- cross-posted to:
- apple_enthusiast
- cross-posted to:
- apple_enthusiast
“Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, reports Axios. The donation will be a personal donation directly from Cook rather than a donation from Apple”
I’ll defend Apple as being the least shitty of the big tech giants but I can’t defend this.
I’m not going to judge Tim by his intentions, I’m judging him by his actions. Did Trump solicit this bribe or did Tim preemptively do it?
Doesn’t matter. He did it.
Pull up Tim’s statements from the lead up to the first Trump election—before Trump held the office, the tone was different. After the election, Tim knew he needed to maintain a seat at the table, now he is absolutely being forced into public “offerings” to the new king.
I’m sure being forced to play by Trump’s mafia rules bothers Tim, but he knows taking the high ground could have negative effects which would (hopefully) outlast any presidential administration.
It really isn’t any different from the Mom and Pop shop scenario—I’m not going to blame Mom and Pop for “supporting” the mafia.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150330021455/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pro-discrimination-religious-freedom-laws-are-dangerous-to-america/2015/03/29/bdb4ce9e-d66d-11e4-ba28-f2a685dc7f89_story.html
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/apple-wont-be-funding-the-republican-convention#.lrkPMQYOZ
https://youtu.be/JbnbC3DNbQw
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/apples-cook-says-he-disagrees-with-trump-vows-donations-to-rights-groups-idUSKCN1AX0YX/
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/apples-tim-cook-pens-letter-disagreeing-with-trump-vows-2m-in-donations/
https://fortune.com/2016/08/24/apple-tim-cook-fundraiser-clinton/
https://www.geekwire.com/2016/heres-what-apple-ceo-tim-cook-said-to-employees-following-election-of-donald-trump/
Again, you’re trying to make excuses for him based on what you assume his intentions are. There’s no evidence that Trump solicited these donations, so it’s not comparable to the mafia. He just had to keep quiet and politically agnostic and Trump would likely not have noticed. The fact remains that Apple is way more popular than Trump would be unlikely to take action against Apple. I’m judging Cook based on his actions and the harm it will cause. I don’t care about his intentions; the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Cook is an oligarch and he has long lost the ability to tell right from wrong (personal matters notwithstanding, but that’s a very very low reference point).
Don’t think it bothers him in the least.