Steve Jobs: ‘The Donald Trump of Technology’

“Regardless of where you stand politically, I learned a long time ago that it’s easy to make a mountain out of a molehill, and just as easy to draw conclusions based upon both a false premise and wrong comparisons,” Kate MacKenzie writes foro PixoBebo. “Here’s one you’ll find intriguing, perhaps preposterous, but with an interesting perspective on two greats of the 21st century; Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and businessman turned Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump.”

“Steve Jobs was the Donald Trump of modern technology,” MacKenzie writes. “First of all, Steve Jobs was an astute businessman who knew how to build a corporate empire and did so many times. Just like Donald Trump. Jobs had some hiccups along the way, including his ouster from Apple in 1985, his exile, NeXT’s hardware failures, etc. A number of Trump’s properties and projects failed, and he himself narrowly missed going bankrupt.”

Donald Trump
Donald Trump
“Steve Jobs was a ladies man, a charmer once in love with singer Joan Baez, yet sufficiently callous to deny his own fatherhood for years. Trump? Also a ladies man, and thanks to being filthy rich, a charmer in love with womanhood, yet sufficiently callous to deny facts wherever it feels appropriate,” MacKenzie writes. “Steve Jobs was the Donald Trump of technology; revered, feared, admired, successful, egotistical, brutish and callous, stubborn and insulting… Jobs and Trump have similarities that should be obvious to those who follow both.”

Much more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Or something.

One thing we do know is that Woz is the Steve Wozniak of Technology.

SEE ALSO:
Die Welt: U.S President George Bush is ‘the Steve Jobs of World Politics’ – February 25, 2005

[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers far too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]

113 Comments

    1. It’s funny that those “shocked” over some 11-year-old locker-room talk represent the very impetus for the coarsening of American culture: The leftists who ushered it in. Anything goes, right, leftists? Men are women, women are men, rap music is all bitches and hos, drugs are fine… it’s all good.

      Hypocritical fools.

      What they are trying to do to Trump is what they would do to you if you failed to advance their agenda. They will destroy anybody who threatens the establishment. They will go to any length to keep the gravy train rolling. If Trump got elected, they’d assassinate him.

      This country is owned by Wall Street. Wall Street owns Hillary Clinton. They need her, not Bernie. Certainly not Trump. They will do what has to be done to ensure they get the status quo.

      Whoever votes for Hillary votes for Wall Street.

      I’m fine either way, to tell you the truth. I’m already more than set for life. It would have been nice to see someone take on the establishment, though, if they could keep him alive, which I doubt. Just look at the Kennedys who tried to buck the system for proof. Ted learned early on that playing along was a much better way to stay alive.

        1. “It’s funny that those “shocked” over some 11-year-old locker-room talk represent the very impetus for the coarsening of American culture: The leftists who ushered it in. Anything goes, right, leftists? Men are women, women are men, rap music is all bitches and hos, drugs are fine… it’s all good.

          Hypocritical fools.”

          Wow! You drove that nail home with one small paragraph and a punch line!

        2. …”Anything goes, right, leftists? Men are women, women are men, rap music is all bitches and hos, drugs are fine… it’s all good.”….

          None of that has ANYTHING to do with a guy who has a long-established, and well-proven track record of insulting, abusing and offending women (as well as people of colour, or hispanics).

          He is just like Bill Clinton; perhaps even worse. At least Clinton didn’t brag about it (he knew how bad it would make him look). This guy acts like he is proud of it.

          Let’s not forget; yesterday, he admitted that there are plenty more recordings, and is now “threatening” his opponent to continue attacking if any of these other tapes were to be released. In other words: “I said tons more of that stuff, but I don’t want anyone to hear it”

        3. I don’t see you refuting the core statement:

          “Whoever votes for Hillary votes for Wall Street.”

          Because you can’t refute it.

          So, you hope some potty mouth recordings will distract the easily-distracted from the core statement:

          “Whoever votes for Hillary votes for Wall Street.”

