After Uber attempted to undermine the New York Taxi Workers Alliance’s hour-long strike against Trump’s Muslim ban, and the detainments at JFK, the public reacted with a swift boycott of the app.
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Following the bad press, Lyft opportunistically announced they’d be donating $1 million to the ACLU, which is good, but Lyft has many of the same issues that Uber does—namely, investors and associates who have significant ties to Trump. One of the additional complaints lodged against Uber was that their CEO, Travis Kalanick, was serving on an business advisory council for Trump, the Strategic and Policy Forum.
Business Insider reports that over 200,000 people deleted the Uber app following the bad press. Kalanick announced on Thursday in a memo to employees that he was leaving the council, writing, “Earlier today I spoke briefly with the President about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community. I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the President or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that.”
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Mike Allen of Axios reported that insiders in the White House have told him that the attitude to Kalanick’s departure is “if you want to cut off your access to the White House, f@#k you.” Kalanick may be damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t, but damn Uber: Hail a taxi.
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