LinkedIn on Sunday, August 2, 2026
The quote in the header is from the Wall Street Journal article by Josh Dawsey, et al, July 30, 2026.
Donald Trump is in a world of trouble. If the Democrats takeover the House and the Senate, he’s going to be impeached in the House, for the third time, but this time he’s going to be convicted in the Senate and thrown out of office. …As my granddaughter would say, “Uh oh, Spaghetti-ohs!”
All the government contracts he caused to be awarded to family and friends will be suspended or terminated. Charges of insider trading and bribery (graft) will be flying everywhere. Perhaps most importantly, evidence of tax fraud going back decades, prosecution of which he escaped by becoming President, will come back to life, unprotected by Presidential immunity granted him by the Supreme Court. Trump and his older sons will face the very real possibilities of serious felony convictions.
This is Donald Trump’s future if the Democrats takeover the House and Senate. He’s not interfering with mid-term elections just because of the authoritarian personality of his malignant narcissism. He’s doing it to stay out of jail.
Notwithstanding the popular hysteria of our time, we’re nowhere near losing our democracy, although it clearly needs work to better protect the institutions that guaranty our freedom. What we have in Washington is a criminal administration the extent of which our founders did not fully anticipate. Our democracy needs fixing, but will survive and be all that better by virtue of the lessons Trump has inadvertently taught us – the urgent need to re-affirm the independence of the Department of Justice and get big money out of politics being chief among them.
As part of his process, President Trump is accumulating as much money as possible, as quickly as possible. He does this because money, however illegally obtained, convinces him that he is smart and powerful – and because he has learned that the very rich are not subject to the same legal system as the rest of us. The more money he has or controls, the more likely he is to survive his grift.
As has become increasingly apparent, one of his tricks has been to solicit pet project money from wealthy individuals and corporations in return for favorable treatment by our government. Because selling government is profoundly illegal, he collects these funds – hundreds of millions of dollars – in the form of corporate donations to activities such as the tearing down of the East Wing of the White House to build the Trump Ballroom and contributions to Trump political action committees.
Let’s focus on one of these contributions in particular, that being by Apple, the four trillion dollar computer tech company, in the approximate amount of $25 million. I’m imagining Apple CEO Tim Cook meeting with his Board of Directors. The question on the table is whether or not Apple should contribute $25 million to Trump’s ballroom fund. Why should Apple make such a contribution and what would be the consequences of doing so?
Cook explains that the contribution will limit or outright avoid new Trump tariffs that will cost Apple billions in diminished profits and reduced sales if it raises prices. So, $25 million in return for saving billions. And it’s all perfectly legal. Understandably, the Board, whatever its personal opinions of Trump, approves the contribution to protect the interests of its stockholders. Apple is a legitimate, law-abiding public company. The contribution will be on the books where everyone can see it, including the Wall Street Journal and other media. Some customers will be turned off by the bribery-like implications of the $25 million and their goodwill and business may be lost, but the net gain to Apple is very, very substantial.
My family and I are Apple product consumers – including MacBooks, iPads, iPhones and even Apple TV – as many of you may be as well. The question for you and me is what do we do? For those among us who find this form of superficially legal bribery reprehensible, what is our response?
Do we, for example, stop buying Apple products and services, voting with our wallets in a manner of speaking? Do we engage in peaceful protests in front of Apple stores? Write op/eds, letters to the editor and to our Congressmen/women and Senators?
Who do we blame? To be clear, offering an official a bribe is as much a crime as taking the bribe. Is Apple bribing a government official? Are both Apple and President Trump criminals? Or is Apple the victim of extortion by a corrupt government official who is threatening the company?
It’s a familiar story. Collectors (Meredith O’Rourke, Trump’s principal fundraiser) representing the gangster-in-chief (Trump) go to the local bakery (Apple). They tell the baker that, for a certain amount of money, they will protect the bakery from having bricks thrown through its window and other costly violence. It goes without saying that this threat will actually be fulfilled by the collectors’ organization itself if there is no payment. Is this the same situation with Apple and other companies whose profitability can be affected by government policy? Of course, the police (Republicans in Congress) could protect the bakery, but are loyal to or intimidated by the criminal organization (the Trump Administration) instead of to their constituents. …Where is Eliot Ness now that we need him?
I know, you want Tim Cook to stand up in front of a crowd of reporters on the steps of the Capitol, tell us that Apple has been threatened and that the company with its awesome power stands firm against the extortion in favor of truth, justice and the American way. But then, is that what you would do if you were Tim and his Board of Directors? Or the CEO of any of the other companies from which Trump is soliciting contributions? Or maybe you’ll just wait for subpoenas from committees in a Democrat run House and Senate to order you to testify.
-Les Cohen
