Trump’s Council of C.E.O.s in Disarray Following Remarks on Protest:

President Trump’s main council of top corporate leaders appeared on the verge of disbanding on Wednesday, said people briefed on the matter, following controversial remarks from Mr. Trump on Tuesday when he equated white nationalist hate groups with the protesters opposing them.

Late Wednesday morning, Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chief executive of the Blackstone Group and one of Mr. Trump’s closest confidants in the business community, organized a conference call for members of the president’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

On the call, the chief executives of some of the largest companies in the country were debating how to proceed.

One option under serious consideration was disbanding the forum altogether.

If the forum does survive, several C.E.O.s were expected to resign from it.

This how you hit Trump where it hurts, with business.

Trump prides himself on his business acumen and all the connections and “friends” he has in the business world, so there’s nothing more insulting to Trump than to have his business council collapse.

It may not affect his pocket book, but it’s a loss and it’s symbolic.

Update: Trump is throwing in the towel with his “Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum,” as a winner does.