Apr 22, 2026
Donald Trump joined the parade of leaders singing the praises of departing Apple CEO Tim Cook Tuesday morning. But, as with many Truth Social posts, the essay's focus quickly turned the spotlight onto the president himself (1).
Trump credited Cook for growing Apple into the tech giant it is, saying that "if Steve [Jobs] was not taken from the Planet Earth so young, and ran the company instead of Tim, the company would have done well, but nowhere near as well as it has under Tim."
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Saying he's "always been a big fan" of Cook, Trump added the leader — who he famously called "Tim Apple" in a 2019 meeting of tech executives (2) — "had an AMAZING career" and said he expected Cook would continue to benefit Apple or any other company or project that he decides to focus his efforts.
"Quite simply, Tim Cook is an incredible guy!!!," wrote Trump.
The president, however, is hardly the only person praising Cook following his retirement announcement Monday afternoon.
"Tim Cook is a legend," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X (3). "I am very thankful for everything he has done and I am very thankful for Apple."
Warren Buffett also lauded Cook with praise in an article for CNBC (4). "Apple would not be the Apple of today without Tim Cook. What he has done with Apple could not be done by anybody I've known."
'Wow, it's Tim Apple (Cook!) calling'
While other executives kept their praise short and sweet, Trump had a story he wanted to tell.
Cook, he wrote, called him early in his first term to deal with what Trump described as "a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix."
"When I got the call I said, wow, it's Tim Apple (Cook!) calling, how big is that?," he wrote. "I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to 'kiss my a--.'"
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"That was the beginning of a long and very nice relationship."
Trump claimed Cook reached out semi-frequently after that, which the president said was a more effective way to interact with him instead of utilizing consultants.
"Years latter [sic], after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader," wrote Trump (1). "He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask!), and he gets the job done, QUICKLY, without a dime being given to those very expensive (millions of dollars!) consultants around town who sometimes get it done, and sometimes don't."
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The Trump whisperer
Despite his glowing post, Trump has taken a few shots at Cook in the past year. The president praised Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang last May for traveling to the Middle East along with a White House delegation and knocked Cook for not making the trip (5), later adding he "had a little problem with Tim Cook." Trump also, that same month, threatened tariffs of 25% on iPhones made anywhere except the U.S.
That came after Cook got a reputation as "the Trump whisperer" during the president's first term in the Oval Office. Cook proved adept at interacting with Trump, both via phone calls and by dining with him to plead his case to whatever policy threatened Apple's revenues. (In 2018, for example, the U.S. Trade Representative removed smartwatches and bluetooth devices from the final list of tariffed goods (6). That took AirPods and Apple Watches off the list.)
Cook will continue in that role even after his departure. As executive chairman of the Apple board of directors, he'll likely continue to manage the company's relationship with Trump. As part of his duties, Apple said when announcing his departure from the CEO suite (7), Cook will continue "engaging with policymakers around the world."
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Truth Social (1); YouTube (2); X (3); CNBC (4); The New York Times (5); The Wall Street Journal (6); Apple (7)
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Chris Morris is a veteran journalist with more than 35 years of experience, the majority of which were spent with some of the Internet’s biggest sites, including CNNMoney.com, where he was director of content development, and Yahoo! Finance, where he was managing editor. His work has also appeared on Fortune, Fast Company, Inc., CNBC.com, AARP, Nasdaq.com, and Voice of America, as well as dozens of other national publications.
