Business Leaders And Political Leaders Abandon Trump In Disgust

The Last Supper by Nancy Ohanian

If you've never heard of it before, Trump's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative council has come into the public eye in the last couple of days-- and for all the wrong reasons. He established the council in January to informally advice him on job creation issues. This is the list of the initial roster of executives:

• Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical
• Bill Brown, Harris Corporation
• Michael Dell, Dell Technologies
• John Ferriola, Nucor Corporation
• Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool Corporation
• Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company
• Ken Frazier, Merck & Co.
• Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson
• Greg Hayes, United Technologies Corp.
• Marilynn Hewson, Lockheed Martin Corp.
• Jeff Immelt, General Electric
• Jim Kamsickas, Dana Inc.
• Klaus Kleinfeld, Arconic
• Brian Krzanich, Intel Corp.
• Rich Kyle, The Timken Company
• Thea Lee, AFL-CIO
• Mario Longhi, U.S. Steel
• Denise Morrison, Campbell Soup
• Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing
• Elon Musk, Tesla
• Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar
• Scott Paul, Alliance for American Manufacturing
• Kevin Plank, Under Armour
• Michael Polk, Newell Brands
• Mark Sutton, International Paper
• Inge Thulin, 3M
• Richard Tumka, AFL-CIO
• Wendell Weeks, Corning

Trump's policies on immigration and Climate Change have alienated some of the members and some, like Tesla's Elon Musk, Uber's Travis Kalanick and Disney's Bob Iger saw the writing on the wall long ago and resigned. When anyone leaves, Trump curses them out and adds new members. Typical Trumpy-the-Clown tweet from yesterday:

His response to the tragedy in Charlottesville was widely seen as too sympathetic to domestic terrorists, the KKK and Nazis and more members quit, infuriating Señor Trumpanzee and driving him into a rage. Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck was the first to bail, issuing this statement that left Trump climbing the walls at Bedminster. When Trump read "America’s leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal," Trump immediately tweeted menacingly-- in a Queens middle school playground kind of way-- "Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!" Trump is such a douche bag!

And his bullying tactics didn't seem to deter anyone. Right after his screed against Frazier, Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour announced that he had "joined the American Manufacturing Council because I believed it was important for Under Armour to have an active seat at the table and represent our industry. We remain resolute in our potential and ability to improve American manufacturing. However, Under Armour engages in innovation and sports, not politics. I am appreciative of the opportunity to have served, but have decided to step down from the council. I love our country and our company and will continue to focus my efforts on inspiring every person that they can do anything through the power of sport which promotes unity, diversity and inclusion."

Next came Intel CEO Brian Krzanich with this statement condemning the "very fine" racists at the core of Trump's support, something that further enraged the already enraged Trump: "Earlier today, I tendered my resignation from the American Manufacturing Council. I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing. Politics and political agendas have sidelined the important mission of rebuilding America’s manufacturing base. I have already made clear my abhorrence at the recent hate-spawned violence in Charlottesville, and earlier today I called on all leaders to condemn the white supremacists and their ilk who marched and committed violence. I resigned because I want to make progress, while many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them. We should honor-- not attack-- those who have stood up for equality and other cherished American values. I hope this will change, and I remain willing to serve when it does."

Scott Paul, CEO of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, Scott Paul, announced his resignation from The Trumpist panel on twitter. About a quarter of the panel, including Mark Fields of Ford Motors, Mario Longhi of U.S. Steel and Klaus Kleinfeld of Arconic, have resigned. Still left are:

• Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical
• Bill Brown, Harris Corporation
• Michael Dell, Dell Technologies
• John Ferriola, Nucor Corporation
• Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool Corporation
• Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson
• Greg Hayes, United Technologies Corp.
• Marilynn Hewson, Lockheed Martin Corp.
• Jeff Immelt, General Electric
• Jim Kamsickas, Dana Inc.
• Rich Kyle, The Timken Company
• Thea Lee, AFL-CIO
• Denise Morrison, Campbell Soup
• Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing
• Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar
• Michael Polk, Newell Brands
• Mark Sutton, International Paper
• Inge Thulin, 3M
• Richard Tumka, AFL-CIO
• Wendell Weeks, Corning

