CEOs desert Trump over remarks on the alt-Right
UNITED STATES: Donald Trump was abandoned by business leaders and lambasted by senior Republicans yesterday amid a fierce backlash over his comments in response to violence by white supremacists in Charlottesville.
The president was forced to disband two advisory councils as the high profile chief executives that made up their membership jumped ship. This came amid a chorus of public disapproval from Republicans led by former presidents George H W Bush and George W Bush, who issued a rare joint statement condemning ‘‘bigotry’’ and quoting the Declaration of Independence, and from military leaders.
British Prime Minister Theresa May was among international figures who issued a rebuke to the president of Britain’s close ally.
May said: ‘‘I see no equivalence between those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them, and I think it is important for all those in positions of responsibility to condemn far-right views wherever we hear them.’’
Trump made several conflicting statements over several days about Saturday’s events in Charlottesville, Virginia at which anti-fascist demonstrator Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and three dozen others were injured.
The Unite the Right rally was a protest against Charlottesville’s decision to take down a statue of the Robert E Lee, Confederate Civil War general.
Those protesting against removing the statue waved swastikas, carried torches and chanted far right slogans.
In a bad-tempered press conference on Tuesday, local time, Trump made absolutely clear that he believed there was ‘‘blame on both sides,’’ and that included what he called the ‘‘alt-Left’’. He said there were ‘‘very fine people on both sides’’.
His comments sent shock waves across America and he was accused, including by many Republicans, of suggesting a ‘‘moral equivalence’’ between neoNazis and anti-fascist protesters, and emboldening white supremacists.
Disbanding his two business advisory councils Trump wrote on Twitter: ‘‘Rather than putting pressure on the business people of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!’’
But chief executives had been leaving since Saturday in protest at his ambivalent condemnation of events. The remaining business leaders made clear it was their decision to distance themselves from the White House.
Many senior Republicans avoided criticising the president directly in past controversies, but several figures did not hold back. John McCain, Republican senator, said: ‘‘There’s no moral equivalency between racists and Americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry. The president of the United States should say so.’’
- Telegraph Group