Laurene Powell Jobs says Steve Jobs would be 'very disappointed' with today's polarized political climate: 'He would not be quiet'

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Laurene Powell Jobs says Steve Jobs would be 'very disappointed' with today's polarized political climate: 'He would not be quiet'
Steve Jobs.Justin Sullivan / Staff / Getty Images
  • Laurene Powell Jobs said her late husband would be "disappointed" with today's political climate.
  • She said Steve Jobs would be speaking out often against the polarization we're seeing today.
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Laurene Powell Jobs gave insight Wednesday into how her late husband would have felt in today's political environment.

The philanthropist spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook, designer Jony Ive, and journalist Kara Swisher at the annual Code Conference this week about the late visionary.

Swisher asked the panel what they thought he would think of the state of the world right now.

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"He would be very disappointed with the political climate I would say, not only the polarization and not only the fact that people are really coming to blows within families and communities and our country, but also just that he loved our country so much," Powell Jobs said, adding that he also had a deep love for California, where they lived.

Powell Jobs said Steve Jobs would be speaking out often if he was witnessing the political atmosphere today.

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"He loved the personal freedoms and liberties but also the connectedness and responsibility for each other," she said at Code. "It was very important to him to be able to give something back to the human experience. And I think he would not be quiet."

Ive similarly said Jobs would be "mad" and "furious" at the current political state, but that he would also still maintain his compassion and love for the ideals that Powell Jobs described.

Jobs was largely apolitical in his life, although he did champion liberal causes such as environmentalism alongside his wife. He notably, however, disagreed with some of the Obama administration's policies, according to Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography of the Apple founder.

Jobs met with then-President Barack Obama in the fall of 2010 and told him "you're headed for a one-term presidency," according to the biography. He pushed the administration on improving its immigration causes as well as being more business-friendly for American companies.

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