A few top tech executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook, were “courting” Donald Trump before he won his second election earlier this week. The New York Times reported on Thursday.
Zuckerberg called Trump after the first assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, while Google chief Sundar Pichai – as Trump noted in his recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Show – called the president-elect to tell him he spent his time as a McDonald’s worker. Factor. Huge search results.
Moreover, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy had an introductory call with Trump, the Times reported, and Jeff Bezos also called after the July assassination attempt.
The behind-the-scenes approach contrasts with X and Tesla boss Elon Musk, who was Trump’s most vocal supporter during the 2024 election cycle, and is also a change from the hands-off approach most tech CEOs adopted with Trump after his 2016 victory.
But that changed, the Times reported, after executives saw how Cook’s occasional overtures to Trump helped Apple avoid tariffs during his first term (the Times reported that Cook began cozying up to Trump again in the months leading up to his victory on Tuesday.) ).
The Times reported that other tech executives are now following Cook’s playbook, believing that “Trump’s policy positions are fluid and his actions are often transactional.” The outlet added that the executives are hoping that a direct relationship with Trump will benefit their business.
They framed him. They shared their issues. They criticized his opposition. The Times reported that they emphasized common enemies.
Trump and Zuckerberg, in particular, have had an interesting and highly controversial relationship in the past. Facebook restricted access to a New York Post report on Hunter Biden in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, and the platform banned Trump in early 2021, after the Capitol riots on January 6. He was reinstated in 2023.
However, their relationship is “much better now,” Trump said last month.
He said on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” radio program: “I actually think he’s going to stay out of the election, which is a good thing.”
Now that the election is over, Trump is publicly receiving congratulations from several executives. Bezos congratulated Trump on his “extraordinary political comeback” at X and Cook wished him good luck in his X position. Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also shared X posts congratulating Trump on his victory over Kamala Harris.
A source