The nazis were prosecuted decades later. Tim Cook’s actions shouldn’t be magically forgotten once Trump is out of office.
This pattern has historical precedent. Adolf Hitler’s inner circle included people like Albert Speer, a trained architect who was not an early ideologue but aligned himself with power as the regime consolidated control. Speer benefited professionally, became Minister of Armaments, and later claimed political detachment. These claims were rejected at Nuremberg, where he was convicted for his role in the Nazi state.
The fact that alignment can be opportunistic rather than ideological did not absolve responsibility then, and it should not automatically do so now. Accountability is not erased simply because a political era ends.
Doesn't help that they appear to have shot all of their UX designers into the sun judging by the most recent iOS and MacOS upgrades.
Choosing to.
Same is true for Musk, whose fortune hinges on government largesse and regulatory collegiality.
But Apple? Screw those asshats, they have no such excuses.
And if Elon’s X feed contains his real thoughts, his brain has turned to pudding and he earnestly believes a bunch of really vile racist garbage, so I guess it makes sense he’s hanging out with the rest of the deplorables in this administration.
What do you not get about these guys? It's very simple. The likes of Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos are the exact same as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. The last two are just louder about it. They have their own power base, but relying on it doesn't maximize their wealth. In a best case scenario, they could achieve maybe 50% of the wealth by relying on their own power base, compared to kowtowing to The Party. They don't want 50%, they want 100%, and there's absolutely nothing that they won't do for it.
That wasn't by chance. iPhones going up in price 50% would kill Apple very quickly.
But hey, vests too juicy.
Next time they are up on stage telling you how great their new product or service is - make sure your first thought is, the person selling me this put corruptly pandering to an authoritarian wannabe dictator ahead of their own integrity. If they have no integrity, why should I trust anything they say about this product they are now pitching to me?
camillomiller•2h ago