The reaction of President Trump to the violence in Charlottesville has put the White House economic adviser under pressure. Gary Cohn, who is Jewish American, said in an interview that he is now confronted with ‘enormous pressure’ to step down from office, according to The New York Times.
Brain drain in the White House
When President Donald Trump came to the defense of the Neo-Nazis, by the omission of naming the wrong parties and blaming "both sides," several days after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, most of the White House’s Jewish members chose to distance themselves from the issue.
However, there are a few courageous souls in the administration who stood up against the chief executive. Among them is Gary Cohn who publicly criticized Trump because of his remarks on the Charlottesville’s incident.
Social media: a battleground between Trump and his critics
For the military to publicly deviate from their commander in chief is pretty much unusual. But there are top officials in the U.S. armed forces who expressed their criticism to the president by posting messages on social media. Their posts condemned racism and neo-Nazis. They did so without dropping the name of the president.
In one interview on Thursday, Cohn broke his silence on the issue. According to Cohn, American citizens who are fighting for freedom and equality should never be compared to the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
He thinks that the Trump administration can do better in healing the country’s division.
Cohn’s family, more particularly his wife, advised him to contemplate on his resignation. As he was a former executive at Goldman Sachs, his colleagues in the business community told him to distance himself from the Trump administration.
The New York Times reports, the White House economic adviser has drafted his resignation letter.
The rumor of Cohn’s resignation spread like wildfire. It created a negative impact in the markets. U.S. stocks drastically dropped until the rumor was denied by the White House. Before getting on board with the Trump administration, Cohn spent an entire career in the trading world which is why the market reaction deeply troubled him.
Cohn told the Financial Times that he already had a conversation with the president regarding this issue. In an interview he said, “I have not been bashful saying what I think.” Many believe that his resignation is highly possible because of his strong interest to become the chair of the Federal Reserve, The Guardian reported..
