slate - "Apple's Silence Is Trumps Win"

[NRaleighLiberal]

Last edited Thu Jul 27, 2017, 01:07 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2017/07/why_won_t_apple_address_trump_s_claim_that_it_s_building_three_u_s_factories.html

Once again, the president is making dubious claims about his role in creating American jobs. Why is Tim Cook letting him do it?

By Will Oremus

On Tuesday, President Trump crowed in a Wall Street Journal interview that Apple CEO Tim Cook had committed to build “three big plants, beautiful plants” in the United States. The claim played perfectly into Trump’s protectionist, triumphalist economic agenda, suggesting both that he has some influence over Silicon Valley’s tech giants and that he is using said influence to bring manufacturing jobs back to America.


Apple has neither confirmed nor denied Trump’s statement, declining comment both to me and to all other media outlets that have asked. That’s not out of character for Apple, which is famous in the technology business for its fanatical secrecy. But in this instance, it comes across as cowardly—part of an embarrassing trend of major American corporations allowing a dishonest, self-serving political leader to speak for them.

For Trump, being able to take credit for Apple bringing high-tech manufacturing jobs back stateside amounts to a significant political coup. It sends the message that he’s making good on exactly the kind of hard-nosed, savvy deal-making on behalf of American workers that he promised on the campaign trail. The only way this could fail to help Trump would be if Apple were to publicly refute it in some way—which Apple has apparently opted not to do.

To those paying close attention, the fact that Apple has declined to confirm Trump’s statement suggests that it’s not true—or, at least, that it’s a mischaracterization. If Apple really were building three factories in the United States, that would amount to a radical change in its strategy. As New York’s Jake Swearingen points out, Apple doesn’t build factories anywhere: Instead, it contracts with manufacturers such as Taiwan’s Foxconn to build its devices.


snip......and read more....and ...WTF once more.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. kicking

[lame54]

2. Trump put Apple in a tough position...

It's either stay silent or admit to massive outsourcing

It's a no-win for them