Pres. Trump lashes out at the widow of Steve Jobs

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has come under fire for disparaging war veterans, lashed out at Laurene Powell Jobs (picture), the majority stake holder of The Atlantic and the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, for publishing such an article about him. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the magazine, said he will not give in to the president by saying the earlier story about him was just the “tip of the iceberg” and the magazine will write a further report about it.

“Steve Jobs would not be happy that this wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. The U.S. president added the magazine is run by a con man (Goldberg) and “spews FAKE NEWS & HATE.” Trump ended his tweet by saying, “Call her (Laurene), write her, let her know how you feel!,” urging his supporters to practically attack her. Laurene Jobs is the sixth-richest woman in the world with a net worth of 21.6 billion dollars, according to Forbes. In 2016, she backed then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by making indirect and direct donations of 6 million dollars. She donated at least 500,000 dollars to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this year. She bought a majority stake in The Atlantic three years ago but the exact amount and price of the deal is unknown.

The Atlantic was founded by intellectuals, such as Ralph Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1857. The magazine became famous after introducing the works of Mark Twain, writer of the novel The Adventure of Tom Sawyer. The magazine publishes 10 issues a year and published about 480,000 copies in 2018. Laurene Jobs said she will continue to serve the magazine’s mission of bringing about equality for all people when she bought the magazine’s stake in 2017.

“I would fully expect more reporting to come out about this and more confirmation and new pieces of information in the coming days and weeks,” said Goldberg during an interview with CNN. He added that the magazine will do its job regardless of what President Trump says.


lightee@donga.com