President Donald Trump has a penchant for turning any event, gathering, or speech into a showcase for himself. He seems unable to resist that impulse, and it surfaced once more in a social media post where he attempted to compliment the retiring Apple chief Tim Cook but ended up centering the praise on himself—and, more troubling, he appeared to acknowledge that he’d helped Cook on several occasions while implying he earned nothing from those favors.
The tech giant announced on Monday, April 20, that Cook is stepping down effective Sept. 1, when senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus will take over, according to Tech Crunch. Cook will stay with Apple, taking over as executive chairman.
Trump soon took to his Truth Social platform to praise Cook, sort of, while also taking a swipe at Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. Trump asserted the company would not have fared as well under Jobs as it has under Cook before launching into a boastful tirade about fixing problems for Cook.
“For me it began with a phone call from Tim at the beginning of my First Term. He had a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix,” Trump bragged while shedding light on the pair’s long relationship.
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“Most people would have paid millions of dollars to a consultant, who I probably would not have known, but who would say that he knew me well. The fees would be paid, but the job would not have gotten done,” Trump boasted.
He went on to say he was flattered when Cook came calling in 2016 after Trump was first elected president, before making an insulting remark about the man behind one of the world’s most profitable tech companies.
“I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to ‘kiss my a–.’ Anyway, he explained his problem, a tough one it was, I felt he was right and got it taken care of, quickly and effectively,” the president continued crowing.
He said he’s had a “long and very nice relationship” with Cook ever since, but he wasn’t done blowing smoke.
“During my five years as President, Tim would call me, but never too much, and I would help him where I could. Years later, after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader. He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask!), and he gets the job done, QUICKLY, without a dime being given to those very expensive (millions of dollars!) consultants around town who sometimes get it done, and sometimes don’t.”
Trump managed to make the post all about himself even though over the years he’s has never said anything about helping Cook out or what he’s referring to, just that his services to the Apple chief should be valued at “millions” of dollars.
He ended the long post calling Cook “an incredible guy!!!”
One thing about Cook is that he’s famous for making money, which is why critics contend Trump appears to be so fascinated with the guy.
Social media descended into a frenzy over whether Cook has actually gotten the best of Trump or if it’s just the president being his narcissistic self.
“How is it that every single time he’s supposed to be complimenting someone else, he gives the biggest compliments to himself. This ends up sounding like Trump is the reason Cook was successful,” this X user pointed out.
But another sees it differently.
“In other words Tim Apple played Don like a Stradivarius,” an X user proclaimed.
X user and econ professor Lee Coppock noted, “Somehow it still surprises me when he says the quiet part out loud.”
But X poster John Podesta said what so many are wondering, “So he sat down and wrote this to/about Tim Cook. What quids and quos do you suppose they were talking about?”
Under Cook, Apple was the first company to reach a $3 trillion market value, according to the New York Times, and it’s now worth $4 trillion.
The Times also reported back in February, after the Supreme Court ruled Trump’s tariffs, a tax on Americans, which made more than $160 billion, were illegal, and that Apple, which makes most of its products overseas, would have suffered major financial losses over the levies. It paid more than $3 billion in tariffs over three quarters.
Company executives, including Cook, started wooing Trump even before he implemented a steep tariff policy on most U.S. trading partners last April. The Times reported Apple first agreed to invest $500 billion in the U.S. last spring, then upped it to $100 billion by August in an effort to appease Trump, among other gifts and outreach.
