@Gte@mastodon.social
I admire @gruber ‘s take here:
https://daringfireball.net/2025/08/gold_frankincense_and_silicon
The reaction I’ve seen has all been about a perceived excuse for Tim Cook, and by extension Apple itself, bending the knee.
What John actually says, and I agree with him, is that the electorate is responsible for the environment the people find themselves in. That’s the singular and most defining American thing—the buck stops with us.
Prostrating oneself before an authoritarian is a personal failure. Doing so in the name of the most influential company on Earth is deeply troubling and embarrassing.
On the up side: not even Apple can ignore elected governments. And that’s super important. Arguably more important than the abject bribery.
Cook and Apple understand that to be a corporate superpower you need the backing of the government.
Now, I’m not sure they need democracy and that’s a problem.
That’s for Americans to fix.
@michaelslade @Gte given Apple’s entire manufacturing base, I have a different take: this is not an expression of strength, or weakness, or a tense moral choice balanced on a razor’s edge. Cook’s job is, and always has been, appeasing authoritarians. He does it with Xi and with Modi, and now with Trump. We live in a world where a smartphone cannot be produced at scale without appeasing authoritarians. Which is, as gruber points out, a big, big problem.
@michaelslade @Gte This is not a defense of Cook or of the moral validity of his choice. He is an adult, and a billionaire, and a lot more is on the line here than the production of some mobile computers.
We do not look back kindly on Schindler because he managed to do all those bribes to get all that enamelware exempted from tariffs.
Apple is a corporation with financial obligations. Tim Cook will prostrate himself before Trump to the degree he can live with to fulfill those. It seems like he's trying to put the embarrassment for himself instead of Apple.
The bet, I think, is that they can appease Trump while not committing much and wait him out. He’s a nearly 80 year man with max 3.5 years left, who is likely to lose a lot of his power in 18 months if Democrats take Congress.
