Titans of tech sit at Trump table
White House gets ‘tech week’ rolling with assemblage
WASHINGTON — How slow is the federal government? So slow that it took the Office of Management and Budget until this month to rescind memos instructing federal officials how to avoid expected IT disruptions when the calendar hit Jan. 1, 2000, because “the deadlines for (Y2k) implementation have passed.”
“Some of you are too young to remember, but Y2K occurred 17 years ago,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer quipped at a no-video, no-audio press briefing Monday to kick off what the White House dubbed “tech week.”
President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet and staff met with CEOS and other members of the newly created American Technology Council to discuss ways to streamline and modernize what Spicer called “an outdated and ineffective system.”
The council has been tucked into the brimming portfolio of Trump son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner, who defined the group’s goal as trying to “improve the day-to-day lives of the average citizen.”
Americans spend about 35 hours each year filling out government forms. The Trump White House wants to change that.
“Fifty years ago, our government drove the innovation that inspired the world and put Americans on the moon,” Trump told the CEOS. “Today, many of our agencies rely on painfully outdated technology, and yet we have the greatest people in technology that the world has ever seen right here with us in this room.”
The event attracted some of America’s top tech titans: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon; and Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google’s parent company. Spicer estimated that the 18 CEOS’ corporations have a market value of $3.5 trillion.
Trump reached outside his comfort zone to assemble this group. Silicon Valley leaders were notoriously critical of the GOP candidate.
One notable exception is early Facebook investor and Trump donor Peter Thiel, who also was at the White House on Monday.
“Tech week” takes place as activists have tried to pressure leaders in the innovation economy to boycott all things Trump, including the Monday meeting.
Cook disagrees with Trump on immigration and climate change, but he sees reason to participate.
“I could give a crap about the politics of it,” he told Bloomberg News. “I want to help veterans. My dad’s a veteran. My brother served. We have so many military folks in Apple. These folks deserve great health care. So we’re going to keep helping.”
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7391. Follow @ Debrajsaunders on Twitter.