        4. That statement is pointless; whoever votes for Trump, votes for Wall Street as well. Anyone who believes otherwise may be interested in a bridge I have to sell.

          So, I’ll repeat it (as you did)
          Whoever votes for Trump, votes for Wall Street.

        5. Only one candidate is not beholden to Wall Street and the special interests. Donald Trump.

          Hillary Clinton is bought and paid for and has been for decades.

          The Trump Plan will retain the existing capital gains rate structure (maximum rate of 20 percent) with tax brackets shown above. Carried interest will be taxed as ordinary income.

          That is why the Wall Street- and Soros-owned Hillary Clinton is getting massive assistance from the mainstream media (also owned by the establishment) – they want their carried interest deductions to continue.

        6. That’s not exactly what he said last Sunday.

          Anyway, this is all a moot point, since chances of him getting elected are, by now, well below 20% (19% according to FiveThirtyEight, and 13%, according to Upshot).

          Let us make sure we have one thing straight, though. Neither of the two candidates have interests of working class on their mind. Hillary may be beholden to Wall Street, but Trump only cares about his own businesses.

          You will get exactly the kind of president you deserve as a nation. Better luck next time…

        7. You may have noticed (from all my prior posts) that I’m not an American, and I don’t get to vote in American elections; therefore, I’ve got no horse in this race.

          The main question now is, with the Republican party effectively split in two, whether the voters, with their alliances, will split their votes and deliver the congress to the Democrats. If they do (and chances are now actually quite a bit real; much more so than three days ago), over the next two years, Democrats can (and probably will) push all the stuff they dreamed about but were unable since Clinton. Health care is a given; women’s choice, is almost certain, and there is probably a possibility even of gun control (although a lot of democrats are in conservative constituencies and can’t afford that). Most important of all, the Supremes, where the balance can tilt as early as February.

        8. I’m not talking to you specifically, just Crooked Hillary supporters in general:

          Go ahead and vote in “Romney in a Pantsuit” if you’re so hellbent on it.

          I can easily make that work to my benefit. Can you?

        9. Wow! You’re the one who misses the point, even when you say it.

          The difference between Billy Clinton and Trump is that Billy did it and trumps talks like he did it. Read the article about Nancy O’Dell today. Plainly obvious that nothing happened between her and Trump. There was no abuse by Trump. Can’t say that about Clinton, he is still trying to figure out what the definition of the word “is” is.

          You can put the mirror down now.

        10. There isn’t any difference, apparently. Bill has been accused by several women, and all of them dropped their charges. In that sense, Trump went exactly through the same thing several times (having women accuse him of sexual harassment / assault), which were later dropped (when he settled a seemingly unrelated dispute with the husband of one of them, for example).

          Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky (apparently, a consensual one). Trump had similar extra-marital affairs several times (cheated on current wife with a much younger woman, then dumped the old wife for the new one, then cheated on her once she got “too old — over 40”, with a younger one… rinse and repeat…).

          Anyone claiming a difference between Bill Clinton and Trump is truly a dishonest person.

          I don’t think anyone will be surprised when women start coming forward over the coming weeks, accusing Trump of forcing himself on them.

          Clinton may have been a pig and a weasel, but the 10,000-page Ken Starr report saw him exactly for what he was (and he got impeached for that). Trump is exactly the same, except rather trying to hide it, he is proud of it. That makes him morally beyond redemption.

        11. When Hillary Clinton announces her Parkinson’s diagnosis a few months or a year from now, and claims it’s a brand new diagnosis, are you going to pretend to be surprised, too?

        12. There are many self-professed experts who have already declared this, making a diagnosis based on some video clips from her campaign appearances.

          This is exactly on the same level as the “experts” who analyzed Obama’s birth certificate…

        13. I would not hold my breath on that one, but whatever floats your boat.

          And on that point; I am not quite sure how that even a positive diagnosis of Parkinson’s would severely affect her ability to do her job in the next four years. She clearly has no visible symptoms at this point (we saw two debates, and based on the movement on stage, Trump showed more erratic movements than her), and it could take 7 – 10 years for severe symptoms to develop.

