Trump’s Picks: Andrew Liveris for American Manufacturing Council

Did you just see Trump bring Andrew Liveris, the CEO of Dow Chemicals, on stage tonight at his rally in Michigan?

“Donald Trump on Friday said Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris would lead the American Manufacturing Council, a part of the U.S. Commerce Department that acts as liaison between the manufacturing sector and the federal government.

The president-elect described Liveris as “one of the most respected businessmen in the world” at a rally in Grand Rapids on Friday evening.

“I’m asking him to come up and head up our American Manufacturing Council, and he has agreed to do it,” said Trump. “They will be tasked with finding ways to bring industry back to America.”

Here’s what Andrew Liveris had to say about Trump in Australia in March:

“Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris recently made an appearance at a business breakfast in Perth, Australia. Liveris is one of the most prominent Australian-born business leaders in the world and has led Dow Chemical for more than 10 years.

The subject of the American presidential campaign came up during his talk and apparently, when it comes to Donald Trump, Liveris is not a fan.

To explain the traction of Trump’s popularity, Liveris referred to how other successful candidates in history were able to conquer the medium of their day — Abraham Lincoln was an excellent writer, President Barak Obama was great at social media, etc. For Trump, Liveris’ comparison was less flattering.

“And now the presidential cycle is bringing us ‘the Kardashian presidency,’” he said. “”I am not sure how big it is in Australia, but reality TV has taken over what most Americans see and most people are disaffected with Washington and Wall Street, and a lot of things like that and they look at reality TV and they imagine that life, and I think Donald Trump is an incredible marketer of the fantasy of what could be.”

Liveris also said that the global business community was “aghast” at the rise of Trump and his success in recent GOP primaries.

“There is somewhere between fear, being very fearful and being totally aghast expressions coming from foreign audiences,” Liveris said.

Liveris has long had ties to prominent Democrats in Washington. He is reportedly a close friend of Hillary and Bill Clinton and has been a big contributor to the Clinton Global Initiative. He also currently sits on a council that advices President Obama.

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, he predicted that Hillary Clinton will win the presidency in November.

Back then, Liveris called Trump “an incredible marketer of a fantasy” and compared him to Kim Kardashian. He came on stage tonight and called him “one of the most respected businessmen in the world.” What do you think?

Note: Did anyone else catch Rudy Giuliani choking back the tears tonight with Eric Bolling on FOX News?