In the wake of this weekend’s deadly, racially charged demonstrations in Virginia, more top business leaders have cut formal ties with President Trump. If you’re keeping track, executives from Merck, Under Armour, and Intel have all announced they would stop advising the president because of Trump’s inability to formally call out nazis and white supremacists.
Expect it to continue: Today President Trump held a press conference that will surely only add kindling to this fire. He was visibly defensive, and compared the desecration of Confederate monuments to those depicting George Washington. Instead of flat-out denouncing white supremacy, Trump called out the left as well–essentially saying the “alt-left” had as much blame in this weekend’s violence as the racist groups that held the rally.
“I’ve condemned neo-nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups, but not all of those people were neo-nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch,” he said. He went on: “I think there’s blame on both sides, and I have no doubt about it.”
Sources are telling media outlets that Trump went very off script:
Blind quote of the day: “That was all him — this wasn’t our plan” – a senior WH official tells @jeffzeleny of Trump
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 15, 2017
Given the already tenuous relationship Trump has had with leaders in the technology and business communities, we imagine more formal CEO departures soon. Expect some follow-up posts soon.
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