August 15, 2017
SumOfUs Applauds Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank for Resigning from Trump's American Manufacturing Council
Over 26,000 people have signed a petition by consumer watchdog group SumOfUs, demanding CEOs on President Trump's business councils to resign from their posts advising the president. The petition comes after news yesterday that Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank announced their resignations from Trump's manufacturing council over Trump's failure to adequately repudiate white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, VA this past weekend.
In a statement, Frazier explained: "America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy," adding, "as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism." In response to Frazier's resignation, Trump tweeted: "Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!"
Following Frazier, Krzanich, and Plank's decision to leave the council, SumOfUs, a global consumer group, is calling on other CEOs serving Trump's business and manufacturing councils to follow suit, and slamming the President for tweeting in retribution. SumOfUs campaign manager Nicole Carty explained:
"More and more we are seeing America's business leaders recognize that President Trump's brand of bigotry is bad for business. They know that working with a President who gives cover to white supremacist violence and terror is bad for America and they recognize that Trump's presidency is not business as usual, but represents a dangerous threat to pluralism and democratic values. Frazier, Plank, and Krzanich join the ranks of business leaders like Elon Musk and Bob Iger who took a stand by refusing to advise Trump and legitimize his destructive agenda—for that, we applaud them.
"To the CEOs who have remained on Trump's advisory councils, even after he has shown himself time and again as a racist, sexist warmonger who refuses to adequately condemn neo-nazis: Your complicity is noted. That is why over 26,000 SumOfUs members are urging Trump's remaining corporate advisors—including Ford's Mark Fields , GE's Jeff Immelt, JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, IBM's Ginni Rometty, Walmart's Doug McMillon, and Pepsi's Indra Nooyi —to follow the example of Frazier, Krzanich, and Plank by ending their collaboration with Trump's agenda of hate. "
FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/business/merck-ceo-trump-charlottesville.html?_r=0