{"id":12116,"date":"2026-04-21T04:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/21\/apple-isnt-losing-its-trump-whisperer-business-insider\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T04:20:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:20:22","slug":"apple-isnt-losing-its-trump-whisperer-business-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/21\/apple-isnt-losing-its-trump-whisperer-business-insider\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Isn&#8217;t Losing Its Trump Whisperer &#8211; Business Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"<section id=\"post-body\" data-component-type=\"post-body\" data-load-strategy=\"exclude\" data-lock-content>\n<div data-component-type=\"post-hero\" data-load-strategy=\"exclude\">\n<figure data-type=\"img\" data-e2e-name=\"image-figure-image\" data-media-container=\"image\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n<div>                         <meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69e6a72c3fecbb42897a1e6c?width=700\">                         <\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69e6a72c3fecbb42897a1e6c?width=700\"   alt=\"Donald Trump, Tim Cook, and JD Vance talk in the Oval Office\" decoding=\"sync\">                       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                        <span>                           <span>                                                          <label for=\"caption-drawer-btn\">                               <svg role=\"img\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\">                                 <path fill=\"currentColor\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"m4.56 18.5 7.486-7.72 7.394 7.626 2.56-2.64L12.046 5.5 2 15.86l2.56 2.64Z\" \/>                               <\/svg>        <\/label><figcaption data-e2e-name=\"image-caption\">                               <span>Apple CEO Tim Cook has been a constant sight in President Donald Trump&#8217;s Washington.<\/span>                               <span>                                 <span data-e2e-name=\"image-source\" itemprop=\"creditText\">Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/span>          <\/span>                             <\/figcaption><\/span>                     <\/span><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-component-type=\"post-summary-bullets\" data-load-strategy=\"exclude\" data-track-marfeel=\"post-summary-bullets\">\n<ul>\n<li>Apple CEO <a target class href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/tim-cook\" data-autoaffiliated=\"false\" data-track-click=\"{\"element_name\":\"summary_bullets\",\"event\":\"tout_click\",\"index\":\"bi_value_unassigned\",\"product_field\":\"bi_value_unassigned\"}\">Tim Cook<\/a> is stepping down as CEO in September.<\/li>\n<li>He won&#8217;t be going far. He&#8217;ll remain as executive chairman of the Apple board of directors.<\/li>\n<li>Cook has put on a masterclass in managing Apple&#8217;s relationship with President Donald Trump.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<section data-component-type=\"image-modal\" data-load-strategy=\"lazy\" data-track-content data-post-type=\"story\" data-track-marfeel=\"post-body-content\">\n<p>President <a target=\"_self\" class href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/donald-trump\" data-track-click=\"{\"click_type\":\"other\",\"element_name\":\"body_link\",\"event\":\"outbound_click\"}\" rel=\" nofollow\">Donald Trump<\/a>&#8216;s next &#8220;Tim Apple&#8221; isn&#8217;t falling far from the tree.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Apple announced long-expected but still seismic succession plans: CEO Tim Cook is stepping down, and in his place, <a target=\"_self\" class href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/meet-apple-ceo-john-ternus-replacing-tim-cook-2026-4\" data-track-click=\"{\"element_name\":\"body_link\",\"event\":\"tout_click\",\"index\":\"bi_value_unassigned\",\"product_field\":\"bi_value_unassigned\"}\" rel>John Ternus<\/a>, senior vice president of hardware engineering, will lead the tech giant starting on September 1.<\/p>\n<p>Cook, the man Trump unintentionally called &#8220;Tim Apple&#8221; in 2019, will become executive chairman of Apple&#8217;s board of directors \u2014 a role that includes &#8220;engaging with policymakers around the world,&#8221; the tech company said.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s had plenty of experience with that, particularly in an increasingly mercurial Washington, where a tech company can go from a vital partner to a national security threat in a matter of weeks (<a target=\"_blank\" class href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cyv10e1d13po\" data-track-click=\"{\"click_type\":\"other\",\"element_name\":\"body_link\",\"event\":\"outbound_click\"}\" rel=\" nofollow\">just ask Anthropic<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Under Cook&#8217;s leadership, Apple has lavished Trump with gifts, including a special inscribed<a target=\"_self\" class href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/tim-cook-donald-trump-gift-apple-tariffs-2025-8\" data-track-click=\"{\"element_name\":\"body_link\",\"event\":\"tout_click\",\"index\":\"bi_value_unassigned\",\"product_field\":\"bi_value_unassigned\"}\" rel> piece of glass with 24-karat gold base<\/a> and a custom-made $5,999 Mac Pro. Cook personally donated $1 million to Trump&#8217;s inauguration, and Apple donated an unknown amount toward the construction of the White House ballroom, which will replace the now-demolished East Wing.<\/p>\n<p>When needed, Cook has also handed Trump major announcements, including an additional $100 billion investment in US manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today&#8217;s announcement is one of the largest commitments in what has become among the greatest investment booms in our nation&#8217;s history,&#8221; Trump said in August 2025 when Cook presented him with the plaque and the news of the additional investment.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Apple has continued to manufacture iPhones overseas \u2014 despite occasional Trump threats to curtail the practice \u2014 and has secured major tariff exemptions.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t mean there haven&#8217;t been dust-ups. In May 2025, Trump said he told Cook he didn&#8217;t want Apple building products in India.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,&#8221; Trump <a target=\"_self\" class href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/donald-trump-apple-tim-cook-india-qatar-china-2025-5\" data-track-click=\"{\"element_name\":\"body_link\",\"event\":\"tout_click\",\"index\":\"bi_value_unassigned\",\"product_field\":\"bi_value_unassigned\"}\" rel>said at the time<\/a>. &#8220;I said to him, &#8216;My friend, I treated you very good. You&#8217;re coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you&#8217;re building all over India.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ternus doesn&#8217;t appear to have the same type of political background. According to federal campaign finance records, Ternus&#8217; largest donation appears to be the $5,800 he gave to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer&#8217;s campaign in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Cook has also maintained a presence around the White House, from Trump&#8217;s second inauguration to the recent premiere of the Melania documentary. Cook has faced some backlash for <a target=\"_self\" class href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/tim-cook-response-trump-relationship-criticism-2026-3\" data-track-click=\"{\"element_name\":\"body_link\",\"event\":\"tout_click\",\"index\":\"bi_value_unassigned\",\"product_field\":\"bi_value_unassigned\"}\" rel>his relationship with Trump,<\/a> but he says he&#8217;s neutral.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What I do is I interact on policy, not politics,&#8221; Cook said in March. &#8220;I focus on policy, so I&#8217;m very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Steve Jobs believed that everything needed to flow from the customer experience. Apple can continue to rely on Cook&#8217;s knowledge of a very important customer.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple CEO Tim Cook has been a constant sight in President Donald Trump&#8217;s Washington. Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\/Getty Images Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO in September. He won&#8217;t be going far. He&#8217;ll remain as executive chairman of the Apple board of directors. Cook has put on a masterclass in managing Apple&#8217;s relationship with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}