Tim Cook involved in secret meeting to stump Donald Trump

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This story is going to be a Hollywood movie in 20 years, isn't it?
Photo: Michael Vadon/Flickr CC

Donald Trump doesn’t seem to like Apple much, and apparently the feeling is mutual. A new report claims Tim Cook joined an exclusive group of billionaires, tech CEOs and politicians who flew to a private island resort over the weekend to talk about how best to stump Trump.

Am I the only one who thinks this sounds like the opening of a Tom Clancy thriller?

The event was the American Enterprise Institute’s annual World Forum, described by spokeswoman Judy Stecker as an “informal gathering of leading thinkers from all ideological backgrounds to discuss challenges that the United States and the free world face in economics, security and social welfare.”

The group that gathered on the island off the coast of Georgia included Elon Musk, Facebook investor Sean Parker, Google co-founder Larry Page and others. And these tech leaders had one thing on their mind, according to conservative publication The Weekly Standard.

“A specter was haunting the World Forum — the specter of Donald Trump,” wrote Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol in report from the conference. “There was much unhappiness about his emergence, a good deal of talk, some of it insightful and thoughtful, about why he’s done so well, and many expressions of hope that he would be defeated.”

Despite seemingly agreeing that Trump is bad news, however, not all topics of conversation at the event were quite so unanimous. Reportedly, Cook and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas “fiercely debated” the subject of cellphone encryption, a topic very much in the news at the moment due to Apple’s standoff with the FBI.

“Cotton was pretty harsh on Cook,” a source told The Huffington Post. “Everyone was a little uncomfortable about how hostile Cotton was.”

Sadly, we’re unlikely to hear too many more details, since Judy Stecker noted that the “event is private and off-the record,” and that the organization “therefore … do not comment further on the content or attendees.”

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