          You DID have a president with a disability (brought on by an illness), for three consecutive terms, no less, so it wouldn’t really be without precedent. The difference would be that she has significantly less chance of dying in office.

        14. “No visible symptoms” besides being totally incapacitated, unable to move despite her blue-tinted Parkinson’s dyskinesia glasses, and having to be loaded into her medical van like a side of beef.

          Are you blind, cognitively impaired, or both?

        15. Then I must have Parkinson’s too, since the same thing happened to me once at a wedding, when I was standing next to the best man for 45 minutes. And I didn’t even have pneumonia then.

          But if that makes you feel better, that’s OK, keep the faith!

        16. Yes, if your brain could not send the signal for you to locomote forward like Hillary, then you could have Parkinson’s. What you see of Hillary in that video is not “fainting.” It is not “pneumonia.” It is a brain abnormality that she and her owners are trying desperately to cover up.

        17. As I said, if that makes you feel better about this election, so be it.

          The video you linked shows surprisingly little; I put it in full screen, and still can’t make out if she was carried in, helped in, or walked into that Suburban on her own (those security agents are conveniently blocking the view). For the life of me, I can’t possibly imagine how you can, based on what you see from behind, determine what happened.

          Whoever is Dr. JMW, MD (behind whom you’re hiding) can’t be a real doctor.

        18. Actually, Clinton was impeached not for the improprieties, but for lying under oath about them. He escaped being removed from office only because Democrat Senators violated their oaths of office.

      1. I’m not shocked by anything Donald Trump does. I am disappointed that the Republican party candidate for President of the United States of America talks like an 11 year old.

      2. I’m not sure what locker rooms you hang out in but I’ve never talked like that. Maybe that’s a Republican thing.
        And that wasn’t 11-year-old locker-room talk, that was a confession by someone with the power over people to carry it out. And the fact that the 11-year old was 59 is even more disgusting.

        1. Have you actually seen what I’ve written about her???

          Americans have picked two of the worst possible candidates for president. Nine years ago, I had said: America would rather elect a gay black man (with a Chinese husband), than a woman — any woman. Today, the same thing stands true as well. Yet, America will, apparently, elect, in four weeks, a woman.

          If the Republicans had nominated ANYONE else against Clinton, they would have won the presidency (and kept the senate and the house). Apparently, they looked high and low and found the most repulsive candidate they could think, a guy who will lose the election to a woman, a Clinton, no less!

          Why???

      3. I have greatly reduced the time that I spend on this site – reviewing articles, reading posts, or adding posts. But I see that Fwhatever has massively altered his approach based on recent events.

        Now you just want to convince everyone that it does not really matter to you since you are wealthy. How typical of the 1%.

    2. There’s a quiet storm brewing inside of me and I do not know how to make sense of it. I followed Steve Jobs my entire life, I was a believer in him and his vision from the very germination of Apple. I got out of Apple and sold the stock the day that Steve left though I continued following his career. When Steve return to Apple I was beside myself. I was a unapologetic evangelical of Apple with a unmovable belief that it was going to rule the PC landscape with an elitist and god like elegance of extreme care and egotistical jealous protectionism of ideas and ideals. I would like to tell you that I do not like Donald Trump and I think he is the worst of me though I know it is a part of me. There is an avalanche of parallels between Jobs and Trump including a bastard VISION. Parallels that I’ve tried to ignore because Trump is not an intellectual and to a certain degree so was Jobs. I know I can get into this and explain my thought process but it would just be exhausting. Remember this. People don’t care what you do or how you do it. What they care about most importantly, is why you do what you do. When people follow him it’s not because he’s a messiah but it’s because they’re selfish is equal to his. I don’t agree with anything that Trump says and I believe in the democratic principles and ideals. But my carnal instincts and my darkest side is roaring and clawing to be fed. My primitive side is alive today.

