Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the opening keynote address the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 5, 2017.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Tim Cook couldn’t help himself.
After starting the week by criticizing Donald Trump’s decision-making, the leader of the world’s most valuable company ended it by poking at the president’s Twitter habit during his commencement speech at MIT on Friday.
“I know MIT has a proud tradition of pranks, or as you would call them, ‘hacks,’ Cook joked. “I’ll never figure out how MIT students sent that Mars Rover to Kresge Oval or put a propeller beanie on the Great Dome. Or how you’ve obviously taken over the president’s Twitter account.”
“I can tell college students are behind it because most of the tweets happen at 3 a.m.,” he added, as the crowd laughed.
While it seemed to be light-hearted, Cook’s quip at the president comes at an awkward time. Apple’s CEO has toed the line between deference to the president and standing up for his company’s principles, and while Cook has shown a willingness to work with Trump’s administration, he has also criticized its policies.
"Don't listen to trolls. And for God's sake, don’t become one."
In January, following the Trump administration’s attempt to ban immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US, Cook wrote an email to employees noting that it was “not a policy we support.” On Monday, following his keynote address at Apple’s developers conference, he told Bloomberg that Trump’s decision to remove the United States from the Paris climate accord was “wrong.” Bloomberg had earlier reported that Cook had called the White House in late May to urge the president to stay in the landmark 2015 climate change pact.
“He didn’t decide what I wanted him to decide,” Cook said. “He decided wrong. It’s not in the best interest of the United States what he decided.”
That statement, as well as Friday’s commencement speech joke, could make for awkward conversation in about a week’s time when Apple’s CEO meets with Trump and other business leaders at the American Technology Council. Cook, along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and others, are expected to join what is seen as a continuation of a December meeting Trump held with technology leaders before his inauguration.
One source, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the record, told BuzzFeed News that the council will discuss immigration among other topics, though it’s still unclear if there will be conversations on the environment. The agenda is still being set for that meeting, the source said.
The rest of Cook’s 14-minute commencement address on Friday was largely filled with the typical graduation pomp and platitudes. He gave a short account of how he finally found his purpose in life after coming to work for Apple and then-CEO Steve Jobs, whose 2005 speech at Stanford University in which he urged graduates to “stay hungry, stay foolish” is still referenced today. Cook’s talk took a somewhat darker tone, and while he urged MIT’s students to serve humanity in their next lines of work, he also advised them to tune out a world where there is so much “conspiring to make you cynical.”
“The internet has enabled so much and empowered so many, but it can also be a place where basic rules of decency are suspended and pettiness and negativity thrive,” he said. “Don’t listen to trolls. And for God’s sake, don’t become one. Measure your impact on humanity, not on likes, but on the lives you touch; not in popularity, but in the people you serve.”
Cook ended his address with an anecdote about a shareholder meeting in which an investor asked why Apple was investing so heavily in green initiatives without a clear return on investment.
“We do these things because they’re the right thing to do and protecting the environment is a critical example,” he said.
“When you’re convinced your cause is right, have the courage to take a stand,” Cook added. “If you see a problem or an injustice, recognize that no one will fix it but you.”
Cook’s meeting with Trump at the American Technology Council is scheduled for June 19.
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