“Apple has told Republican leaders it will not provide funding or other support for the party’s 2016 presidential convention, as it’s done in the past, citing Donald Trump’s controversial comments about women, immigrants and minorities,” Tony Romm reports for Politico. “Unlike Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which have all said they will provide some support to the GOP event in Cleveland next month, Apple decided against donating technology or cash to the effort, according to two sources familiar with the iPhone maker’s plans… Apple declined to comment for this story, and it’s unclear how the company plans to handle the Democratic convention in Philadelphia this summer.”
“While Apple isn’t the most active political player in the nation’s capital, the tech giant previously has backed both parties’ conventions. It provided about $140,000 in MacBooks and other tech tools to the Democratic and Republican events in 2008, according to campaign finance records. Apple sat out the nominating conventions in 2012, the year Democrats opted against accepting corporate contributions,” Romm reports. “Typically, the tech industry tries to court Democrats and Republicans in equal measure. Despite the liberal leanings of Silicon Valley’s top executives, companies like Google and Facebook long have split their election-year donations among both parties’ officeholders. While Apple does not have a political action committee, Cook on his own has tried to forge personal relationships with Democratic and GOP lawmakers. He even dined in D.C. last year, for example, with a quartet of top House Republicans.”
“Major tech companies including Apple support efforts to attract more high-skilled foreign workers to the U.S. –- a position shared by many Republicans. But Trump has taken a vastly different course, threatening to expel millions of undocumented immigrants while building a wall on the Mexican border,” Romm reports. “And on some of the most pressing issues in tech policy, the presumptive Republican nominee’s views conflict with the prevailing opinion in Silicon Valley. Earlier this year, for example, Trump slammed Apple for resisting the FBI, as the government sought to force the company to unlock a password-protected iPhone tied to the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Many tech executives, however, rushed to Apple’s defense.”
Read more in the full article here.
SEE ALSO:
Donald Trump’s investments include Apple, other companies he bashes – May 19, 2016
Apple and Silicon Valley employees love Bernie Sanders. Donald Trump? Not so much – May 6, 2016
Donald Trump calls for Apple boycott over San Bernardino terrorist iPhone encryption – February 19, 2016
Why Donald Trump is now targeting Apple and their ‘damn computers’ – January 19, 2016
Trump: We’ll get Apple to manufacture ‘their damn computers and things’ in the U.S.A. – January 18, 2016
iPhones don’t kill people, people kill people – February 19, 2016
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
