Why Don’t All CEOs Quit Trump’s Advisory Councils?

I have since inauguration day been troubled by the abdication of moral responsibility on the part of business figures who have lent their reputations to Donald Trump. So congratulations to Merck chief executive Ken Frazier on his resignation from the American Manufacturing Council over the president’s manifestly inadequate response to Charlottesville.

Interestingly, Mr Trump lashed out by tweet at Mr Frazier, who is African American, for resigning. He did not lash out at Disney’s Robert Iger or Tesla’s Elon Musk, who are white, when they resigned from the strategic and policy forum because of the president’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord.

Andrew Ross Sorkin gets it absolutely right when he asks why there have not been more resignations from Mr Trump’s advisory councils. As I’ve discussed before, the president has again and again traduced American values of international co-operation, of integrity in government and of human decency.