August 16th Update:
You did it! Thanks to the pressure we mounted together, Trump just made a pathetic move to "disband" his advisory councils. But Trump didn't disband these councils, you did. You told these corporate execs that after Trump's lack of condemnation of the racist, anti-Semitic violence in Charlottesville they had no excuse but to resign from the council. And thanks to you, they did in droves.
The fight is far from over, but let’s remind Trump that he can’t take credit for disbanding a ghost team. This is a grassroots victory through and through.
I have a question.
What will it take for the remaining 16 members of Trump’s business advisory council to step down? These 16 CEOs include the heads of PepsiCo, IBM, General Electric, Walmart, Boeing, General Motors, and JP Morgan.
They didn’t step down after the Muslim ban. They didn’t step down after Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement. But they must step down now after Trump refused to immediately condemn the terrorism perpetrated by white supremacists this past weekend in Charlottesville.
CEOs of Trump’s business advisory council: Step off the council now.
Hundreds of white nationalists took to the streets, carrying torches and spewing hate. One of them drove his car at high speed into a crowd of anti-racist protestors, killing 32 year old paralegal Heather Hayer and injuring 19 others.
Trump’s immediate response was to condemn the ‘egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.’ It’s an insultingly misleading statement. By failing to condemn white supremacy groups or to use the words domestic terrorism, Trump has not-so-subtly aligned himself with a growing number of nationalist extremists.
Only after a massive outcry from the public did Trump finally, begrudgingly, condemn the racism and white supremacy at the heart of the attacks in Charlottesville.
Presidents should not have to be forced to swiftly condemn white supremacist violence.
And CEOS should not voluntarily align themselves with people who stoke hatred and hesitate to denounce racially motivated violence.
CEOs of Trump’s business advisory council: Step off the council now.
There is no neutral. Either CEO advisors must step off of Trump’s committee, or they are complicit in the violence his administration is creating.
Targeting Trump’s advisory council really works -- when Trump proposed his first immoral Muslim ban, 180,000 SumOfUs supporters like you called on the CEOs on the advisory council to step down - and it worked, with Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick stepping down from his role. Two more CEOs -- Tesla's Elon Musk and Disney's Bob Iger -- have also walked away from the council in light of Trump pulling the US from the climate agreement.
Now it’s time for the other CEOs to do the same.
These corporate bosses have unparalleled access to one of the most powerful men in the world. We have to invite them to rise above the demands of their bottom line and their egos and stand for what is right. An America where we can live free from fear and violence. Where we know our beauty and strength comes from our diversity.
CEO's of Trump’s business advisory council: Step off the council now.
More information
Forbes. 5 June 2017.
New York Times. 13 August 2017.
VOX. 14 August 2017.