American Apple(s)

The first article I read about Apple in my RSS reader this morning was from MacRumors:

Apple is one of several tech companies that will contribute to the construction of U.S. President Donald Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom, reports CNN.

The second article I read about Apple was how "Apple Starts Shipping Made-in-America AI Servers Early", quoting Apple Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan:

As part of our $600 billion commitment to the United States, these servers will be installed in our data centers and play a key role in powering Apple Intelligence with Private Cloud Compute.

The third article I read was from Daring Fireball where John Gruber linked to an article in The Hollywood Reporter titled "Is Jessica Chastain’s ‘The Savant’ Ever Going to Premiere?" with the phrase:

Ominous vibe.

What's the point of designing a special plaque, giving millions to your mad king, and flying the American flag from every possible angle—even though the majority of Apple's customers live outside America—if you're still afraid to release a TV series that executive producer and star, Jessica Chastain, says is about:

...the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honoring their courage feels more urgent than ever. While I respect Apple’s decision to pause the release for now, I remain hopeful the show will reach audiences soon. Until then, I’m wishing safety and strength for everyone, and I’ll let you know if and when The Savant is released.

Assuming Chastain's description of the series is accurate, Apple seems like cowards.

I don't think tech and political writers inside the USA fully recognize how insane Apple's bending the knee to Trump looks from outside. It's turned a company that I thought was fairly apolitical in terms of the left / right divide in the USA, but very interested in caring about humanity, to a company that's willing to follow the political winds whichever way they may blow—as long as the iPhones keep flowing.