German Industrial Giant Siemens CEO Calls Trump The ‘Face Of Racism And Exclusion’
The CEO of the German industrial giant Siemens called US President Donald Trump the “face of racism and exclusion” in a series of tweets over the weekend, offering one of the strongest rebukes from the business community to Trump’s racist attacks on four women of color lawmakers.
“I find it depressing that the most important political office in the world is turning into the face of racism and exclusion,” CEO Joe Kaeser tweeted Saturday.
Kaeser was responding to a news story that described a Trump rally last week where the crowd chanted “Send her back” in reference to Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who is a Somalian refugee.
Kaeser is German and worked for Siemens in San Jose, California, from 1995 to 1999.
On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also criticized Trump’s “go back” tweets about four Democratic congresswomen of color, saying that the president’s tweets contradict “the strength of America.”
“People of very different nationalities have contributed to the strength of the American people, so these are … comments that very much run counter to this firm impression that I have,” Merkel said during an annual news conference in Berlin. “This is something that contradicts the strength of America.”
“I distance myself firmly from this and feel solidarity with the women who were attacked,” she continued.
On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the “send her back” chants that broke out at a Trump rally “completely unacceptable.”
