Race matters in a bad way in Don’s priorities
GRUDGING CONDEMNATION
So, which is the real President Trump, the one who said “racism is evil” while denouncing neo-Nazis and the KKK, or the one who tried to embarrass a black CEO who called him out for taking so long? Consider that it took 48 hours, national outrage and the death of a peaceful protester before Trump stood behind the presidential seal Monday and used the words “hate groups” and “repugnant” in the same sentence.
This was after — AFTER — Trump took down Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, the only black person on the President’s American Manufacturing Council, for quitting his post in protest Monday.
Frazier, outraged by the deadly violence at a weekend protest in Charlottesville, Va., said he resigned to “take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
“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 in a statement. He did not mention Trump by name. Fifty-fourminuteslater,Trumpusedhis favorite medium to do to Frazier, a highprofile corporate executive, what it took him two days to do to the white supremacists — repudiate him in the strongest terms possible.
“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.
Frazier isn’t the first executive to drop a White House role in protest.
Tesla’s Elon Musk and Disney’s Bob Iger stepped away from the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum in protest of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement. Trump did not go after either of them on Twitter. Musk and Iger are white. But what else were we to expect from the same man who, during the presidential campaign, dragged his feet and double-talked his way around questions about the support of white supremacist David Duke, a featured speaker at the Charlottesville rally?
This is the same man who hosted racist campaign rallies with gun-toting supporters, where black people were kicked out for reminding him that their lives mattered.
This is the same man whose staff has so many alt-right connections and so much support from bigots and neo-Nazis that he probably thinks the White House means it’s just for them.
Congratulations,America.Yougotjust what you voted for.