By Michael J. de la Merced
By late Monday, in the immediate aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Va., the number of corporate chiefs serving as advisers to President Trump had shrunk by three. The question is, will more follow?
Here are the C.E.O.s who departed on Monday:
• Kenneth C. Frazier of Merck, who was the first to step down from the White House’s manufacturing advisory council following Mr. Trump’s initially tepid response to the events in Charlottesville;
• Kevin Plank of Under Armour, who followed later in the day;
• Brian Krzanich of Intel, who made his own announcement hours afterward.
After earlier contentious moves by the president, other executives have also stepped down as advisers:
• Elon Musk of Tesla, who left Mr. Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum in June because of the president’s withdrawal from the Paris climate change accord; (this is the guy who says "AI ‘vastly more risky than North Korea’"; interesting article in the Guardian)
• Robert A. Iger of Walt Disney, who also left the strategic forum because of the climate withdrawal;
• Travis Kalanick of Uber, who departed the president’s economic advisory council in February, after pressure from Uber customers. (should read "former CEO" who is now being sued by Benchmark, article online at TechCrunch)
Many more chief executives spoke out against racial discrimination and white supremacy, including Timothy Cook of Apple, Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs (neither of whom sits on a presidential advisory council) and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (who does).
General Electric issued a statement saying that it had “no tolerance for hate, bigotry or racism,” but said that its chairman, Jeffrey R. Immelt, would remain a presidential adviser.
It’s easy to see why many executives choose not to make a noisy departure from the advisory perch. After Mr. Frazier of Merck made his move to leave the manufacturing council, Mr. Trump took a jab at the C.E.O. on Twitter. Nine hours later, the president took another. (typical Stump's Twitter tantrums)
Mr. Frazier had the apparent backing of his board when he made his decision. One director, Leslie A. Brun, told The Times, “I thought the pettiness of the president’s response, on a personal level, is indicative of how far we’ve sunk.”
Many of the C.E.O.s and business moguls who have remained presidential advisers, however uncomfortably, have argued that it is better for them to retain a seat at the table on important issues.
But DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin argues: “That’s a valid argument — to a point. If the president isn’t following your advice or the values you espouse, when should you get up? Of course, big policy decisions like tax reform remain just around the corner, so many executives are desperate to keep a line open to the president even if it is only one-way.”
Bloomberg News, however, notes that the strategic and policy forum hasn’t done much.
http://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/2017/08/15/dealbook?nlid=68156606 |
