Close to 300 members former Yale classmates of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have signed a letter asking him to resign from his post following President Trump’s defense of white supremacists.
In the letter, which was posted at lettertostevemnuchin.com, Yale class of 1985 said that the president has aligned himself with groups that do not reflect the values of the famed Ivy League college.
“President Trump has declared himself a sympathizer with groups whose values are antithetical to those values we consider fundamental to our sacred honor as Americans, as men and women of Yale, and as decent human beings,” the letter stated. “President Trump made those declarations loudly, clearly, and unequivocally, and he said them as you stood next to him.”
The New York Times reported that Mnuchin, who is Jewish, seemed uncomfortable when Trump declared that there were “fine people” on both sides of the Charlottesville protests, in which a car plowed into a group of anti-fascists protesters, killing one woman and injuring 19 others.
“We can disagree on the means of promoting the general welfare of the country, on the size and role of government, on the nature of freedom and security, but we cannot take the side of what we know to be evil,” the letter said.
Mnuchin, a former investment banker-turned-Hollywood producer, divested himself of his entertainment holdings in May. Before becoming Trump’s moneyman, Mnuchin’s was a partner in Rat-Pack Dune Entertainment, the prolific film financing firm behind “the Lego Movie,” “Godzilla,” and “Dunkirk.“
“We understand that graduates of Yale College have served the United States proudly as presidents, members of the cabinet, and in many other capacities since its founding, and that rarely, if ever, have any of us made such a request of a classmate, whatever our differences in political opinion have been,” the letter read.
The White House did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Read the full letter below:
Honorable Steven Mnuchin
Secretary of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20220
Dear Secretary Mnuchin:
We, some of your fellow members of the Yale College Class of 1985, write to you today in response to President Trump’s comments on the recent events in Charlottesville. We believe it is your moral obligation to resign your post as Secretary of the Treasury, effective immediately. We understand that graduates of Yale College have served the United States proudly as presidents, members of the cabinet, and in many other capacities since its founding, and that rarely, if ever, have any of us made such a request of a classmate, whatever our differences in political opinion have been.
We do so today because President Trump has declared himself a sympathizer with groups whose values are antithetical to those values we consider fundamental to our sacred honor as Americans, as men and women of Yale, and as decent human beings. President Trump made those declarations loudly, clearly, and unequivocally, and he said them as you stood next to him. We can be Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, and a number of other things and still be friends, classmates, and patriots, but we cannot be Nazis and white supremacists. We can disagree on the means of promoting the general welfare of the country, on the size and role of government, on the nature of freedom and security, but we cannot take the side of what we know to be evil.
We call upon you, as our friend, our classmate, and as a fellow American, to resign in protest of President Trump’s support of Nazism and white supremacy. We know you are better than this, and we are counting on you to do the right thing.
Your fellow members of the Yale College Class of 1985,