Remember when Apple came out with its six-guns a blazin’ to announce its Mac Pro and a return to US manufacturing? It was a big deal for much of 2013 and 2014, accompanied by a lot of flag-waving bombast and back-patting bravado. But then Apple fell mysteriously silent on the topic as the months turned into years without any upgrades.

It was President Obama who at the beginning of 2011 asked Steve Jobs what it would take to build iPhones in the United States. Why can’t that work come home, the president asked. Steve Jobs’ answer was unequivocal: “Those jobs aren’t coming back.” Nevertheless, in 2012 Tim Cook’s Apple committed to investing over $100 million to kickstart US manufacturing. In 2013, Apple would launch the completely…

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