Bankster Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase is still hanging on as a Trump outside adviser (on the Strategic and Policy Forum). He claims he's doing it because, for all his flaws, Trumpanzee "the pilot flying our airplane. We’re trying to help. I would try to help any president of the United States because I’m a patriot. We do not-- it does not mean we agree with all the policies that the administration comes up with." Andrew Liveris of Dow, is a true believer and a dyed-in-the-wool Trumpist. He gave a million dollars to the Trump inauguration slush fund and Trump made him chairman of the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative council. When Trump is holed up in the Oval Office refusing the accept the subpoenas from Mueller, Liveris will be with him, as will Michael Dell who just wants to keep Trump focused on tax breaks for billionaires and Marilyn Hewson, who wants nothing more than to have Trumpanzee buy lots more of the over-priced military equipment Lockheed Martin sells, like the F-35 fighter jet Trump has stopped criticizing.

As for the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka and Thea Lee, they've never even been informed about where meetings subsequent to the first one have been held so they're not being treated by Trump as members anyway. [UPDATE: Lee and Trumka resigned late yesterday. And Inge Thulin, president of 3M dumped Trump this morning: "Sustainability, diversity and inclusion are my personal values and also fundamental to the 3M Vision. The past few months have provided me with an opportunity to reflect upon my commitment to these values... After careful consideration, I believe the initiative is no longer an effective vehicle for 3M to advance these goals. As a result, today I am resigning from the Manufacturing Advisory Council. At 3M, we will continue to champion an environment that supports sustainability, diversity and inclusion. I am committed to building a company that improves lives in every corner of the world."]

Trumpanzee had an actual press conference yestreday. Expect more resignations soon. Here are some nuggets from the transcript of that shit-show:

Reporter: Why do you think these CEOs are leaving your manufacturing council?

Trump: Because they are not taking their job seriously as it pertains to this country. We want jobs, manufacturing in this country. If you look at some of those people that you're talking about, they're outside of the country. They're having a lot of their product made outside. If you look at Merck as an example. Take a look where-- excuse me, excuse me. Take a look at where their product is made. It's made outside of our country. We want products made in the country. Now, I have to tell you, some of the folks that will leave, they are leaving out of embarrassment because they make their products outside and I've been lecturing them, including the gentleman that you're referring to, about you have to bring it back to this country. You can't do it necessarily in Ireland and all of these other places. You have to bring this work back to this country. That's what I want. I want manufacturing to be back into the United States so that American workers can benefit.

Reporter: Why did you wait so long to put that last statement out?

Trump: I didn't wait long. I didn't wait long. I didn't wait long.

Reporter: It was at least 48 hours.

Trump: I wanted to make sure-- unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct. Not make a quick statement. The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement. But you don't make statements that direct unless you know the fact. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don't know the facts, and it's a very, very important process to me, and it's a very important statement, so I don't want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts. If you go back to-- I brought it. I brought it. I brought it. As I said-- remember this, Saturday-- we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America, and then I went on from there. Now, here's the thing. Excuse me, excuse me. Take it nice and easy. Here's the thing. When I make a statement, I like to be correct. I want the facts. This event just happened. In fact, a lot of the event didn't even happen yet, as we were speaking. This event just happened. Before I make a statement, I need the facts, so I don't want to rush into a statement.

So, making the statement when I made it was excellent. In fact, the young woman, who I hear is a fantastic young woman-- and it was on NBC-- her mother wrote me and said-- through I guess Twitter, social media-- the nicest things, and I very much appreciated that. I hear she was a fine, really actually an incredible young woman. But her mother on Twitter thanked me for what I said. And honestly, if the press were not fake and if it was honest, the press would have said what I said was very nice. But unlike you and unlike-- excuse me-- unlike you and unlike the media, before I make a statement I like to know the facts.

