Kenneth ‘Ken’ C. Frazier Ripped By Trump On Twitter For Quitting President’s American Manufacturing Council
President Donald Trump lashed out at Kenneth C. Frazier, the chairman and chief executive officer of Merck, for explaining that Frazier was resigning from President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council. As seen in the below statement from the Twitter account of Merck, Frazier noted that the strength of the U.S. comes from the diversity found within the country, and that contributions made by all men and women who come from a variety of backgrounds, faiths, varying political beliefs, and races – along with differing sexual orientations – are what matters.
It was a big turnaround from when Ken, as seen in the above photo with President Trump, announced a joint collaboration between Merck, Pfizer, and Corning to create glass containers for medication. As seen in the above photo, the CEO stood near President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday. However, Frazier is no longer standing with President Trump, as his statement explained. Ken noted that leaders of the U.S. like President Trump need to honor the values that the country is based upon by taking steps to clearly reject hate, racism, and bigotry. The 62-year-old Harvard Law educated Frazier called out the white nationalist and supremacy group melee that took place in Virginia with his statement.
— Merck (@Merck) August 14, 2017
While Frazier’s statement was posted to Twitter on Monday, August 14, at 8 a.m., President Trump would soon hit back with a statement of his own, knocking Ken. As seen in the below tweet, President Trump took to Twitter at 8:54 a.m., writing that since Frazier quit President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council, Frazier would now have more time to lower what President Trump called “ripoff drug prices.”
President Trump used an exclamation point to end his sentence and wrote the “lower ripoff drug prices” phrase in all capital letters, a move that means a person is typically yelling their statement.
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
The response on Twitter to Frazier taking a stand against hate and bigotry by extracting himself from the president’s council is winning plenty of praise for Ken on Twitter, with folks giving kudos to Ken and asking other leaders and CEOs to stand up in a similar manner and protest what some feel was President Trump’s light denouncement of the violence portrayed in Virginia.
My 2013 profile of $MRK CEO Ken Frazier, who just resigned from Trump's manufacturing council in protest. https://t.co/OZdm0i3JsI
— Matthew Herper (@matthewherper) August 14, 2017
[Featured Image by Alex Brandon/AP Images]
