Tim Cook, Tech CEOs and Top Republicans Attend Secretive Meeting About Donald Trump

[MacRumors]

Tim Cook attended American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum this past weekend in Georgia alongside Google CEO Larry Page, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and other tech leaders, according to a new report from The Huffington Post. Top Republican officials, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConell, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton also attended, with the main topic of conversation revolving around Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.

Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and political commentator, wrote in an emailed report that much of the conference was haunted by "the specter of Donald Trump," with many attendees unhappy about his emergence and discussing how he gained his support.

"The key task now, to once again paraphrase Karl Marx, is less to understand Trump than to stop him," Kristol wrote. "In general, there's a little too much hand-wringing, brow-furrowing, and fatalism out there and not quite enough resolving to save the party from nominating or the country electing someone who simply shouldn't be president."

Some sources familiar with the meetings told The Huffington Post that the meeting centered more around how and why Trump has attracted support rather than how to stop him. The meeting included a presentation by Republican political consultant Karl Rove about focus group findings on Trump.

While Trump took up much of the conversation, the discussion eventually turned to encryption. Cook and Cotton "fiercely debated" cell phone encryption, and one source tells The Huffington Post that "Cotton was pretty harsh on Cook." Cotton's aggressiveness was reportedly hostile enough to make other attendees uncomfortable.

Since Apple and the FBI began their duel over encryption, Trump has criticized the company for its decision to oppose a court order to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. The Presidential candidate has said that Apple should unlock the phone and called for a boycott on Apple products until the company complies, despite using an iPhone to tweet.

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Article Link: Tim Cook, Tech CEOs and Top Republicans Attend Secretive Meeting About Donald Trump

 

[aaronvan]

I love reading all about the "secret" meetings of the Bilderbergs, the Trilateral Commission, and the Illuminati on PSRI. I wonder if they discussed Dormant Cyber Pathogens?

 

[Rogifan]

Um, you might want to fix your headline. This was not a secret Donald Drumpf meeting. This is a yearly event that Tim Cook has attended in the past.

 

[Crosscreek]

My conspiracy theory is that the tech elitist are getting together to run Robby the Robot as a third party candidate.
He meets the criteria of over 35 years old and born in America.

 

[chriscrk]

I don't agree with Trump and his policies, but I find it interesting the lengths to which important people are going in order to stop him from being president.

He may not be fit to be president, but at the end of the day it's a democracy and people are supporting him.

 

[macintologist]

Tom Cotton can go to hell

 

[sza]

Just disclose what happened exactly and make it transparent.

 

[4God]

Not only is this going to be a hot topic for some time but I think will ramp up further until November. Unsettling times...

 

[Peace]

This is where I hope some of Job's DNA got into Cook .

 

[bladerunner2000]

Americans elected George W. Bush, TWICE. Trump isn't the president Americans need, he's a president they deserve.

 

[budselectjr]

Exactly what happened in 1924 with the Democrats splitting up. It is well needed in the Republican party today.

 

[tevion5]

I don't agree with Trump and his policies, but I find it interesting the lengths to which important people are going in order to stop him from being president.

He may not be fit to be president, but at the end of the day it's a democracy and people are supporting him.

Hitler was democratically elected by a landslide.

Sometimes the people have no idea what's good for them.

 

[Peace]

Americans elected George W. Bush, TWICE. Trump isn't the president Americans need, he's a president they deserve.

ummmm...America elected Bush ONCE. The United States Supreme Court gave Bush his second term.

 

[maxsix]

My conspiracy theory is that the tech elitist are getting together to run Robby the Robot as a third party candidate.
He meets the criteria of over 35 years old and born in America.

Yet he most likely has a distinct lack of Muslim / #BLM content.

 

[FakeWozniak]

Apple should stay out of the politics, IMO.
Likely half of America will be irritated.

 

[tbobmccoy]

Just imagine for a moment Donald Drumpf having the power to unlock every iPhone users' phones after becoming Commander in Chief and Chief Executive of the FBI... ::shutter::
[doublepost=1457405430][/doublepost]

ummmm...America elected Bush ONCE. The United States Supreme Court gave Bush his second term.

Also, wrong. Bush's first term was given by the SCOTUS.

 

[bladerunner2000]

ummmm...America elected Bush ONCE. The United States Supreme Court gave Bush his second term.

Even if it was once, that's still embarrassing.

 

[briloronmacrumo]

... but at the end of the day it's a democracy and people are supporting him.

Yes, and this salient fact seems to be lost on folks like Mitt Romney. Fact is the GOP needs to plan to honor the will of the voters.

 

[pat500000]

This is more of a secret vote rather than secret meeting. Even Victoria got a secret! Geez.

Was the meeting encrypted too as well?

 

[Mac 128]

Yes, and this salient fact seems to be lost on folks like Mitt Romney. Fact is the GOP needs to plan to honor the will of the voters.

The real tragedy is that the Republican party has created this mess themselves, by failing to fund the single most important aspect of the success of any country -- education of their children. Trump's primary audience are the "poorly educated". It's no wonder he loves them. And it's the quality of education received I'd question in those supporters who have college degrees and above. At this point they've made their bed by keeping their constituency in the dark, from questioning their overall agendas. And now they are paying the price for a poorly educated support base who are growing frustrated by following their anointed leaders into the abyss of unregulated banks and other failures of government.

 

[Denmac1]

My conspiracy theory is that the tech elitist are getting together to run Robby the Robot as a third party candidate.
He meets the criteria of over 35 years old and born in America.

"Danger, Will Robinson"

 

[Bill Killer]

I don't agree with Trump and his policies, but I find it interesting the lengths to which important people are going in order to stop him from being president.

He may not be fit to be president, but at the end of the day it's a democracy and people are supporting him.

No. This is not a democracy, and the primaries are not an election. If the party sees him as a danger, then it is fully within their rights to make every attempt to stop him.

 

[developer13245]

Trump is the most likely to shut down the H-1B cheap tech labor source because he is not in their pocket like Hillary and the rest. Glad these oligarchs are running scared.

 

[cmichaelb]

Hitler was democratically elected by a landslide.

Sometimes the people have no idea what's good for them.

What? He was not. He was appointed chancellor by President Hindenburg after his party made significant gains in the Reichstag. After that, it became a one party system.

 

[JohnGrey]

The real tragedy is that the Republican party has created this mess themselves, by failing to fund the single most important aspect of the success of any country -- education of their children. Trump's primary audience are the "poorly educated". It's no wonder he loves them. And it's the quality of education received I'd question in those supporters who have college degrees and above. At this point they've made their bed by keeping their constituency in the dark, from questioning their overall agendas. And now they are paying the price for a poorly educated support base who are growing frustrated by following their anointed leaders into the abyss of unregulated banks and other failures of government.

Don't delude yourself into thinking that this is merely a tantrum by the unwashed masses. That sort of hubris is what has led to Trump's popular support and the situation that both the GOP and the Democrats find themselves today. However you may feel about his policies and rhetoric, the support that Trump has comes from an ultimately logical place: that to see any sort of change in the DC shell game, they calculate a greater probability that someone from outside the machine, despite having no political experience, will enact better policies for their benefit than any candidate within the establishment because, after four decades of failed promises, they recognise that that's their only recourse.