Donald Trump wants Americans to dump their iPhones and MacBooks.
The Republican frontrunner for President unleashed a series of tweets on Friday calling for the boycott after the company’s decision to fight a court order calling for it to hack an iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooter.
“I use both iPhone & Samsung,” he wrote to his more than 6 million followers. “If Apple (AAPL) doesn’t give info to authorities on the terrorists I’ll only be using Samsung until they give info.”
He added in another tweet, “Hopefully others will follow suit. Our country needs & should demand security. It is time to get tough & be smart!”
In a third, he wrote, “Boycott all Apple products until such time as Apple gives cellphone info to authorities regarding radical Islamic terrorist couple from Cal”
I use both iPhone & Samsung. If Apple doesn't give info to authorities on the terrorists I'll only be using Samsung until they give info.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2016
Hopefully others will follow suit. Our country needs & should demand security. It is time to get tough & be smart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2016
Boycott all Apple products until such time as Apple gives cellphone info to authorities regarding radical Islamic terrorist couple from Cal
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2016
The call to boycott Apple comes days after Trump, along with fellow candidate for President Marco Rubio, criticized the company for its decision.
“I agree 100 percent with the courts—in that case we should open it up. I think … we have to open up, and we have to use our heads,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News.
Meanwhile, one Twitter user made the point that despite his call for the boycott, his campaign had a merchandise table set-up with iPads to pay for merchandise.
Well this is awkward. Trump announces he's boycotting Apple – campaign setup merchandise store with iPad checkout pic.twitter.com/HPQNuXhnM8
— John Santucci (@Santucci) February 19, 2016
The news comes as Apple has been named No. 1 in Fortune’s 2016 World’s Most Admired Companies franchise list.
Fortune has reached out to Apple for comment, and we will update this post once we hear back.
