Members of Trump’s former advisory councils

Members who resigned from Trump’s advisory councils

Resigned Bob Iger

Walt Disney Resigned Brian Krzanich

Intel Resigned Denise Morrison

Campbell Soup Resigned Elon Musk

SpaceX, Tesla, OpenAI Resigned Jeff Immelt

G.E. Resigned Ken Frazier

Merck & Co. Resigned Kevin Plank

Under Armour Resigned Thea Lee

A.F.L.-C.I.O. Resigned Scott Paul

Alliance for American Manufacturing Resigned Richard Trumka

A.F.L.-C.I.O. Resigned Travis Kalanick

Uber Adebayo Ogunlesi

Global Infrastructure Partners Alex Gorsky

Johnson & Johnson Andrew Liveris

Dow Bill Brown

Harris Corp. Daniel Yergin

IHS Markit Dennis Muilenburg

Boeing Doug McMillon

Walmart Ginni Rometty

IBM Greg Hayes

United Technologies Indra Nooyi

PepsiCo Inge Thulin

3M Jack Welch

G.E. (retired) Jamie Dimon

JPMorgan Jeff Fettig

Whirlpool Jim Kamsickas

Dana Jim McNerney

Boeing (retired) John Ferriola

Nucor Kevin Warsh

Hoover Institution Larry Fink

BlackRock Marillyn Hewson

Lockheed Martin Mark Sutton

International Paper Mark Weinberger

EY Mary Barra

G.M. Michael Dell

Dell Michael Polk

Newell Brands Paul Atkins

Patomak Rich Kyle

Timken Rich Lesser

BCG Stephen Schwarzman

Blackstone Toby Cosgrove

Cleveland Clinic Wendell Weeks

Corning

It has become a ritual of the modern presidency to appoint the chief executives of big corporations to largely ceremonial committees that are meant to show the public that the White House is soliciting advice from important and serious people. But under President Trump even this anodyne tradition has become a farce.

Mr. Trump said on Wednesday that he was disbanding two such committees – the Strategic and Policy Forum and the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative – after members of the forum had decided in a conference call to dissolve the group and several executives had resigned from the manufacturing initiative. The business leaders were fleeing because they did not want to be seen as supporting a president who on Tuesday sought to blame “both sides” — white supremacists and counterprotesters — for the violence in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend. By disbanding the groups, Mr. Trump was sparing his administration the humiliation of having executives step up one by one to announce their departures on Twitter and through corporate press releases.

It was clear that the forum and the manufacturing initiative were rapidly coming apart. Members of the forum, which was led by Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group, held their conference call late Wednesday morning, The Times reported. Members of the manufacturing initiative were planning to hold a call in the afternoon.

The discussions followed a number of departures from the committees. Kenneth Frazier of Merck, Kevin Plank of Under Armour and Brian Krzanich of Intel left the manufacturing group on Monday. And they were followed on Tuesday by Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an organization backed by the steel industry and the United Steelworker and Richard Trumka and Thea Lee, the president and deputy chief of staff for the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

Brian Krzanich C.E.O., Intel Corporation blog post read: "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." Denise Morrison Campbell Soup Company In a statement, she said: "Following yesterday's remarks from the President, I cannot remain on the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative." Jeff Immelt Charman of the board, General Electric "The Committee I joined had the intention to foster policies that promote American manufacturing and growth. However, given the ongoing tone of the discussion, I no longer feel that this Council can accomplish these goals." Ken Frazier C.E.O., Merck & Co. A statement on Twitter read: “As C.E.O. of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against extremism.” Kevin Plank C.E.O. and chairman, Under Armour press release read: "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." Thea Lee Deputy chief of staff, A.F.L.-C.I.O. According to a statement from A.F.L.-C.I.O. president Richard Trumka: "We cannot sit on a council for a president who tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism." Scott Paul President, Alliance for American Manufacturing He tweeted : "I'm resigning from the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative because it's the right thing for me to do." Richard Trumka President, A.F.L.-C.I.O. Tweeted : "I cannot sit on a council for a President that tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism; I resign, effective immediately."

These were not the first executives to disassociate themselves from his administration. In February, Travis Kalanick, who was then chief executive of Uber, left the president’s Strategic and Policy Forum after Mr. Trump issued an executive order barring travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries. And in June, Elon Musk of Tesla and Robert Iger of Disney quit the forum after Mr. Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.

Bob Iger Chairman and C.E.O., The Walt Disney Company Tweeted : “As a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.” Elon Musk C.E.O. and C.T.O. of SpaceX, C.E.O. of Tesla, co-chairman of OpenAI Tweeted : “Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.” Travis Kalanick Former C.E.O., Uber In an email to employees, he wrote: "There are many ways we will continue to advocate for just change on immigration, but staying on the council was going to get in the way of that."

These executives took an important stand and did so knowing that Mr. Trump might lash out at them as he did with Mr. Frazier, who is one of the few black chief executives of Fortune 500 companies. He also blustered in a tweet on Tuesday that “For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place.” So much for that boast.

Many business leaders were clearly uneasy being tied to the president. Some corporate officials who did not resign earlier in the week issued statements critical of Mr. Trump. Walmart’s chief executive, Doug McMillon, said before Mr. Trump’s remarks on Tuesday that the president had “missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together by unequivocally rejecting the appalling actions of white supremacists” in an email to his staff later published online.

Yet, many corporate executives were also reluctant to leave the committees because they wanted to retain the influence and prestige that come with those positions. They were possibly still hopeful that Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress would shower big tax cuts and other benefits on them and their companies and organizations. They might have even believed that they could positively influence Mr. Trump's thinking on issues aside from economic and tax policy.

But it probably became clear to many of them after Mr. Trump’s bizarre press conference on Tuesday that they could no longer lend their companies’ credibility to Mr. Trump without badly damaging their own brands and reputations. One thing is certain, those who took an early principled stand will come out looking better than those who stuck around until the bitter end.