Over the weekend, the headline news was dominated by the white nationalist rally turned riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. In the aftermath, an African-American CEO has resigned from the president's Manufacturing Council due to Donald Trump's reaction.

Trump on Twitter

When Donald Trump was running for president, he was often accused of being racist, while dealing with allegations of other forms of prejudice. Since his upset election win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton last November, those accusations have only increased due to some of the president's controversial policy proposals.

This past weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, hundreds of white nationalists took to the streets in the city for the "Unite the Right" rally. Not long after the event took place, counter-protesters appeared, as both sides clashes into violence. At one point, a rally goer plowed his car through a group of protesters, killing one and injuring 30 others. In response, Trump condemned the violence, but refused to call out white nationalism by name. The former host of "The Apprentice" has since been hit with backlash for his vague remarks, leading to Merck CEO Kenneth C. Frazier quiting the president's American Manufacturing Council, as reported by NBC News on August 14.

In a statement released to the public, Kenneth C.

Frazier explained that "America’s leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy." "As CEO of Merck, and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism," Frazier continued.

As expected, Donald Trump was quick to fire back, doing so by smearing Kenneth C.

Frazier during an early morning tweetstorm. "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 tweeted out. Trump's tweet is yet another example of how quick the commander in chief will turn on those who decide to drop their support for his administration.

Moving forward

As the Kenneth C. Frazier becomes the first to drop out of Donald Trump's council due to his vague remarks about the aforementioned white nationalist rally, the president doesn't look to be backing down from his statement. Despite Trump continuing to defend himself at every turn, he is currently sitting on an approval rating of just 35 percent, which doesn't look to be improving anytime soon.
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