Another day, another defection from President Donald Trump’s manufacturing council.
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul resigned from the council Tuesday morning, becoming the fourth person this week to do so.
I’m resigning from the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative because it’s the right thing for me to do.
— Scott Paul (@ScottPaulAAM) August 15, 2017
Kenneth Frazier, the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck, announced he would step down Monday after Trump failed to explicitly condemn white nationalist groups following violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Under Armor CEO Kevin Plank followed Frazier out the door the same day.
“I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing,” Krzanich wrote in a blog post Monday. “I resigned because I want to make progress, while many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them.”
Trump established the council of 28 business leaders in January to advise him on restoring America’s industrial jobs and bringing back outsourced work. Many other members released statements Tuesday condemning the violence in Charlottesville but pledging to continue to advise the president to help enact policies to rebuild the American workforce.
Trump responded predictably to the mass exodus, ranting about “grandstanders” and vowing to assemble a manufacturing council greater and more terrible than ever before.
For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2017
