Apple has told Republican leaders it will not provide funding or other support for the party’s 2016 presidential convention, as it has done in the past, citing Donald Trump’s controversial comments about women, immigrants and minorities.
Unlike Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which have all said they will provide some support to the GOP event in Cleveland next month, Apple decided against donating technology or cash to the effort, according to two sources familiar with the iPhone maker’s plans, Politico reported.
Apple’s political stand against Trump, communicated privately to Republicans, is a sign of the widening schism between Silicon Valley and the GOP’s bombastic presumptive nominee.
Trump has trained his rhetorical fire on the entire tech industry, but he has 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.
Apple declined to comment for this story.
In March, Trump called for a boycott of Apple products after the company refused to provide a backdoor for FBI officers attempting to break into one of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhones.
His anti-immigration policy might hurt the company’s recruiting efforts. The presidential hopeful had sworn he’d make Apple build products in the US—albeit without explaining how.
Apple is ideologically opposed to Trump beyond pure economics. Trump rejects climate change science at the same time as Apple is making a big pro-environment push.
The tech giant previously has backed both parties’ conventions. It provided about $140,000 each in MacBooks and other tech tools to the Democratic and Republican events in 2008, according to campaign finance records.
Apple did not write checks to either party four years later, but it did lend products to both conventions in 2012.
Typically, the tech industry tries to court Democrats and Republicans in equal measure. Despite the liberal leanings of Silicon Valley’s top executives, companies like Google and Facebook long have split their election-year donations among both parties’ officeholders.
