1. Trump dot Frenemies dot com
The heads of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook, Intel, Palantir, Amazon, Tesla, Cisco and others met with Donald Trump, whose campaign was one long harangue against outsourcing and immigration, both of which all those companies depend on.
2. ‘We’re going to be there for you’
You’re doing well right now and I’m very honored by the bounce. They’re all talking about the bounce ... Anything we can do to help this go along, and we’re going to be there for you. And you’ll call my people, you’ll call me. It doesn’t make any difference. We have no formal chain of command around here.
– Donald Trump, to tech titans
3. The kids are alright
At the head of the table for the tech titans meeting, which also included senior government appointees, sat Ivanka Trump and her brothers, Don Jr and Eric, who either represent the government or the Trump organization or both*.
*Nuclear-grade ethics violation
Summary
Conflicts of interest arise when you’re not – when you’re sneaky about it, when you’re shady about it, when you’re not transparent about it.
– Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer
Meeting of the minds
Honored to have sat in on this meeting. The most impressive group of minds I've seen assembled all looking to fight for America and US jobs. https://t.co/e2si8Kb9Au
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 14, 2016
4. Emojigate
Twitter was barred from the meeting “in retribution for refusing during the campaign to allow an emoji version of the hashtag #CrookedHillary”, Politico quoted “a source close to the situation” as saying.
5. ‘Of course’ Facebook won’t register Muslims
No one has asked us to build a Muslim registry, and of course we would not do so.
– Facebook, in a statement to the Intercept
6. Kissinger cool with Tillerson
“I pay no attention to this argument that he is too friendly with Russia,” Henry Kissinger said of Rex Tillerson, Politico reported. “He would be useless at the head of Exxon if he was not friendly with Russia … I think it’s a good appointment.”
Sweet retirement
BREAKING: Darren Woods elected chairman, CEO of Exxon Mobil; Rex Tillerson to retire
— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) December 14, 2016
7. Putin popularity surges with GOP – poll
Um, wow...
— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) December 14, 2016
Net favorability of Putin:
Democrats
July 2014: -54
Dec 2016: -62
Republicans
July 2014: -66
Dec 2016: -10
(YouGov/Economist)
... and another thing:
Ahhh this handshake between Trump and Peter Thiel https://t.co/cMTMoawQM9
— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) December 14, 2016
