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.
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/