...Reporter: The CEO of WalMart said you missed a critical opportunity to help bring the country together. Did you?

Trump: Not at all. I think the country-- look, you take a look. I've created over a million jobs since I'm president. The country is booming, the stock market is setting records. We have the highest employment numbers we've ever had in the history of our country. We're doing record business. We have the highest levels of enthusiasm. So, the head of WalMart, whom I know, who is a very nice guy, was making a political statement. I mean, I do it the same way. You know why? Because I want to make sure, when I make a statement that the statement is correct, and there was no way-- there was no way of making a correct statement that early. I had to see the facts, unlike a lot of reporters-- unlike a lot of reporters. I know, David Duke was there. I wanted to see the facts, and the facts as they started coming out were very well-stated. In fact, everybody said his statement was beautiful. If he would have made it sooner, that would have been good. I couldn't have made it sooner because I didn't know all of the facts. Frankly, people still don't know all of the facts. It was very important-- excuse me, excuse me. It was very important to me to get the facts out and correctly, because if I would have made a fast statement-- and the first statement was made without knowing much other than what we were seeing. The second statement was made with knowledge, with great knowledge. There's still things-- excuse me, there's still things that people don't know. I want to make a statement with knowledge. I wanted to know the facts. Okay.

...Reporter: Senator McCain said that the alt-right is behind these attacks, and he linked that same group to those who perpetrated the attack in Charlottesville.

Trump: Well, I don't know. I can't tell you. I'm sure Senator McCain must know what he's talking about. But when you say the alt-right...uh, define alt-right to me. You define it. Go ahead... define it for me. Come on, let's go.

Reporter: Senator McCain defined them as the same groups.

Trump: OK. What about the alt-left that came charging at... Excuse me, what about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right. Do they have any semblance of guilt? Let me ask you this. What about the fact they came charging-- that they came charging, with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do. So, you know, as far as I'm concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day... Wait a minute. I'm not finished. I'm not finished, fake news. That was a horrible day.

Reporter: Is it the same level as neo-Nazis?

Trump: I will tell you something. I watched those very closely, much more closely than you people watched it, and you have-- You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that, but I'll say it right now. You had a group, you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit and they were very, very violent... Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue of Robert E. Lee. So … Excuse me. And you take a look at some of the groups and you see and you'd know it if you were honest reporters-- which in many cases you're not. But many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. So, this week it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder is it George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself where does it stop? But they were there to protest- excuse me. You take a look the night before, they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of the Robert E. Lee... I do think there's blame-- Yes. I do think there's blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there's blame on both sides and I have no doubt about it and you don't have any doubt about it either and-- and- and-- and if you reported it accurately, you would say it.

Reporter: Neo-Nazis started this in Charlottesville. They showed up at Charlottesville, they...

Trump: Excuse me.

Reporter: To protest the removal of that...

Trump: ...You have some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group-- excuse me, excuse me-- I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.

Reporter: Do you support white nationalists, then?

Trump: Well, George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So, will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down- Excuse me. Are we going to take down, are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him?

Reporter: I do love Thomas Jefferson...

Trump: OK, good. Well, are we going to take down the statue? Because he was a major slave owner. Now, are we going to take down his statue? So, you know what? It's fine. You're changing history. You're changing culture and you had people, and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned, totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, OK? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people, but you also had troublemakers and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You got a lot of bad people in the other group, too.

Meanwhile... Trumpanzee yesterday, clarifying his remarks about Charlottesville after he hurt the feelings of his Nazi supporters: "Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. This week, it is Robert E. Lee and this week, Stonewall Jackson. Is it George Washington next? You have to ask yourself, where does it stop? ... I've condemned neo-Nazis. I've condemned many different groups. Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch."

