» Trump’s councils: President Donald Trump disbands his economic councils after more prominent CEOs decide to quit advising the White House.

CEOs cite values of diversity, tolerance as they leave boards

The fallout from President Donald Trump’s response to the Charlottesville, Va., tragedy escalated Wednesday as more prominent CEOs quit advising the White House on economic matters and Trump disbanded his manufacturing and business policy councils.

“Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!,” Trump tweeted.

Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison and 3M CEO Inge Thulin Wednesday joined a growing list of American chief executives who resigned from the president’s manufacturing job council, an advisory group the White House formed this year.

Pressure from the business community has been intensifying this week following Trump’s widely criticized response to violence that erupted after a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville over the weekend.

On Monday, Merck CEO Ken Frazier became the first major American chief executive to speak out against Trump’s response, quitting the manufacturing council as “a matter of personal conscience.”

Frazier’s decision was followed hours later by other CEOs on the council, including Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank.

With the hashtag #Quitthecouncil trending, resignations continued over the next 48 hours as the chief executives of AFL-CIO, 3M, Campbell Soup and Alliance for American Manufacturing also ditched their relationships with the president.

“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.”

Frazier’s resignation prompted an angry rebuke 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.

But Trump’s initial refusal to name the specific hate groups that rallied in Charlottesville moved the other CEOs to walk away while extolling diversity and tolerance as company values.

After internal and external pressure, Trump relented and mentioned the hate groups, in-

cluding neo-Nazis and KKK. But in a defiant return to form, Trump stood before reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower Tuesday and said counter-protesters were also to blame for the tragedy that left three dead and dozens hurt.

Other CEOs who chose to stick with the councils cited the need to stay engaged with the White House to make meaningful changes. But the steady drumbeat for them to disassociate from Trump was growing daily.

As manufacturing sector chief executives began to jump ship, none of the CEOs on Trump’s economic council — the Strategic and Policy Forum — had quit as of Wednesday morning. But they also began to receive inquiries from activists and reporters about their intentions. And as resignations began to mount and the story refused to wane, the CEOs on the policy forum began contemplating its future.

“We believe the debate over Forum participation has become a distraction from our well-intentioned and sincere desire to aid vital policy discussions on how to improve the lives of everyday Americans,” read the forum’s statement that was issued through private equity firm Blackstone, whose CEO Stephen Schwarzman chairs the group. “As such, the President and we are disbanding the Forum.”

The chief executives’ resignations may have business motives as well, said Bill Klepper, professor of management at Columbia Business School. “I think they’re finding the cost of alignment with Trump is too high,” he said. “They have a social contract to stakeholders (that says) here’s what we stand for. These are our core values. Here’s how we’re going to contribute and win as a business in society. And we’re going to do it through ethical principles.”

“And lots of things Trump has been doing or not doing come close to violating the social contract,” Klepper said.

There have been questions about the councils’ effectiveness from the start and some critics dismissed them merely as photo opportunities for a president whose central campaign was about restoring jobs.

In quitting his spot, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the manufacturing council has “yet to hold any real meeting” since it was formed.

“There are real questions into the effectiveness of this council to deliver real policy that lifts working families,” he said.