Trump tries to explain what he meant by 'Tim Apple'

Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer
Updated

President Trump on Monday insisted his flub of Apple chief executive Tim Cook’s last name during a televised White House meeting last week wasn’t a flub at all.

“At a recent round table meeting of business executives, & long after formally introducing Tim Cook of Apple, I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words,” the president tweeted. “The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!”

During the inaugural meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board in the State Dining Room on Wednesday, Trump referred to Cook as “Tim Apple” as he thanked him for the tech giant’s help in expanding the U.S. economy.

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks with President Trump listens during a meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House, March 6, 2019. (Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks with President Trump during a meeting at the White House on March 6, 2019. (Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“You’ve really put a big investment in our country,” Trump told Cook. “We appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.”

The gaffe was picked up by pool cameras and mocked by late night hosts.

Cook himself took it in stride, changing his last name on his Twitter account to the Apple logo.

Trump, however, apparently couldn’t let it go.

According to Axios, he reportedly told guests at a Republican fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on Friday that “he actually said ‘Tim Cook Apple’ really fast, and the ‘Cook’ part of the sentence was soft.”

It wasn’t the first time that Trump mangled the last name of a business executive.

Last year, during the announcement of U.S. tariffs on imported Chinese goods, Trump introduced Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson as “Marillyn Lockheed.”

“We have some of our great business leaders — and leaders period — right behind me,” Trump said. “I may ask Marillyn Lockheed, the leading women’s business executive in this country, according to many ... Marillyn, please say a few words.”

As was the case with “Tim Apple,” Trump’s “Marillyn Lockheed” flub was captured by the official White House transcript.

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