville. There is no place for racism or
discrimination in this world. We choose love & unity,' Plank wrote.
source :
dailymail
