Apple won't assist the Republican convention due to Trump
The presidential candidate's stances on immigrants, minorities and women are just too much for Apple.
Apple has made a number of firm political stands ever since Tim Cook took the helm, and it's not about to back down any time soon. Politico sources (backed by in-the-know journalist John Paczkowski) say that Apple won't provide funding or other support for the Republican Party's July presidential convention due to Donald Trump's policies. Reportedly, his attitudes toward immigrants, minorities and women are beyond the pale -- although Apple has been willing to court Republicans in the past (Cook met with House GOP bigwigs in 2015), Trump is just too extreme for the company's tastes. Apple has declined to comment to Politico so far.
Facebook, Google and Microsoft have so far said that they'll support the convention, although that hasn't precluded their leaders from vocally opposing Trump's views. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, is vehemently opposed to Trump's approach to immigration. HP is one of the few tech giants to have refused support before now.
As you might have guessed: yes, Apple has a vested interest in making Trump's life difficult. His anti-immigration policy might hurt the company's recruiting efforts. And remember, this is the presidential hopeful who swore he'd make Apple build products in the US (albeit without explaining how). Why back someone who'd go out of his way to hurt your bottom line?
With that said, Apple is ideologically opposed to Trump beyond pure economics. Trump rejects climate change science at the same time as Apple is making a big pro-environment push, and has opposed gay marriage when Apple both has a gay CEO and embraces the LGBT community. Whatever your views, it's apparent that the two sides have very little in common -- it would be more shocking if Apple did offer some help.
