Merck CEO Ken Frazier quits Trump’s jobs council over the president’s initial response to Saturday’s violence.
Decision due to Trump’s response to Charlottesville
Merck CEO Ken Frazier quit President Donald Trump’s manufacturing jobs council on Monday, following the president’s widely criticized response to violence that erupted after a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville over the weekend.
The resignation prompted an angry response from Trump on Twitter. “Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Trump tweeted.
“Our country’s strength stems from its diversity and the contributions made by men and women of different faiths, races, sexual orientations and political beliefs,” Frazier tweeted.
“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 said. “As CEO of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, Merck develops and makes a wide variety of vaccines and drugs, including allergy medicine Clarinex and cholesterol treatments Zocor and Vytorin.
Merck declined to comment on Trump’s response tweet regarding lowering drug prices. U.S. prices for the most popular brand-name drugs in the U.S. have risen 208% from 2008 to 2016, according to AARP. In January, Merck issued its own pricing report that showed seven years of price hikes. Prices for its drugs rose on average 9% since 2010, it said.
This isn’t the first time Trump has clashed this year with high-profile CEOs over his handling of policy matters. In June, Disney CEO Robert Iger and Tesla CEO Elon Musk quit another White House business advisory council over Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from a global climate-change treaty called the Paris Agreement.
In February, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick also quit advising Trump on business matters over the president’s proposal to ban travel from seven Muslim countries.
Trump came under fire over the weekend for his refusal to specifically denounce neo-Nazis, KKK and other racist groups after their rally in Charlottesville resulted in at least three people killed and dozens more hurt.
Trump’s statement over the weekend was considered inadequate by numerous lawmakers — including some Republicans. Some of Trump’s political opponents called it a “dog whistle” to farright and extremist supporters.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump said over the weekend, prompting his critics to wonder if he was implicitly criticizing the counter-protesters in Charlottesville.
After repeated calls for a more forceful in response, Trump finally addressed reporters in the White House on Monday afternoon and said “racism is evil.”
“And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups,” Trump said before leaving the lectern without taking questions.
He also announced that the Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation over a car attack in Charlottesville Saturday that killed Heather Heyer, 32, and injured 19 others. James Alex Fields Jr., 20, who is accused of driving the car, was denied bail Monday.