The White House used creative punctuation to try to fix Trump's 'Tim Apple' slip to Apple's Tim Cook

Trump calls Tim Cook &quot;Tim Apple&quot;

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The White House via BBC News)

last updated 8 March 2019

First daughter Ivanka Trump found the jokes about President Trump calling Apple CEO Tim Cook "Tim Apple" pretty funny. So did Tim Cook.

The White House, apparently, did not find it amusing. "In the official transcript of the meeting, the words 'Tim' and 'Apple' are separated by a dash as if Trump had paused, possibly to thank both the executive and the company," The Associated Press notes. You can decide for yourself if Trump is thanking "Tim Apple" or, as the White House transcribes it, " We appreciate it very much, Tim — Apple," in the video below.

The White House's creative punctuation would be more believable if Trump didn't have a history of conflating the names of CEOs with the companies they lead (see: "Marillyn Lockheed," "Donald Trump"). So whoever's in charge of "fixing" transcripts at the White House may want to stop it — assuming one person is in charge. Maybe, as the saying goes, there are just too many apples in the kitchen.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.