Tim Cook Is the Latest Tech Exec to Kiss the Ring, Gives Trump’s Establishment $1 Million

Following in the footsteps of his peers in the tech industry, Apple CEO Tim Cook has decided to donate $1 million to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund. That story comes from Axioswhich said on Friday that the donation represents the culmination of a “long, collaborative relationship between Trump and Cook” that began many years ago and has spanned many meetings, including a recent dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

Of course, it’s not just Cook. Last month, it was revealed that Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s launch fund, which was seen as an attempt by the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to end relations with Trump (the two had a very successful relationship. had a long history). Cook’s offerings are obviously a little different from those offerings, as they are provided by Cook himself. Meta’s contributions apparently came from the company itself, not the executive behind the company. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also donated $1 million to the fund, and Amazon he has done the same. In general, it seems like the tech industry is lining up to kiss the ring more than ever.

That said, it is customary for companies to donate money to support the president and a many other companies they are lining up to help do the same this year. Those companies include Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, AT&T, crypto companies Kraken and Coinbase, and others.

Cook may be in a better position than most tech executives. The New York Times where is he writing Apple executives had a “good relationship (with the President) during Mr. Trump’s first term,” and that Cook’s relationship with the president was better than other contenders.

Contributions to the presidential inauguration are to be seen more as an effort to impress the incoming rulers. Although the actual inauguration of the president—the part of the ceremony where the president is sworn in—is paid for with public funds, many of the celebrations that follow that first ceremony are fueled by private donations. A variety of individuals and organizations can donate to the presidential inauguration committee but, in general, the largest donations come from organizations, lobbyists, and political committees.

Trump’s last inauguration was seen as the most expensive in history, raising his own inaugural committee a total of $107 million. By comparison, Obama’s inauguration in 2013 earned $43 million, while its 2009 launch raised $55 million.

Companies that were very destructive Trump’s inauguration in 2016 included Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, as well as Dow Chemical, Pfizer, Microsoft, Google, and several others. private prison companies. The biggest contributor was AT&T, with a $2 million donation.