    1. WHY? Why is it tasteless?

      “It’s funny that those “shocked” over some 11-year-old locker-room talk represent the very impetus for the coarsening of American culture: The leftists who ushered it in. Anything goes, right, leftists? Men are women, women are men, rap music is all bitches and hos, drugs are fine… it’s all good.

      Hypocritical fools.”

      1. I’ve been in my share of locker rooms, and the only guys that talk like that are universally detested, certifiable a$$holes. I can’t remember when was the last time I heard any man talking like that about women.

        If I had a son, I would have a hard time explaining to him that he should NEVER talk, or even think like that about women (When you are a famous, you can do anything, you can grab them by the p****y!). The presidential debate of last Sunday was rated NC-17, because of the likelihood of some profanities being spoken. What does it way when you can’t watch your presidential debate with your 12-year olds??

        1. Since you are not American, perhaps you do not know this: Trump was a Democrat 11 years ago. He said what DEMOCRATS say all the time. This is what Democrats do. Just ask Ted Kennedy and Billy Clinton.

        2. We all know that, and as FFS said, he isn’t a conservative today either, but he clearly calls himself a conservative (a Republican), and what he said in that conversation sounds very much like what powerful, rich guys say.

  1. Other than the fact that Steve jobs is a visionary genius who was of Syrian decent, started with absolutely nothing (instead of many millions of dollars and never had to be bailed out by his daddy on multiple occasions) , built the greatest technology company on earth, the greatest animation studio on earth, revolutionized several industries, and redefined how products were marketed, designed & produced, etc…

    Yeah, he’s “exactly” like that real estate Barron’s heir & con artist who didn’t build anything on his own…. And I’m pretty sure Steve never said “grab her by the pussy”, or wanted to bang his own daughter… This is a very flawed article.

    Cue the trump brigade in 3…2…1…

    1. In Trump’s world Steve Job’s father would never of been allowed into the United States. Of course he loves the uneducated because he’s losing the well educated by a huge margin.

    2. Under Donald Trump, Steve Jobs parents would have been refused entry into the US and would have been bombed out of existence because they were Syrian because we have to fear everything we aren’t familiar with or is different or has more pigment than we have.

        1. That is not his point. Steve would have never been born if Trump were president sixty years ago, since his father would have never been allowed in.

          Mind you, Steve’s biological father apparently never blew up anyone (nor did he shoot, nor rob, nor anything). Much like virtually all other immigrants.

          In fact, if we look at all the terrorist acts committed in the US since Sept. 11, majority of those terrorists were born in the US.

        2. According to your candidate, being an immigrant is the problem, regardless of whether they are Muslim or Mexican.

          Yet, data says otherwise (the percentage of immigrants, legal or undocumented, that commit crime in the US is significantly lower than among the US citizens). One could conclude that it would be actually beneficial to allow open borders, as it reduces the crime in your country.

        3. We were discussing American elections, American immigration as well as crime in America. I didn’t realise you cared so much about the rest of the world…

          Your candidate proposes closing borders and restricting immigration, because “they send us rapists”. I simply said that what he claims is not true. In America, immigrants cause much less crime than citizens.

          You are quite correct with your data related to terrorist attacks around the world, and religious beliefs of perpetrators, but that wasn’t really the point of our debate. After all, the total number of deaths from terrorist attacks is minuscule, compared to all other causes of death (and even compared to just deaths other than accidents, illness or natural causes).

          In other words, many more people are killed by other people than by terrorists.

          And so far, all I stated is verifiable truth (same as you).

        4. I rest my case.

          Look, I feel your pain; your guy is losing badly, and is taking his (your) party with him, and I can understand why you’re upset. I forgive you for the profane language and ad hominem insults.

          I’m sure you’ll feel much better in four years (unless your party again fails to heed its own advice and nominates another idiot).

        5. You really need to calm down, you’ll get a heart attack (or a stroke).

          I’m sure by now you’ve noticed that constantly repeating the same thing doesn’t make it any less wrong (or less vulgar) than it was the first time.

