President Donald Trump's Cabinet should follow the lead of certain members of his business advisory council and resign, according to a former adviser to President Barack Obama.
"If I worked for a president who behaved like this one, I would surely resign," wrote Lawrence Summers, former White House economic adviser, in The Washington Post Thursday.
"Disregard for my policy concerns would be one reason. The purpose of Tuesday's news conference was to highlight initiatives to streamline infrastructure renewal — all lost, as they so often are with Trump. Incivility, and the mocking of political opponents and colleagues like chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon would be enough to get me to go. And I would not, in any environment, work for someone who, after reflection and advice, gave quarter to racism and anti-Semitism in the way the president did on Tuesday."
Summers, who also worked in former President Bill Clinton's administration, notes that he is "surprised" by the lack of resignations in Trump's administration, but acknowledges that "things sometimes take longer to happen than you think they should and then happen faster than you thought they could."
He adds that "key national security officials who may see themselves as preventing war through their restraining influence have a more complex moral calculus than those with political, legislative, communications or economic roles. Those in the latter group would best serve their country and their futures by resigning."
Summers concludes, "those surrounding Trump would best to demonstrate to him the need to reset or resign by following the CEOs' lead — withdrawing their cooperation and no longer lending their legitimacy to his disastrous presidency."
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