Trump attacks Merck Chief Kenneth Frazier for quitting advisory panel

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Kenneth C. Frazier, the chief executive of Merck pharmaceuticals, quit the president’s American Manufacturing Council on Monday over President Donald Trump‘s tepid response to the violence over the weekend in Virginia.

“America’s leaders must honor our fundamental views by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal,” Frazier said in a tweet announcing his decision to leave the board.

pic.twitter.com/a1PNQZism5

— Merck (@Merck) August 14, 2017

–Merk CEO Kenneth Frazier resigns from Trump’s American Manufacturing Council over Charlottesville–

Frazier, who is one of the very few black chief executives of a Fortune 500 company, was responding to Trump’s comments in the wake of a white supremacist rally in Virginia that resulted in 20 counter protesters being injured and one killed after a white supremacist drove a car into a group of protesters. Trump said that there was anger and hate on “many sides” rather than specifically condemning the neo-Nazis and white supremacists responsible.

It took less than an hour for Trump to respond to Frazier’s announcement, writing, “Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” on Twitter as he took a break from his New Jersey “working vacation” for a day trip back to Washington.

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