        6. Exactly what is he lying about? Besides, YOU’RE the one insisting there are no Christian terrorists out there. And your anything-but-impartial source lumps in all the dead in the Syrian civil war, where both sides of Muslim. That’s like claiming the US civil war resulted in the deaths of 600,000 Christians in thousands of individual attacks.

          Nonsense.

          And how convenient you limit your data to 2016, when a somewhat broader sweep of history would show PLENTY of right wing Christian attacks, including Timothy McVeigh, Dylan Roof, Eric Rudolph, Robert Doggart, Robert Lewis Dear (Planned Parenthood killer) Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook), Scott Reoder (the killer of Dr. George Tiller), Cliven Bundy and his whole clan (well, they’re Mormon, but they claim they’re Christian), and, lest us forget, the KKK (past and present).

          Once you leave America, you’ve got terrorists of all kinds left out of your hate-based link. There are Christian terror groups in the Central African Republic,northern India, Lebanon and Uganda; the IRA in Northern IrelandChristian terrorists in the UK, Catholic terrorists in disputed parts of Spain, and on and on and on.

          Terrorism is a terrible threat. But it’s not owned by ANY religious group.

        7. Trump is proposing nothing except following the law.
          I came to the US legally, at some effort and expense.
          I see no reason why others should not be required to do the same.

          The biggest issue is this: Leftists such as yourself are simply unable to come to grips with any reality not dictated to them by the press:
          They portray Trump as a bigot and a fool, that’s what you think too.
          Global warming is a fact and all scientists agree, that’s what you think too.
          Homosexuals should ‘marry’ but incest is repugnant (though technically both are as destructive) and that’s what you think too.

          It’s impossible to fight groupthink like this it really is, it’s like trying to convince people not to eat at McDonald’s. No amount of facts can beat years of brainwashing.

    3. … comments of a somewhat(?) political nature. Please, let’s let it rest.
      Steve Jobs, like Donald Trump, was a bully.
      Steve Jobs, like Donald Trump, was thin skinned.
      Steve Jobs, like Donald Trump, was ego-maniacal.
      Steve Jobs, like Donald Trump, had a distinct hair style.
      And clothing style.
      So … Steve Jobs was not perfect. The comparison, IMHO!, ends there. Are ANY of us perfect? Raise your hand if you are. Otherwise, less Trump-bashing. Please. And NO Clinton bashing, please. This is (supposedly) a tech-specific site. Let’s keep it above the fray.

      1. Sorry to say this but the Mac Daily News readership is quite simply THE ugliest of any tech site I’ve yet seen.
        All of them falling over themselves to out-insult each other, to pour derision on any and every company not called Apple and to spit on anyone who does not kiss Cook’s ring.
        The owners of this site are well aware of this. Slap on a click bait headline and watch them duke it out.

        Why would anyone be surprised?
        99% of them are leftists, this is all they have to live for.

        1. I’m not sure which MDN site you’re visiting, but this one is very strongly conservative, from MDN’s Steve Jack, to most of the people who comment here.

          They may be a bit quiet now, since their presidential candidate (and their political party) seems to be losing badly, but in general, they are quite vocal and usually dominate the discussion.

        2. No predrag, you’re 100% wrong.
          There are one or two “strongly conservative” commenters here but the rest are angry bigots. When a clickbait headline comes along they all flock here to drop their little steaming piles of hate:

          “Donald Trump is the bowel movement of toiletry.”
          “Trump is a fucking moronic arsehole…”

          Yeah, that’s sort of the tone in any online discussion with leftists.
          As I said, you have not much else to live for but this.

          Why do you think MDN posts such things here?
          Why do half the headlines have the word ‘samsung’ in them?

          The MDN guys are not dumb. They know their readership is mostly leftists, and the one thing leftists love to do more than anything is make sure that things they disapprove of are shouted down with as much bile as possible.
          Who marches in the streets every ten minutes?
          Who takes their tops off in protest every time the people have the nerve to want a law passed?
          Who makes pictures of their political enemies using gay porn?

          It’s no more complex than that.

