As the fallout continues from The Atlantic’s bombshell report that Donald Trump has repeatedly denigrated dead U.S. military personnel, Trump has found a new target for his attempts to make the story go away: The magazine’s owner, Laurene Powell Jobs. On Sunday, Trump called on his followers to swarm her with phone calls and letters in retaliation for that story.
Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, is the founder of the philanthropic Emerson Collective foundation, which acquired a majority stake The Atlantic in 2017. While she has exerted influence on the magazine’s business matters, she reportedly does not control its editorial direction. She is also a prominent Democratic donor, and that led at least one prominent Trump supporter to suggest a conspiracy theory that her political leanings were responsible for the Magazine’s reporting. Which brings us to Trump.
“Steve Jobs would not be happy that his wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine that is run by a con man (Goldberg) and spews FAKE NEWS & HATE. Call her, write her, let her know how you feel!!!,” Trump tweeted early Sunday morning. It is unclear if this represents a violation of Twitter policies against targeted harassment; Representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.
The Atlantic reported on Thursday that, among other things, Trump refused to attend a Nov. 2018 commemoration of American soldiers killed during World War I because it was raining and he worried about his hair, and also because he didn’t think fallen soldiers should be honored, dismissing the French cemetery as “filled with losers.” The article also details other instances of Trump openly denigrating disabled veterans and insulting dead soldiers as “losers” and “suckers,” and even details an incident where he appeared to mock former chief of staff John Kelly’s son, who died in Afghanistan in 2010.
Trump has denied the accusations — though in at least one instance they reflect things he has also said in public — but the Atlantic’s reporting has since been independently confirmed by other outlets, including the Associated Press, The Washington Post, and Fox News. Trump has been widely condemned by veterans groups and prominent politicians.
See Trump’s attack on Laurene Powell Jobs below.
Steve Jobs would not be happy that his wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine that is run by a con man (Goldberg) and spews FAKE NEWS & HATE. Call her, write her, let her know how you feel!!! https://t.co/wwuoP85bQE
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2020