00:00:02
I'm fairly confident there will be no
00:00:03
tariff on Apple products. Tim will be
00:00:05
smart. He'll go there. He'll kiss his
00:00:07
ass. And also, if you want to talk about
00:00:09
a cult, the cult of iOS, you want to
00:00:11
enrage a cult, take iPhones to 3,500
00:00:14
bucks.
00:00:17
The Trump administration is exempting
00:00:19
smartphones, laptops, and other
00:00:20
electronics from his reciprocal tariffs.
00:00:23
So, this is some relief for big tech
00:00:25
companies like Apple. Well, obviously
00:00:27
Scott's a genius, but one of the things
00:00:28
that's important to keep in mind is Tim
00:00:30
Cook has played a very deaf and quiet
00:00:32
game and gotten things from Trump in
00:00:34
ways that other technology executives
00:00:36
haven't. They've been louder and more um
00:00:39
on display, say, at the inauguration.
00:00:41
Tim was there, but he was in the
00:00:42
background. He doesn't have to be like
00:00:44
Elon Musk and shake his butt all the
00:00:46
time in front of people. He just wants
00:00:47
to get what's right for the company and
00:00:49
and focused in on shareholders.
00:00:54
Tim Cook's the perfect business person
00:00:56
and so he knows the power of Apple
00:00:58
including creating factories in this
00:01:00
country. He's made various promises
00:01:02
about creating factories and so Trump
00:01:04
can make a press release um based on I
00:01:06
have saved Tim Cook. What's really
00:01:08
important is that that Apple protects
00:01:10
its interests which include enormous
00:01:13
exposure in China. They are so tethered
00:01:15
to China as no other US company is. it's
00:01:18
laptops and smartphones. And these are
00:01:20
things that translate very quickly,
00:01:22
especially to young people and voters.
00:01:23
They will feel it right away and they
00:01:25
will blame
00:01:27
Trump. So, one of the advantages that
00:01:30
Apple had is the ability to manufacture
00:01:33
in China. They've made it their
00:01:34
advantage in terms of being able to
00:01:36
create incredible logistical systems to
00:01:38
deliver these iPhones. And it's critical
00:01:40
part of its infrastructure. Of course,
00:01:42
the minute these terrors went into
00:01:44
place, Apple was the most exposed of any
00:01:45
of these companies. the people there
00:01:47
were very nervous and they started doing
00:01:48
things like trying to airlift iPhones
00:01:51
out of India for example in order to
00:01:53
miss the tariffs and this isn't the way
00:01:55
businesses need to operate. They need to
00:01:57
know for certainty what's going to
00:01:58
happen. So let me be clear Apple the
00:02:00
richest company in the world gets an
00:02:01
exemption um as as do other tech giants
00:02:04
because of the enormous impact they have
00:02:06
on the stock market but myriad number of
00:02:08
of retailers and other things you don't
00:02:11
even think of are going to be killed and
00:02:12
put out of business. This is like a
00:02:14
Russian oligarch situation. Whoever can
00:02:16
get to the king first gets the gets the
00:02:18
breaks. And that's what's really
00:02:20
depressing is that Apple will be saved
00:02:22
maybe and anyone who gets exempt gets
00:02:25
saved, but other people, you know, it's
00:02:27
like being on the the helicopter out of
00:02:28
Saigon essentially. You're either on the
00:02:30
helicopter or you're not. And if you're
00:02:32
not, uh, you're screwed.
