Spinners at the fruity cargo cult Apple were flat out after Tim Cook was seen at a swanky black-tie event at the White House hours after ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead in Minneapolis.
Despite Cook’s outright fawning over US President Donald Trump (even presenting him with a nice gold award), Apple’s target market and staff are more to the left and less inclined to be happy with ICE antics.
After the event and some general grumbling, Cook did his best to shore up traditional support before staff started leaving for other companies or, worse, customers considered buying a cheaper, less right-wing phone.
In an internal memo seen by the Wall Street Journal, Cook wrote: “This is a time for de-escalation. I believe America is strongest when we live up to our highest ideals, when we treat everyone with dignity and respect, no matter who they are or where they’re from, and when we embrace our shared humanity.”
Just to confirm that he had not lost his scout’s brown-nose badge, and in case the White House was watching, Cook also told staff he had been on the blower to Trump. “I had a good conversation with the president this week where I shared my views, and I appreciate his openness to engaging on issues that matter to us all.”
Minneapolis has become a flashpoint in Trump’s immigration enforcement push, with confrontations between federal officials and local protesters now spilling into the corporate inbox.
Cook had kept quiet while plenty of other execs found their voices, even though the scenes in Minneapolis are dredging up memories of the 2020 race protests.
He still tried a bit of morale-boosting for the troops, saying he is proud of how “deeply our teams care about the world beyond our walls.”
