An exodus of executives from President Trump’s manufacturing council this week has amplified the backlash over his sluggish response to the recent violence in Charlottesville and raised questions about whether major corporations will continue to work with a White House marred by racial controversy.

Although Trump attempted on Monday and again on Tuesday to clean up the mess his initial equivocation had caused, his condemnation of the alt-right groups involved in the weekend’s riots came too late to prevent six business leaders from withdrawing from the presidential manufacturing council by Tuesday evening.