I think Cook could have forcefully opposed Trump and gone down a hero, building generational trust in Apple as a brand — a trust whose dividends would more than repay the short-term costs of tariffs…but that’s me speculating. What I do feel confident about is that Cook could have simply •ignored• Trump, given him the blank stare, and emerged with both dignity and market position intact.

Yes indeed.

@inthehands

I guess thats why I'm poor. Never been shy about saying it very politely and firmly when asked to turn a blind eye.

The MN corporation I use to work for supported doing the right thing when I started 45 years ago, you could talk to honest company lawyers about issues. Maybe it was because it was run by engineers and the board and a majority of stock holders where MN. Then the board composition changed, they decided you needed an mba to be management, understanding of comercializing new technology eroded, and a backstabbing culture emerged as cuts were made repeatedly after programs on unrealistic timelines failed to produce on target. Communication was replaced with lies and posturing.
My experience and expertise didn't change, nor did the reality of physics and manufacturing. I refused to stop being politely realistic about what it took to succeed at the ventures proposed. I was repeatedly advised to just do the impossible. Ultimately, I walked out at 61 after being told to take a 3 level lower position to to help new PhDs learn development. Because I was honest and cared about making endeavors successful.

Now our country has become a cesspool of the same process that took a good tech company down. We need to learn together to care, communicate, value knowlege, and refuse to participate in harm to others if we are going to build teams that can create a new world for us all. I learned what I believe in and to be who I am growing up in Minnesota. Lets keep it going.

Maybe not as bad as Peter Thiel, but who is to say? It's not like he's not out here giving his personal million dollars (not Apple's, but his own money) to the inauguration bribe fund.

Standing up means accepting the potential consequences.

I don’t think many people make it to that level of wealth, power, and influence by saying, “fuck you” to anyone else in that elite network. Lesser beings? Sure, if they even warrant a “fuck you.” But other members of the club? That’s not how you gain or keep your membership. In other words, it’s a self selection issue.

I don’t know, Tim, if Minneapolis can stand up to him, why can’t you?

https://www.anildash.com/2025/09/09/how-tim-cook-sold-out-steve-jobs/

What I •do• know is that if you publicly, eagerly capitulate to fascists, whatever reasons you might have for that, you accept the consequences of that choice. Collaborators who capitulated out of self-preservation instead of belief are still collaborators.

https://mastodon.social/@Sgns/116441133941793969

Apple: Tim Cook's Apple: SET HER ON FIRE, BURN HER LIKE A WTICH, KEEP DUMPING CHEMICALS ON CHILDREN, DON'T LISTEN TO HER HEARSAY

Maybe not so much a bribe as a "try to remember what we did for a while there", with some gold from Utah (un?)helpfully added to the base to give it a nice weight.

Well. If so, then we at least now know it worked – on *us*

That's like the Fifa peace prize.

They do soccer?