$1M Knee Pads
The phrase "life imitates art" has traditionally been a bit more high-minded than our current best efforts to replicate Idiocracy one electrolyte at a time. But, well, here we are. This week's case in point: the $1 million donations to Trump's inauguration fund. To be fair to Tim Cook (I'll be less fair in a bit), he's just the latest in a string of tech CEOs to make such a donation. But the fact that all of them have coalesced around this number is well, something. And one can't help but be reminded of another film in the high-brow pantheon of cinema: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
After Dr. Evil outlines his plan to steal a warhead and hold the world ransom for... yes, $1 million, his number two, Number 2, interjects:
And that was in 1997. Nearly 30 years later,1 it's even less money, relatively speaking. Of course, the point here, in the real world, isn't actually the money – though I would just note that as President, Trump will have access to thousands of warheads... – but what the money signals. That is, fealty to the new President.