How Tim Cook became the apple of Trump’s ire

Poor Tim Cook. The Apple CEO has been trying so hard to show President Donald Trump just how much he loves him and just how much Apple will bend the knee to the wannabe despot, but those efforts just aren’t getting long-lasting results for the tech titan also known as Tim Apple. 

Who knew that entering into a protection racket with Trump would end up a bad deal?

Honestly? Pretty much everyone. Except Tim Cook, apparently. 

Cook’s fall from Trump’s good graces, such as they are, seems to have been kicked off by the tech titan posting a selfie with superstar musician Bad Bunny before the Super Bowl. This is a perfectly normal and anodyne thing to have done, given that Apple Music sponsored the buzzy halftime show. 

But Tim Cook should know better. How dare he even acknowledge the existence of Mr. Bunny when he knows Trump does not like the bunny?

Related | MAGA minions break from Trump over Bad Bunny's halftime show

And with that simple selfie, Apple was right back in Trump’s crosshairs. Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson dropped a letter to Cook highlighting the no-doubt-totally-rigorous analysis of Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group. Per the MRC, Apple is promoting only “leftist outlets” on Apple News. There’s nary a promotion of news from such reliable right-wing outlets as The Daily Mail and Breitbart!

Okay, actually, that’s the problem here. Both of those outlets are risible trash, so it would be kinda dumb to push them. 

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr decided to pop up and clap like a trained seal about Ferguson’s move, saying, “Apple has no right to suppress conservative viewpoints in violation of the FTC Act.” 

You know, for people who howl all the time about “DEI hires” and merit and affirmative action, conservatives sure believe that they are entitled to special treatment whenever they can’t hack it in the marketplace of ideas. 

But back to Tim Cook, who tried nearly everything to stave off the Eye of Sauron. He was a special guest of honor, along with all the other Big Tech oligarchs, at Trump’s inauguration after donating the customary $1 million to the effort.

And remember the weird etched glass disk with a 24-karat gold base that Cook gifted the president, because we now live in a world where it is generally required that the powerful show the president fealty via straight cash or expensive fawning gifts? Man, that thing was ugly. 

Apple even decided to treat the masked goons of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as some sort of protected class, removing all apps that attempted to track ICE activity or even just memorialize the horrors of what ICE has done.

Related | Kissing Trump’s ass is paying off big for corporate donors

And, of course, Cook had no problem attending a VIP screening of “Melania” at the White House mere hours after Trump’s ICE thugs shot and killed Alex Pretti. To be fair, that probably sucked worse than coughing up seven figures for that two-bit inauguration. 

Cook, like so many others, is coming to realize in a particularly brutal way that there is no amount of money, no amount of devotion, that is enough for Trump. Eventually, his spider brain will always crawl back over to some fixation, some perceived slight, and then you’re right back where you started, no matter how much money you’ve given, no matter how much you’ve debased yourself. 

Protection rackets never provide protection. They just provide Trump with a reliable source of cash and favors that he can call on at any time. Nothing is ever enough for someone like Trump, and Tim Cook was a fool not to remember that. 

rss@dailykos.com (Lisa Needham)مصدر