“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.
This isn’t even remotely surprising. Apple has been a shitty company for well over a decade.
And before it wasn’t?
He’s doing this to avoid being associated with Apple, but this only highlights that he’s personally a piece of shit, in addition to Apple.
Fuck him, fuck Apple, and fuck all those other motherfucking bootlickers enabling these fucking fascists.
He should just be honest and said “this $1m is a mandatory payment to trump so that he exempts Apple from tariffs, no other reason”, of course, then it’s an obvious quid pro quo.
What’s funny (or sad) is that 100 years from now this will be looked at the same was as when Ford or IBM supported the Nazis. Their business won’t hurt long term and Tim Apple will be long dead.
If we survive that long as a species.
IG Farben, Krupp, Thyssen, Boss, Porsche and the mist goes on and on and on. Fuck I suspect that even my own grandfather “had stripes” (slang for collaboration with Nazis without yourself being proclaimed nazi) and he even fought them during the invasion of Norway.
History doesn’t repeat. It rhymes.
Buckle in kiddo it’s gonna be a fun couple of decades if we survive it.
What the fucking, fuck.
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.
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 🤯
You best start believing in technofeudal distopias, you’re living in one.
They’re being shaken down. Same as Mark Zuckerberg being summoned to a meeting with Trump and the next day paying $1m to the same fund.
I’m betting these meetings went something like, “You don’t want a president as an enemy, do you? Cough up.”
And don’t think of it as a tax on the rich - it’s not going towards the benefit of the American people. It’s extortion.
It’s insane that this is even legal.
I’m certain it’s not - but it doesn’t matter. Trump has proved that he is beyond the law in every way.
Clinton got impeached for lying and it ruined his credibility. Trump lies all the time and gets re-elected, but has no credibility to ruin.
Have inauguration funds always been a thing? Or is this a Trump thing? What’s the purpose?
I can understand campaign funds. But if you’ve won I don’t know if I understand a candidate specific donation after the fact.
Previous administrations have used special government funds that are dedicated to the transition and inauguration. This comes with obvious restrictions and ethics requirements since it is taxpayer money.
Trump has decided to not use this money and get donations instead, which allows him and his incoming administration to skirt the normal mandatory reporting, disclosures, and rules.
Ah, corruption to facilitate more corruption.
That sounds like a Trump thing.Unfortunately based
It’s tribute to the new emperor hoping that he won’t go after them. Gotta play nice while they can.
corporations will always prioritize tax cuts and deregulation
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.
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.
Oh wow, this is really informative. Thanks for the link friend
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.
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.
Gross. Sick of rich assholes enabling the fascist.
Removed by mod
Pathetic thinly veiled bribe
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.
Needs to make sure there’s a loophole for Apple production when more China tariffs hit.
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.
Why does such a thing as an inaugural fund exist? Seems like it’s just to facilitate more corruption!
It doesn’t usually. The ‘why’ in the case is because Trump and his team refuse to sign the ethics agreement to get the normal funding from the government.
Thanks, it must be amazing for Americans to have a president who won’t sign a standard ethics agreement.
Up here in Canada, we’re only ever 10 years behind at most.
Germany, too, is poised to follow suit at the upcoming elections in February.
Americans have been convinced to sell themselves out.
Every trump supporter is either a dipshit or someone taking advantage of dipshits.
It’s coercion but somehow legal.
Paying his tribute to the king. He’ll have to donate more if he wants to usurp Elon. How much has Zuck donated?
Also 1M to the inauguration. It’s a shakedown IMO, though FWIW 1M is pennies to these guys.
