- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
“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.
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Absolutely disgusting
That’s probably 2% of their holiday bonus!
It’s from his own money, not that it makes things any better.
Yes, not really better at all. These donations are all symbols, not meaningful except as a show of obeisance. So we should interpret it along the same symbolic parameters.
It’s being framed as a personal donation because Cook is acquiescing to Trump’s pending authoritarian takeover, but wants plausible deniability that that imputes to Apple. But since Tim Cook is the one acquiescing and he leads Apple, it’s indistinguishable from the same thing. It carries the same message: Apple won’t get in your way, do what you will.
Pathetic thinly veiled bribe
Needs to make sure there’s a loophole for Apple production when more China tariffs hit.
Or it is protection money. “Nice apple you got there, would be a shame if anyone took a bite out of that”….
If any company could insulate itself from Trump’s agenda, it would be Apple with its “fuck you” money.
This is cowardly and craven.
I think they are buying carve outs for the tariffs
Why would Tim Cook be assosiated with Apple in trumps mind?
Apple is owned by Tim Apple.
Kind of strange that this line cook is able to afford a small 1 million dollar loan…what? You think trump knows that a loan is different than a donation? You think he knows you’re supposed to pay back loans?
I am very sure Trump does not actually think, at best he works based on instinct, but so does his chaotic band of mouth-breathing, blood-seeking raging insurrectionists.
It’s not going to make him remember your actual name, Tim.
You’ll always be Tim Apple to him.
Time to make him Tim Apple to everyone else, too.
What the fucking, fuck.
This is one of the reasons why I am gradually untying myself from the Apple ecosystem, and all of propriety/big tech; especially US based.
When push comes to shove capitalism will not resist fascism. They will ignore all stated virtue signals and choose profits.
Choosing E2E encrypted FOSS products, that are interoperable with FOSS standards/formats and do not lock you into walled gardens, are the only viable long term solution.
This might actually become the year of Linux on the desktop for me.
Try PopOS if you’re coming from Mac, it’s pretty easy to get used to!
My only-ever-windows SO just got a computer with PopOS on it (default) and it took some getting used to, but he loves it. I was like, “you know this is a Mac OS clone, right? 😏” and he was like 🤯
Suprised? Had you put him on a pedastle in your mind? Did you think him to be more than a sniveling greedy capitalist prick? I’m sorry for this very harsh fall from artificial grace if so. I’d be careful about holding anyone with more than a few hundred million dollars to lose in too high esteem in the future.
Corruption as always. Regular donations ensure that whoever is currently holding power isn’t going to cause [regulatory] problems
It’s worse than that. There’s a level of hypocrisy here in that a company marketing itself as inclusive has a CEO who is donating to a far right, authoritarian slush fund. This isn’t business as usual.
This isn’t business as usual
It is. The hypocrisy is part of the business itself. Democrats are in power - you market inclusiveness and donate to democrats. Republicans win - you donate to republicans.
And in reality - you don’t give a fuck about politics, you just play the rigged game by its twisted rules.
I disagree. You don’t see Democrats openly lining up to declare war on minorities. Don’t do the “both sides” thing.
You don’t see Democrats openly lining up to declare war on minorities
Yeah, you see them declaring war on the majority. The result is Trump winning the elections.
Republicans also declare war on the majority but their voters aren’t smart enough to realize.
Kissing the ring, like all the others
More like smooching the butt trumpet.
Amazon, Meta, Uber, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Coinbase, Toyota, Ford, GM, AT&T, Black & Decker, and Charter Communications are also making donations to Trump’s inauguration fund.
I guess I never really paid attention before but is it normal for companies to donate to an inauguration fund? It sure seems like a government sanctioned protection racket.
Perfectly normal, but not like this.
Oh wow, this is really informative. Thanks for the link friend
ABC News reported that Trump’s second-inauguration haul is on track to shatter the previous $107m record, as pledged contributions have already exceeded a $150m fundraising goal. Barack Obama’s inauguration raised $53m in 2009 and $42m in 2013, and Joe Biden’s raised $63m in 2021.
Speaking of forgetting what’s perfectly normal… the days before uniting the citizens…
Obama capped money for his inauguration at $50,000 per person - still, more than 10 times what individuals could give to his campaign.
Only since Citizens United.
you’re thinking of FECA probably. inauguration vs campaign funds are different things, and Citizens United was about campaign funds.
It certainly has a FECAl smell about it.
Fuck that. Not cool.
Typical CEO tribute to the newly crowned King of the United States for some tariff exemptions.
Fuck Tim Apple
Whoa, he got the rich to pay taxes.
Not government taxes tho.What a little bitch…
Tim Cook is hoping to be spared when Trump starts purging gay people.
Hey, he’s a billionaire. Being gay is only illegal if you’re poor like everything else.
No war, but the class war.
I feel bad for Tim.
He made a point during the first Trump administration that having a seat at the table is better than not.
This time around, it seems his first compromise is making a public “pay to play” donation to Trump, while keeping Apple itself out of the audit trail.
I am positive this is the last thing he wants to do, and is doing his best to protect the interests of his company while taking all the shrapnel from people explosively decrying his “bent knee” to this “Con-man in Chief”.
I blame Trump’s mafia tactics more than anything else. As hard as it is to compare a nearly $4-trillion company to mom and pop shop, this feels just like the local mafia shaking down small shops for protection money.
Again, I feel bad for Tim.
Yeah, these billionaires really need our sympathy. Things are pretty rough for this guy. Kinda makes me want to start a go-fund-me to help drum up some support for the poor chap.
Nah, actually he can fall into a sink hole tomorrow and slowly asphixiate while I eat my generic cheerios with slightly expired milk dripping down my grinning chin.
Not much to do about it. But fuck him.
Extortion, more like
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?
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://fortune.com/2016/08/24/apple-tim-cook-fundraiser-clinton/
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.
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.
Doesn’t matter. He did it.
Nope. Sorry. I don’t feel bad for members of the modern Association of German National Jews.
