Twitter Reacts to Trump Tweet Slamming Merck CEO: ‘Utter Failure of Moral Leadership’
— Merck (@Merck) August 14, 2017
Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck pharmaceuticals, resigned from President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council on Monday, after the president failed to unambiguously condemn the Charlottesville terror attack as an act of white supremacy.
Frazier released a statement, writing that “as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a personal responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
And, of course, Trump responded with a tweet slamming the CEO for resigning over the White House response to Charlottesville’s attacks:
Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2017
Following the snipe from Trump, commentators on Twitter took the president to task for attacking Frazier so personally — despite failing to explicitly condemn white supremacists following the attack:
It’s still shocking Trump is condemning the Merck CEO more than he did white nationalists. https://t.co/luEP1LQpwf
— andrew kaczynski ? (@KFILE) August 14, 2017
Merck CEO Ken Frazier has officially earned more vigorous denunciation from Donald Trump than neo-Nazis. Happy 2017. https://t.co/YPhuWg2qPt
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) August 14, 2017
Nobody payed any attention to Trump’s manufacturing panel before, but now every member of it will face pressure to resign.
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) August 14, 2017
It took Trump 54 minutes to condemn Merck CEO Ken Frazier, but after several days he still has not condemned murdering white supremacists. https://t.co/ps9AVUTTH7
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 14, 2017
The President’s instant aggrieved reaction this a.m. vs Merck CEO only compounds the growing crisis of his utter failure of moral leadership
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 14, 2017
Add Merck to list of groups/individuals that Trump has denounced more forcefully – by name – than the white nationalists in Charlottesville https://t.co/dGBYywq6fg
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) August 14, 2017
Merck CEO resigns because Trump did not expressly condemn white supremacists. So Trump expressly condemns Merck CEO. https://t.co/C4DamrnnC8
— Tasneem N (@TasneemN) August 14, 2017
Time from Merck CEO tweet to Trump response: 54 minutes.
Trump still has not denounced hate groups that were in Charlottesville 2 days ago https://t.co/qDeNzyJUhZ
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) August 14, 2017
With Ken Frazier’s exit, the remaining member CEOs of Trump’s jobs advisory council. pic.twitter.com/8WZxgFP508
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) August 14, 2017
[image via screengrab]
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