Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier announced he is quitting President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council to “take a stand against intolerance and extremism” following the violence in Charlottesville on Aug. 12.
Frazier, 62, was the only black CEO to serve on the president’s manufacturing board. He is the chairman and CEO of the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. and a graduate of Harvard Law School.
Frazier made the announcement on Merck’s Twitter.com page Monday morning.
“I am resigning from the President’s American Manufacturing Council,” the statement reads.
“Our county’s strength stems from its diversity and the contributions made by men and women of different faiths, races, sexual orientations and political beliefs,” he said, conflating homosexuality with race and religion.
Within an hour of Frazier’s announcement, Trump called him out on Twitter.com, saying the Merck CEO will now have more time on his hands to “LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!”
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
Others noted that Frazier didn’t quit or take a stand against intolerance when a mad man gunned down House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and other GOP members at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia in June.
Nor did he quit the board when Antifa thugs beat a Trump supporter unconscious at another rally.
It seems liberals only take a stand against intolerance when the intolerant act is committed by conservatives and Trump supporters — despite the fact that more violent acts are committed by Democrats and progressives on the left.
Photos by Spence Platt/ Getty Images, Win McNamee/Getty Images
