Bosses from Intel, Merck and Under Armour distance themselves from administration after president’s reluctance to denounce white nationalists

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Three executives have quit Donald Trump’s business advisory panel, throwing it into chaos, in the wake of the president’s failure to immediately denounce white supremacists over a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one dead and several others injured.

The CEOs of pharmaceutical giant Merck, sportswear retailer Under Armour and computer company Intel have all resigned from Trump’s American Manufacturing Council as pressure mounts for business leaders who aligned themselves with the president to abandon his administration.



Under Armour’s Kevin Plank quit after Kenneth Frazier, the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck and one of the US’s most high-profile African American executives, stepped down from the council on Monday as Trump came under intense criticism for initially failing to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups following the Charlottesville attack.



“Under Armour engages in sports, not politics,” Plank said in a statement posted to the sportswear company’s official Twitter account. “I am appreciative for the opportunity to have served, but have decided to step down from the council.”

Under Armour (@UnderArmour) I love our country & company. I am stepping down from the council to focus on inspiring & uniting through power of sport. - CEO Kevin Plank pic.twitter.com/8YvndJMjj1

“I love our country and our company and will continue to focus my efforts on inspiring every person that they can do anything through the power of sport which promotes unity, diversity and inclusion.”

Not long after Plank’s statement came a similar announcement from Brian Krzanich, the CEO of technology company Intel.

“I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing,” Krzanich said.

“Politics and political agendas have sidelined the important mission of rebuilding America’s manufacturing base … I resigned because I want to make progress, while many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them.”

Plank and other members of the council have come under pressure in the aftermath of the attack in Charlottesville where a white supremacist rally erupted into violence. One of the rally participants has been accused of intentionally driving his car into counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.



Plank had earlier tweeted: “We are saddened by #Charlottesville. There is no place for racism or discrimination in this world. We choose love & unity.”

Under Armour (@UnderArmour) We are saddened by #Charlottesville. There is no place for racism or discrimination in this world. We choose love & unity. - CEO Kevin Plank

That response was found to be insufficient by Twitter users, who urged Plank to step down from Trump’s council. Their calls were amplified when Frazier resigned from the council on Monday, citing his “responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism”.

Trump prompted a firestorm by initially refusing to condemn white supremacists, choosing instead to denounce violence “on all sides”. The president did not explicitly single out white supremacists until Monday, declaring in a speech that “racism is evil”.

After that statement, the US president went on to share a tweet from the conspiracy theorist and pro-Trump provocateur, Jack Posobiec, who is known for promoting discredited theories about the killing of the Democratic National Committee employee, Seth Rich.

Posobiec, who worked to promote Trump’s election campaign, also propagated the erroneous “pizzagate” allegations against Hillary Clinton that led a man to walk into a restaurant with an assault rifle and fire off three rounds, among other falsehoods.

Frazier quit Trump’s panel earlier on Monday, citing “a responsibility to take a stand against violence and extremism” and triggering an almost immediate attack from the president.

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His decision followed Trump’s statement blaming “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides” for the violent protests that left one woman dead and 19 injured – a statement that has been condemned by members of his own party as well as opponents.



“America’s leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry, and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal,” Frazier, one of just four black executives running a Fortune 500 company, said in a statement.

Trump attacked Frazier shortly after the announcement. “Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” he tweeted.



Trump has previously criticized pharmaceutical companies for charging “astronomical” drug prices and pledged to find ways to bring prices down.

Following Frazier’s announcement, Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO – a union federation with 12 million members – said it was also assessing its involvement with Trump’s business panel. Trumka sits on the panel.

“The AFL-CIO has unequivocally denounced the actions of bigoted domestic terrorists in Charlottesville and called on the president to do the same,” Trumka said, adding, “While the AFL-CIO will remain a powerful voice for the freedoms of working people, there are real questions into the effectiveness of this council to deliver real policy that lifts working families.”



Frazier and Plank are the fourth and fifth business leaders to quit Trump’s business panel. The Disney chairman Bob Iger and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk both resigned in June after the president announced he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement.

“Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Musk wrote on Twitter.

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Trump announced the creation of his Strategic and Policy Forum last December. The aim was to create a forum for business leaders to advise the president on ways to “make it attractive for firms to create new jobs”.



But the business panel was dogged by controversy from the outset, with staff and customers of many of the companies represented protesting that the involvement of their bosses appeared to endorse policies that their companies’ opposed.

Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, was the first executive to quit the council. In February, he announced his resignation following intense criticism from staff and customers over Trump’s immigration executive order – which attempted to suspend immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries.

Quick guide What happened at the Charlottesville protests? Show Hide What happened in Charlottesville on 12 August? White nationalists gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest against a plan to remove a statue of Robert E Lee, the Confederacy’s top general in the American civil war. Demonstrators chanted racist statements, carried antisemitic placards and held torches during the “Unite the Right” rally, which was organised by white nationalist Jason Kessler. The march was met by anti-fascist demonstrators, and some skirmishes broke out before James Fields, 20, allegedly ploughed a car into a group of counter-demonstrators. Civil rights activist Heather Heyer, 32, died and others were injured. Fields has been charged with murder.

Monday’s resignations will put pressure of the remaining members on the council, many of whose companies have policies on immigration and climate change that are in conflict with the Trump administration. Remaining members include Mary Barra, chief executive of General Motors; Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan; Indra Nooyi, chair and chief executive of Pepsi; Ginni Rometty, chief executive of IBM; and Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of Blackstone.

Trump’s lackluster response to the attack in Charlottesville drew widespread criticism, including from members of his own party. A growing list of elected Republicans called on the president to more forcefully condemn the white supremacists behind the protests, with many openly referring to the moment as an existential crisis for the Republican Party.

Alex Conant, a former adviser to Marco Rubio, said Trump’s missed opportunity to unite the country only compounded his existing problems.

“Once you lose political capital, it’s really hard to earn it back,” said Conant, who now runs the public affairs firm Firehouse Strategies.

“Trump’s terrible poll numbers have real consequences. Nobody wants to join a losing team.”