But they were. New Hampshire's progressive member of Congress, Carol Shea-Porter spoke out immediately after Trump backtracked. "There are," she made clear, no 'very fine' neo-Nazis. I never thought we would hear such disgusting and outrageous comments from a President of the United States-- comments that were immediately praised by David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Today’s comments from President Trump are a disgrace to our nation. Over the past week, the President has twice failed to condemn white supremacists’ violence and terror, and today, he went so far as to suggest there is moral equivalence between neo-Nazis and those who protest hate. If President Trump and his pro-white-supremacist staffers in the White House think they can tear down everything America stands for, they are wrong. We will not let them extinguish America’s beacon of hope and tolerance."

Carol was one of the nearly 3 dozen members of Congress to sign on as co-sponsors of Pramila Jayapal's resolution demanding Trump fire the neo-Nazis working in the White House. Co-sponsors include Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Judy Chu (D-CA). The resolution

• Condemns the role of white supremacist, neo-Nazi, KKK and other hate groups in the “Unite the Right” rally and domestic terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia;
• Denounces the increase in organizing, fear-mongering, racism, anti-Semitism, bigotry and violence perpetrated by white supremacists, neo-Nazis, the KKK and other hate groups;
• Offers condolences and sympathies to the families of Heather Heyer, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, and urges a quick recovery to those injured;
• Strongly urges the president to:

• Fire individuals in the White House and Trump administration who have supported or encouraged support for white supremacists;
• Quickly and publicly repudiate and denounce white supremacist, neo-Nazi, KKK and other hate groups;
• Use all available resources of the Office of the President and the Cabinet to address the growing prevalence of such hate groups domestically;
• Use his office to unite all Americans against hate.

Needless to say, none of the Trump-aligned Blue Dogs are co-sponsoring Pramila's resolution. And, of course, that includes Chicagoland conservative Dan Lipinski. Blue America is backing his primary opponent, Marie Newman, who told us that she was "horrified by Trump's comments today. When white supremacists and neo-nazis are supporting a politician's comments both verbally and visually, it is extremely clear that politician, Donald Trump and those disgusting groups are in agreement and alignment. Therefore, from here forward I will place Donald Trump and those groups in the same despicable category: racist and vile. I would have gladly and immediately signed onto Pramila Jayapal's resolution today. I am shocked and deeply disturbed that congressman Lipinski did not sign on to Jayapal's resolution and continues to support Trump, but not support America, freedom and human rights."

Similarly, Randy Bryce, the progressive Democrat running for the southeast Wisconsin seat currently occupied by Paul Ryan-- who has refused to condemn Trump's racism-- said he would have been an initial co-sponsor on Pramila's resolution. Last night he told us that he "would have happily signed on. I plan on making a bigger table that includes everyone, not begging to be seated at one where those who support racists are seated."


UPDATE: Trump's Candidate Failed In Alabama's GOP Primary Last Night

Mitch McConnell spent over $3,000,000 on bolstering incumbent Luther Strange and a Trump PAC spent another $500,000 in the last 2 days. But last night Roy Moore whipped Strange's ass 162,570 (38.9%) to 136,910 (32.8%), with another right-wing crackpot, Mo Brooks, taking 82,363 votes (19.7%). Trump endorsed Strange loudly and publicly several times and begged Alabama voters to back him. Last year Trump won Alabama's 9 electoral votes with 62% to Hillary's 34%. Looks like even voters there think he's a loud mouthed a-hole. Moore and Strange will face off in a primary September 26.

Decrepit right-wing freak David Bozell attacked McConnell, but noticeably left Trumpanzee out of his hateful screed: "Alabama's GOP primary results should serve as a bucket of cold water for Mitch McConnell and his cohorts in the DC Establishment. Unequivocally, the Republican base will not support Mitch McConnell's weak kneed, devoid of principals, pay-for-play, brand of politics. McConnell's political toxicity infects all of those around him, including  six-month-long Senator Luther Strange. We looking forward to Roy Moore, the next U.S. Senator from Alabama, and encourage him to join our chorus of conservatives who want to end McConnell's leadership reign in Washington."