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0 pointsSpicyLemonZest7mo ago0 comments

They're in his self-interest because he can, and did, turn around and convince people to bribe him for exemptions and reductions. I recognize this sounds crazy when I say it, but you can literally look up the video - Tim Cook gave him a big block of gold on public TV to get iPhones exempted from tariffs on India.

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ethbr17mo ago

On the magnitude being insinuated, that doesn't even blip. 50 lbs of solid gold is what, $2.5M?

SpicyLemonZestOP7mo ago

I don't know what you mean by "blip". Business leaders shouldn't gift government officials any amount of solid gold.

9dev7mo ago

Let alone a jet plane.

That this even needs saying is mindbogging

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defrost7mo ago

Consider that a mere act of public theatre in which a token is exchanged.

Getting a grip on the magnitude of the Trump family profiteering through all the obfuscation and destruction of record keeping practices is an ongoing challenge in reporting.

* https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-number

( Summary of the long form article above:

  At the end of Trump’s first term, CREW calculated that Trump made more than $1.6 billion in outside revenue and income during his four years as president. Recently, however, The New Yorker staff writer David D. Kirkpatrick tallied up a new number, encompassing ventures from both Trump’s first and second terms: $3.4 billion.

~ https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-family-thr... )

ethbr17mo ago

Great links! I expect post-presidency investigations will turn up a lot more favorable trades from his web of associates.

Even if Trump doesn't need to put his hand in the cookie jar so obviously, many around him aren't as disciplined or experienced in obsfuscating policy-based trading.

ModernMech7mo ago

$2.5M is not a blip, it's a bribe by any measure. We need to call things what they are. Trump has done worse for less.

Anyway, the $2.5M isn't the point, it's bending someone like Tim Cook to your will so that they would just give it to you and thank you while bending over. To some degree, he's now directing Apple Inc, since he can get Tim Cook to act according to his will.

How much is that worth to Trump?

ethbr17mo ago

The opposite is also true.

Does $2.5M matter to Apple?

No. They probably lose that much between rows in their spreadsheets.

So, if it's not material to Apple's finances, what does giving it to Trump mean? Symbolic gestures are symbolic, but you haven't bent someone to your will until you've made them give you something that hurts.

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j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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ethbr17mo ago

On the magnitude being insinuated, that doesn't even blip. 50 lbs of solid gold is what, $2.5M?

SpicyLemonZestOP7mo ago

I don't know what you mean by "blip". Business leaders shouldn't gift government officials any amount of solid gold.

9dev7mo ago

Let alone a jet plane.

That this even needs saying is mindbogging

1 more reply

defrost7mo ago

Consider that a mere act of public theatre in which a token is exchanged.

Getting a grip on the magnitude of the Trump family profiteering through all the obfuscation and destruction of record keeping practices is an ongoing challenge in reporting.

* https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-number

( Summary of the long form article above:

  At the end of Trump’s first term, CREW calculated that Trump made more than $1.6 billion in outside revenue and income during his four years as president. Recently, however, The New Yorker staff writer David D. Kirkpatrick tallied up a new number, encompassing ventures from both Trump’s first and second terms: $3.4 billion.

~ https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-family-thr... )

ethbr17mo ago

Great links! I expect post-presidency investigations will turn up a lot more favorable trades from his web of associates.

Even if Trump doesn't need to put his hand in the cookie jar so obviously, many around him aren't as disciplined or experienced in obsfuscating policy-based trading.

ModernMech7mo ago

$2.5M is not a blip, it's a bribe by any measure. We need to call things what they are. Trump has done worse for less.

How much is that worth to Trump?

ethbr17mo ago

The opposite is also true.

Does $2.5M matter to Apple?

No. They probably lose that much between rows in their spreadsheets.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse