Apple won’t provide any funding or support to the Republican presidential convention because of Donald Trump’s negatively charged position on women, minorities, and immigrants. Other tech companies are staying out of this year’s event, too, and some are scaling back their support, showing how controversial the Republican presumptive president nominee has become.
Like many other tech companies, Apple has historically offered equal support to the Democrat and Republican presidential conventions. This year, however, the iPhone and iPad maker told the party it won’t offer financial or any other support, according to Politico.
HP isn’t providing any support for the convention, either. Microsoft is scaling back its support this year, and Facebook and Google appear to be committed to offering some level of support.
Mr. Trump rose to the top of the Republican party’s presidential nominee list not through years of political experience, but instead through racist and misogynistic statements that resonated with his followers. He said he wants to build a wall along the U.S. southern border to keep Mexicans from coming into the country, and he also wants to ban Muslims from entering the country and has suggested building internment camps, as well.
After the first Republican debate in August 2015, Mr. Trump called host Megyn Kelly a bimbo for calling out his sexist and racist comments. He also implied Carly Fiorina is ugly and that’s cause to not vote for her, Hillary Clinton drove her husband and former President Bill Clinton to have extramarital affairs. He also made it clear he wants a nation-wide abortion ban, and said that women should face punishment if they disregard the ban.
Mr. Trump was also openly critical of Apple and called for a boycott after the San Bernardino mass shooting. Apple cited privacy and security concerns when it fought a court order to create a hackable version of iOS for the FBI. He said,
Boycott all Apple products until such time as Apple gives cellphone info to authorities regarding radical Islamic terrorist couple from [California]
Regardless of where people stand on Mr. Trump’s platform, it’s clear his policy ideas are controversial and don’t sit well with many potential voters and companies. Silicon Valley companies have typically been fairly neutral with their presidential convention support, but this year it seems the Republican’s potential candidate is just too controversial for their taste.
Apple typically donates equal numbers of computers to both parties, but this year the Republican convention won’t get any. HP’s usual substantial financial contribution won’t be coming this year, either, and Microsoft is scaling back to just donating hardware.
Apple hasn’t said if it plans to offer any support for the Democratic presidential convention.
Other companies pulling back from the Republican convention include Ford, JPMorgan Chase, Motorola, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Wells Fargo. None of thise companies, however, are talking about why they aren’t participating. Should Mr. Trump get all the way to the White House, he’ll likely remember who said he’s the reason they didn’t support the Republican convention—and that’ll translate into some top-level Apple bashing.