Late Monday night, the chief executive officer of Intel became the third business titan to resign from President Trump’s manufacturing council.
CEO Brian Krzanich wrote in a blog post that he had “tendered my resignation from the American Manufacturing Council. 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.”
Mr. Krzanich didn’t name Mr. Trump or directly accuse him of Nazi or white-nationalist sympathies. But he said that he had “made clear my abhorrence at the recent hate-spawned violence in Charlottesville [but] I resigned because I want to make progress, while many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them.”
“I am not a politician,” he continued. “Yet, it is clear even to me that nearly every issue is now politicized to the point where significant progress is impossible.”
Mr. Krzanich was the third high-profile resignation from the council Monday and the second to become public in just a few evening hours.
The CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank, also said Monday night he is stepping down from Mr. Trump’s council.
“Under Armor engages in innovation and sports, not politics,” Mr. Plank said. “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.”
And earlier Monday, Merck CEO Ken Frazier quit the council, specifically citing Mr. Trump’s initial reaction to the Charlottesville protests as the reason.
“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,” Mr. Frazier said.
The president promptly hit back at Mr. Frazier.
“Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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