In the early 2000s—not exactly the heyday of Apple computers— I had a friendly discussion with a student over the relative merits of the IBM and Apple operating systems. I was already 20 years into my Apple experience and wasn't about to change. Then came the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad—not to mention Apple TV— and I was proven right-ish.

Until yesterday, when Apple CEO Tim Cook demeaned himself and embarrassed a good many iPhone users when he bent the knee before his overlord, Donald Trump, bribing him with a special "gift": a hideous, large glass disc with the Apple logo cut into it, along with President Trump's name. On the 24 karat gold base, there's a signature that appears to be Cook's as well as the message "Made in USA" and the year 2025. Self-abasement never glittered so brightly. (Full embarrassing disclosure—I'm writing this on a Mac.)

Tim Cook's net worth is just south of $2.5 billion, and, like all the tech-giant CEOs, he should be above bribery and shame. Apparently, he isn't. Future iPhone users will "touch Corning glass." I'll try to control my excitement.

I do understand that Mr. Cook provides thousands of jobs for people who make, sell, and write apps for his products. And I love shows like Ted Lasso, Severance, and Shrinking. However, many of his foreign "workers" make slave wages, others get by on part-time, benefit-free sales jobs, and the monopoly-leaning App Store is constantly being sued. Further, the new Trump tax bill will only exacerbate the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Tim Cook is a "have." If he can suck up to Trump, he will become a "have-more" while the rest of us muddle along.

I'm disappointed in Apple, but it's not as if any other tech companies are displaying their beneficence or social conscience. If they had all united and put up a solid front, Trump's autocracy might have been diluted. Now our only consolation is something we all know to be true: appeasing the bully is always—always—a temporary solution only. The bully always comes back for more. When all the tech giants decide en masse that they've had enough, it will be too late for a tacky disk on a 24-karat gold base, or anything else.