A Justice League of tech is plotting against Donald Trump: Tim Cook, Elon Musk and Larry Page met with Republican politicians and Karl Rove to “plot to stop Trump” report claims
Apple boss Tim Cook, Google's Larry Page and entrepreneur Elon Musk are among the biggest names in the tech industry to secretly meet and discuss presidential hopeful Donald Trump – and how to stop him – according to reports.
The guest list at the secretive confab which took place over the weekend reads like a Justice League-style line-up of the top tech leaders and pioneers, and Trump was the hottest topic of conversation, according to the Huffington Post.
According to the report, they were also accompanied by several Republican politicians at the American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum, including well known political advisor Karl Rove who is said to have presented to the delegates with focus group findings about Trump.
"A spectre was haunting the World Forum–the spectre of Donald Trump. 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," wrote US political commentator Bill Kristol in an email about the meeting quoted by HuffPost.
"The key task now, to once again paraphrase Karl Marx, is less to understand Trump than to stop him. In general, there's a little too much hand-wringing, brow-furrowing, and fatalism out there and not quite enough resolving to save the party from nominating or the country electing someone who simply shouldn't be president."
Also said to be on the agenda was encryption in the wake of Apple's fight with the FBI over giving greater access iPhones and other devices to the authorities.
Donald Trump has been vocal about his disapproval of Apple, urging voters to boycott Apple over the issue and saying Cook is just trying "to prove how liberal he is". Trump has also promised that he will get Apple "to start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries" if elected.
The event, which is meant to be off the record, takes place annually at the remote luxury resort of Sea Island off the coast of Georgia and has previously hosted meetings of the G8.