Apple says it won’t offer any support for the Republican convention in Cleveland in July citing Donald Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about women, immigrants and minorities.
Politico reports that Apple has told the Republicans it won’t provide cash or technological support for the 2016 Republican convention.
It also comes after Trump singled out Apple for particular criticism — calling for a boycott of the company’s products, and slamming CEO Tim Cook, over Apple’s stance on encryption.
Campaign finance records show Apple provided about $140,000 in MacBooks and other tech tools to the Democratic and Republican events in 2008. Apple sat out the nominating conventions in 2012, the year Democrats opted against accepting corporate contributions.
It’s unclear how Apple will handle the Democratic convention next month in Philadelphia.
Apple is not the first company to withdraw support for the Republican convention.
Bloomberg reports that Wells Fargo & Co., Motorola Solutions, JPMorgan Chase, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., Ford Motor, and United Parcel Service have also said no to the GOP.
They don’t want to be associated with Trump.
“It’s a question of balancing the desire to be present at this convention versus brand association with one figure who is so polarizing,” Bruce Haynes, a Republican media consultant in Alexandria, Virginia told Bloomberg.
“That’s why the decision is so difficult, when otherwise it’s so easy.”
In April, Microsoft said it would not provide a cash donation the Republican National Convention with a cash donation this year but will donate technology.
That came after a group called Muslim Advocates led a coalition of 24 non-partisan advocacy, faith and civil rights groups, including African American, Latino, Muslim, Arab, women’s and veterans bodies such as National LGBTQ Task Force, Arab American Institute, Feminist Majority Foundation, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Bend the Arc, Progressive Congress, and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, calling on tech companies to withdraw support for political party conventions where hateful and bigoted rhetoric is used.
If nothing else, it sends a signal to the Republicans that business might have trouble working with President Trump.
