Opinion: Tim Cook should have known Trump would eventually sour on him and Apple

The Star

9 hours ago

Tim Cook tried. He tried really hard. Tried deftly to stay on Donald Trump's good side, such as it is.
Tried to avoid the glare of a president who'll gut you if you dare disagree. Who'll sic the Department of his justice on you if you don't waltz to his whims or nod approvingly at his nuttiness.
Tried to dodge the crosshairs of Trump's tariff two-step with China, which would significantly impact the world's most valuable company's bottom line – likely jacking up the cost of your next iToy.
In January, the soft-spoken, Alabama-born Apple CEO sat discreetly among the numerous business moguls who attended the president's indoor inauguration. Understandably so, whether he wanted to be there or not. Indeed, Cook was occasionally captured with the expression of someone who'd just gulped down a tablespoon of Castor Oil.
Back in the day, that nasty stuff cured all. At least for a time.
And for a time, Cook succeeded. During Trump's first term five years ago, he called Cook a 'great executive' (mainly because Cook called him when many other business leaders didn't) and was persuaded to offer Apple at least a temporary exemption from any tariff against Chinese-made imports.
In February, Trump giddily praised the CEO when Apple announced it would invest US$500bil (RM2.1 trillion) in the US over the next four years. Plans included hiring people and expanding facilities in nine states, as well as building a new AI server production factory in Texas and a training academy in Detroit.
'THANK YOU TIM COOK AND APPLE!!!' the president all-capped on Truth Social.
One sceptical Wall Street analyst – is there any other kind? – touted Cook's delicate navigation of Trump's mindfield of tariff irrationality, yet poked the CEO just a tad, calling him '10% politician, 90% CEO.'
Indeed, a day later, Cook tiptoed along the Trump tightrope after Apple shareholders overwhelmingly voted (97% overwhelmingly) to fully retain the company's policies and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion – those dirty words Trump is trying to soap-scrub from our lips.
The president fumed over the vote on Truth Social: 'Apple should get rid of DEI rules, not just make amendments to them. DEI was a hoax that has been very bad for our country. DEI is gone!'
Cook affirmed to shareholders: 'We'll continue to work together to create a culture of belonging where everyone can do their best work.' Yet he also acknowledged that Apple might have to tweak its policies under the weight of legal challenges.
He really tried. But he should have known.
Heck, he had to have known.
I'm not just saying so because Trump's petty proclivities are as transparent as cheap tissues, but because I've twice been able to sit down with Cook during his visits to Alabama. Been able to look him in the eye and talk about the value of education, about his appreciation of Rev. Martin Luther King, about Alabama.
He's deep-thinking and approachable. In 2018, he told me: 'How do we as a state – I'm not a resident any longer but an 'interested outsider' – how do we give everyone equal access to a quality education so that everyone can realise the American Dream?'
And he meant everyone.
Two years later, Cook was in Birmingham to celebrate Apple's investment in transforming a historic downtown building into a coding incubator called Ed Farm. 'It's important that people know the art of the possible,' Cook told me that day, 'and the way to do that is to learn to code, even if you have no desire to code'
He likely knew. Knew that only a slight slight – even a perceived slight – could cause his standing with Trump to slip and land on its iTush.
Never mind that Cook may have had better things to do last month than board the presidential party plane for Trump's CashApp-me tour of the Middle East. To watch him be fawned over and open gifts like a birthday kid, including the used US$400mil (RM1.7bil) Boeing 'gift' from Trump's new besties in Qatar. An aircraft at least one expert believes might be a security risk.
Possible listening devices on the plane, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory and an aviation analyst to NPR, could compromise all of us.
Air Force One (the real one) is built for 'basically surviving a worst-case scenario like a nuclear war, or to avoid an aggressive pursuer,' he said. '(It is) more survivable and far more capable than a traditional passenger jet.'
Even a US$400mil one.
Cook missed the trip, and suddenly he's the bully's bullseye.
Top dogs at Nvidia, BlackRock, OpenAI, Citigroup and the semiconductor company AMD scanned their boarding passes and tagged along. They knew. Cook should have known.
At one event in Riyadh, Trump turned to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and said, 'I mean, Tim Cook isn't here, but you are.'
It was over, right then. Cook was cooked. We all should have ordered every iThing right then because it was coming. It came.
Last week, after Apple side-stepped the China tariff by deciding to build more iPhones in India, the president slapped a 25% tariff on Apple products. Period. Not on an industry. Not on a category of products. On your next iPhone.
Between that and da plane (homage to late actor Herve Villechaize, who made the phrase famous at the start of each episode of the cult-fav TV show Fantasy Island ), Cook should have known.
This may be Cook's only saving grace (beyond continued silence): Trump recently earned the moniker TACO from folks at the Wall Street Journal : Trump Always Chickens Out on tariffs. So Trump could flip on Cook, re-embrace the Apple CEO – and spare us beleaguered iPhone users.
Until then, Tim, here's another acronym: TABU – Trump Always Betrays You.
You should have seen it coming. – al.com/Tribune News Service