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Comment by valleyer | Hacker News Reader

Tim Cook is a Trump supporter.

They want something from the government that is at the government's discretion, such as semiconductor access, data facilities, subsidies, clearances, inclusion in circular partnerships

that's why they are not challenging this

That makes him a Trump supporter

Tim Cook doesn't want the legal liability when this app is named in a civil suit regarding an assassination. It simply isn't worth it.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/24/dallas-ice-s...

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/defendants-in-prairieland-...

I don't think Tim Apple is anything but a Tim Apple supporter at the end of the day, it's just that this administration has shown that will abuse the civil litigation system to tie up your time and money endlessly without ever actually reaching a verdict until you finally just give up and pay Trump to go away...ahem, make a donation to the presidential library fund

I think Apple has enough money to fight civil actions if Cook had a spine.

think like him: they can fight but is fighting the most profitable thing to do? Depends on how many bites at the apple (pun intended) that Trump intends to take. If you can count on someone to extort you once then paying them is a good option, if you think they're gonna come back for more then not paying them is a good option, and if you're not sure then letting someone else try both options and seeing how it works out for them is a great option and if you have to make a decision now you can pay once and then watch.

One has to love it when the most powerful and riches members of society are suddenly casted as if they were the weakest of the poor.

Tim Cook and the rest of the billionaire class do exactly what they want to do politically.

I don't think it's even litigation they're worried about. It's the tariff power that the cowardly GOP-controlled Congress has given up to Trump to use as a cudgel.

A reluctant supporter is still a supporter at the end of the day

but an enthusiastic supporter can be counted on to be a supporter tomorrow. he'll cow to whomever it is in his best interest to cow to, just like how Zucc banned Trump then paid him or how WaPo went from liberal leaning to only publishing pro-free market editorials as a matter of policy

sure, but there is damage being done today by people who support trump today, enthusiastically or not.

no one is arguing that. this isn't about whether tim apple is a good guy, it's about how we get him to stop hurting us and recognizing his motivations as opposed to, say, peter thiel who is all-in trump-plenary-dominionist-authoritarian under all circumstances and can't be bargained with.

Except he did that, and Trump continues to ask for more. And Cook keeps volunteering it.

Why so many people fail to infer the obvious answer here -- that Cook is a Trump-supporting Republican -- boggles my mind.

And not that it really matters, but I say this as a longtime Apple user and employee.

Even if Tim Cook didn't vote for Trump, his actions are currently supporting Trump.

Apple's board would quickly replace any CEO that put the fiscal future of the company into question. Apple is still a tech darling in terms of stock performance and Cook has a fiduciary duty to make sure Apple doesn't flounder. Cook did what he had to do and he's forever going to be remembered as the bad guy for doing it. Whether he actually is or isn't a Trump supporter, we won't know. We have to wait for a tell all book from Cook. My guess is that he will remember this time as the darkest in history and regret it. That is fortunately or unfortunately the immense responsibility that falls on a leader.

Then they're also cowards, evil, or both.

always both. only ever both.

> My guess is that he will remember this time as the darkest in history and regret it. That is fortunately or unfortunately the immense responsibility that falls on a leader.

"It was the darkest time in history but I did the right thing by maximizing shareholder value."

He could have chosen to leave, there is always an option.

>Whether he actually is or isn't a Trump supporter, we won't know.

We don't know what goes on in his little secret heart between him and Jesus but in the consensus reality that we all share he's a Trump supporter because when Trump wants to do something Tim Apple helps. That's what it means to support something. I think somehow we got that definition confused with whether Trump supporters feel good about the fact that they're Trump supporters as though saying "Yeah I did that but I didn't like doing it because it's not who I feel like I am" matters at all to the victims.

Horseshit. Apple could have added a backdoor for the FBI back in 2016 with the exact same reasoning, but didn't, and told disagreeing shareholders to basically fuck off.

"Just following orders" "Just participating in corruption" "Just watching out for the children"

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