Goldman Sachs CEO Quotes Lincoln in Response to Charlottesville

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 8/14/2017, 11:46 a.m.
The CEO of Goldman Sachs is calling for unity after a white nationalist rally turned deadly in Virginia. In a …
Goldman Sachs

Jill Disis

(CNN Money) -- The CEO of Goldman Sachs is calling for unity after a white nationalist rally turned deadly in Virginia.

In a tweet, Lloyd Blankfein quoted President Abraham Lincoln: "'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' Isolate those who try to separate us. No equivalence w/ those who bring us together."

Blankfein was one of several high-profile CEOs who issued statements Monday after white supremacist and alt-right groups descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, and clashed with counter-protesters.

Just over an hour earlier, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, one of the country's most prominent black corporate executives, quit President Trump's manufacturing council.

"America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy," Frazier said.

Trump on Saturday spoke against bigotry and violence "on many sides" but did not specifically condemn white supremacists.

On Monday, he was quick to bash Frazier on Twitter. About an hour after Frazier left the council, Trump tweeted that the executive "will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!"

Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, tweeted his thanks to Frazier "for strong leadership to stand up for the moral values that made this country what it is."

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank said through his company's Twitter account that the company supports "love and unity."

"We are saddened by #Charlottesville," Plank's statement read. "There is no place for racism or discrimination in this world."

Plank is also on the president's manufacturing council. He did not say whether he would stay on board.

And Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi, a member of another Trump economic advisory group, tweeted Sunday that she was "heartbroken by the violence in #Charlottesville."

"Hate and intolerance are a betrayal of what we stand for as Americans," she said.