$1M Knee Pads
The phrase "life imitates art" has traditionally been a bit more high-minded than our current best efforts to replicate Idiocracy one electrolyte at a time. But, well, here we are. This week's case in point: the $1 million donations to Trump's inauguration fund. To be fair to Tim Cook (I'll be less fair in a bit), he's just the latest in a string of tech CEOs to make such a donation. But the fact that all of them have coalesced around this number is well, something. And one can't help but be reminded of another film in the high-brow pantheon of cinema: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
After Dr. Evil outlines his plan to steal a warhead and hold the world ransom for... yes, $1 million, his number two, Number 2, interjects:
And that was in 1997. Nearly 30 years later,1 it's even less money, relatively speaking. Of course, the point here, in the real world, isn't actually the money – though I would just note that as President, Trump will have access to thousands of warheads... – but what the money signals. That is, fealty to the new President.
Oh, I'm sorry, did I say "fealty"? I meant "unity", which is the rationale Cook is apparently giving for the donation, "sources" told Axios' Mike Allen. That's speaking to the unity of the country, which, fair enough, I guess. But really, the most interesting element is the unity amongst these CEOs in all somehow deciding to give the exact same amount of money. Clearly, there was either direct coordination here – a sort of, "how much money do you think we should all give so this isn't some sort of bidding war?"2 – or indirect by way of the first such donation from Mark Zuckerberg at Meta.
