A fourth business executive has abandoned President Trump’s business advisory council following criticism that the president moved too slowly in condemning race-fueled violence in Charlottesville.
The list of recent departures now includes the CEOs of Merck, Intel, Under Armour, and the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
Intel’s CEO quit the council and published a long note calling on all business leaders to condemn white supremacists. The president of the American Manufacturing Alliance said simply it’s the right thing to do.
Paul Argenti, an expert in corporate communications at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, said, “Millennials are very much concerned with responsibility and ethics in a way that previous generations have not been, and you want your employees to feel good about you.”
Two executives quit in June when Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accord. Uber’s CEO quit in February after online criticism hurt business. Several CEOs have said they will remain on the council. GE, Dow Chemical, Whirlpool, and others said they denounced violence, but wanted to continue improving the economy. On twitter, Trump suggested that those who quit were grandstanding and others would take their place.
