I think the tactic would work, but I don't think Google would want to use it. IMO they'd burn through a lot of recruiting/culture credit pretty quickly if they

I think the tactic would work, but I don't think Google would want to use it. IMO they'd burn through a lot of recruiting/culture credit pretty quickly if they became too friendly with the Trump administration. Say what you will about Google, they still have a reputation for hiring some of the best engineers. I think a lot of that is off the back that many do not view them as an "evil" company. Becoming very close with the Trump administration would be good way of doing that. I don't think Google really wants to give up their reputation, even if the cost is a monopoly investigation. Being too buddy-buddy with conservatives has resulted in pushback for Facebook[0] and Uber[1] (Apple[2] too, but a little less so). Personally I believe that Google, Amazon, and Facebook( a little bit less so) should all be broken up. When you look at Google and Amazon they have their fingers in every pie, it's mind boggling. I am more left than right, and I am very skeptical of what the Trump administration would do about this. It feels like, with Facebook especially, conservatives are not exactly mad that the companies are big. They are mad that the companies are big and not entirely right-wing mouth pieces. There's a lot of anger about "biased" Google results[3] and "censorship" from Facebook[4]. If you look at the business landscape in US, most very large businesses are culturally conservative. Most tech companies prefer to project a younger, liberal image partially for recruiting reasons. I don't think the Trump administration would be interested in pursuing this if Google looked and acted a bit more like Procter and Gamble. This seems like a winning position for Trump and a losing position for Google no matter how it shakes out. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/technology/facebook-kavanaugh-nomination-kaplan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/technology/facebook-kavan... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/technology/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-trump-advisory-council.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/technology/uber-ceo-travi... [2] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/8/18256467/tim-apple-cook-donald-trump-ivanka https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/8/18256467/ti... [3] https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-search-for-anti-conservative-bias-on-google https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-sear... [4] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/09/facebook-newsfeed-censor-conservative-news https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/09/facebook-...