It could have been worse for Donald Trump. He could have called the CEO of Apple a worse name, say Joey Bananas. Still, it makes people wonder if the president has stepped over the edge into mild dementia that sometimes hits people in their seventies, or maybe all that executive time wore him out. What else could account for POTUS’ blunder during an important American business meeting yesterday? The CEO had a brilliant come-back.
The slip-up came right at the end of their conversation, so it was an easy miss. In his meeting Trump said:
‘I used to say, “Tim, you gotta start doing it here,” and you really have. I mean, you’ve really put a big investment in our country. We really appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.’
Senior transportation reporter at The Verge Sean O’Kane not only caught the mistake, he caught it on his phone and taped for posterity.
‘Trump just called Apple CEO Tim Cook “Tim Apple”’
Trump just called Apple CEO Tim Cook “Tim Apple” pic.twitter.com/gTHHtjWvc9
— Sean O’Kane (@sokane1) March 6, 2019
O’Kane was not the only one who noticed Trump’s error. NBC tech and business reporter Scott Budman caught the president calling Cook “Tim Apple.” Then, the reporter tweeted out a bigger surprise:
‘Whoa. Tim Cook has changed his name on Twitter to “Tim Apple.”‘
Cook had fun with the president’s misstatement after their White House meeting. The Apple CEO decided it would be fun to alter his Twitter profile name. It went from “Tim Cook” to “Tim” followed by an apple (as in the fruit) emoji.
This was not the only time Trump mangled a White House guest’s name. In 2018, he introduced Lockheed Martin CEO Marilyn Hewson as “Marilyn Lockheed.”
Maybe someone should tell Mr. Apple that the president does not have a sense of humor.
Twitter world went crazy. Check out some of our favorites below:
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
