Equating organizations that peacefully march and protest for racial equality with violent hate groups that proudly goose-step for racial supremacy has pushed several notable business people off an edge they should have gladly leapt off of months ago. So far at least four members have left the advisory board of Trump's so-called Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, a group of over two dozen business leaders created ad hoc that barely does photo ops, let alone anything else. But for now, most of the original men and women named are apparently staying and the big question has to be why?
The membership of the jobs council, which Trump announced on Jan. 27, is composed of some of the glitterati of the corporate world. Present are the CEOs of Dow Chemical, Dell, Whirlpool, Ford, General Electric, Intel, Boeing and 3M, along with not one but two officers of the AFL-CIO. As is the case with almost all such advisory bodies, getting their names on the list was pretty much the whole point. The council “has yet to hold any real meeting,” the AFL-CIO says, which is routine for such PR-driven fronts. It’s crystal clear that even if it does meet, it will be “advising” a patron who doesn’t listen to advice.
It's encouraging to see some Republicans harshly correcting Trump's feeble condemnation of nazis and the Klan, even though white supremacists are now a critical element in the conservative base. But good grief, it took an ISIS inspired death-car to bring it out and we've seen this pattern before. Conservatives issue stern criticism of one of Trump's many revolting statements or actions, only to quietly discover or invent a reason to get behind him as the public furor fades.
But CEOs don't have to follow the gutless GOP lead and they don’t have to run for office. The board isn’t doing anything and we all know Trump’s “jobs plan” will consist of nothing but tax cuts and other giveaways for the super rich and transnational corporations. If there’s no political price to pay and public relations profit to be gained by stating clearly that they're not with these racist goons, why remain complicit?