        3. You must be new. The MDN readership is positively right-leaning.

          You shouldn’t base your opinion on comments about Donald Trump. There are quite many here (look six months back) who threw vitriol at Trump (Cruz, Rubio, Kasich, Ryan supporters), and quite a few of them still can’t stomach Trump. For the liberals, it must have been fun to watch all those conservatives duke it out (Trumpists vs. the rest). Especially later, when those who were hating strongly on Trump ended up right behind him…

          Not all conservatives here are behind Trump, though.

          Having said that, there are days when conservatives stay quiet. Perhaps it is because Trump is so far behind in polls, or for whatever reason, they may not be posting that much today. But make no mistake, they are definitely the majority.

  2. Steve was a very flawed individual, to be sure.

    But holy ****, are we really comparing him to the morally bankrupt con artist running for office? Voice of Reason hit it on the head: Steve started from nowhere except loving adoptive parents (who sacrificed a great deal for him) and changed the world; Trump started out with a silver spoon in his *** and has only managed to stay “on top” through lying, cheating, abusing the system, and getting bailed out.

    You could point out all the times Jobs was a capricious, self-absorbed, grade-A a**hole (from which there are many to choose). He’s even acted downright heinously, such as denying paternity of his daughter. But the sum total of Jobs’s transgressions pale in comparison to the truly deplorable human being Trump is. Look into the details of his divorce with his first wife. Look into how he failed to pay the contractors who’ve worked on his many projects. Look into Trump University. Look into his charitable foundation. Hell, just listen to the words coming out of his mouth and posted on his Twitter!

    Steve Jobs was a very flawed individual who worked his entire too-short life to move the world forward. Donald Trump is a true monster who has done and will do great harm to this nation and the world. Comparing them in any sort of complimentary way is a disgrace to the memory of Steve Jobs.

  3. Wrong, Donald Trump is the Steve Jobs of ignorant, sexist, racist, theocratic bigots. I wouldn’t even say that though, because Trump isn’t genius about it, he’s a blatantly obvious piece of scum to anyone with critical thinking skills.

  4. From the article: ”In this day and age we are treated with many false comparisons, and facts seem to have become an endangered species…”
    —yeah, like the article, and who can”t see the irony in that?
    And who is this “paragon” of wisdom writing the article? Well, Kate MacKenzie of course, the “hoping to be known” resident fluff filler of the website: PixoBebo. Isnt that cute…sounds like a website about cats. …”nuff said”.

  5. Totally disgusted with MDN at the moment. Really!? Steve Jobs was a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and sexual predator, who repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims from entering the USA, fraudster, accused rapist, encourages his followers to violence, and has pledged to jail his political opponent?! Yeah just like Trump.

    Think before you post.

  6. Some folks need to take a chill pill. Seriously. Did you read the whole article. What part of ‘tongue-in-cheek’ did you not understand?

    There are valid comparisons between Trump and Jobs, just as there are easy comparisons between many public figures and political leaders. Deal. With. It. Jobs and Trump share specific traits as outlined in the article, but obviously there are differences, as pointed out by astute commenters who think before going into troll mode.

    1. +1. A voice of reason that no one here will pay attention to. They are all good examples of people (don’t mean to insult the human race) that can’t take their own medicine.

  7. Republicans in 2004: “Gays will destroy the institution of marriage”
    Republicans in 2016: “Adultery and misogyny for everyone”

    Seriously, trolls are gonna troll, and haters gonna hate, but did all of you self-proclaimed critics RTFA? The author starts out telling you it’s tongue-and-cheek and ends up telling you its tongue-and-cheek and you still don’t get it? Yes, there are valid comparisons between Jobs and Trump; many for sure. But nowhere does the article say they are the same. Just some obvious traits. Stop the hysteria and pay attention.

  8. The commentary at the author’s web site is much different than commentary on MDN. The post is thoughtful and considerate and obviously not meant to be serious other than to make readers think before they respond. Obviously that didn’t happen with too many readers.

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