Trump blasts CEO ‘grandstanders’ for exiting advisory panel

President Trump on Tuesday warned CEOs on several advisory panels that they could be easily replaced for expressing their political views, following the departure of three business chiefs from a manufacturing board on Monday.

“For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place,” Trump tweeted. “Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!”

For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2017

{mosads}Three CEOs left Trump’s American Manufacturing Council following his widely criticized response to violence this weekend in Charlottesville, Va., where white nationalists and neo-Nazis held a large rally and fought with counterprotesters, leading to the death of one counterprotester.

Merck & Co. CEO Kenneth Frazier announced he’d leave the council on Monday morning, insisting U.S. leaders must “clearly reject expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.”

Frazier did not mention Trump by name, but his decision was a clear repudiation for Trump’s remarks on Saturday blaming “many sides” for what happened in Charlottesville.

Trump bashed Frazier on Twitter soon after, telling the CEO he now had more time to “LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES.”

Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, and Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour, announced Monday night they had left the manufacturing council and sought to advocate for inclusion through other public policy means.