K Street’s current playbook for clients avoiding President Donald Trump’s wrath on Truth Social is four words long: “Don’t poke the bear.”
That’s how one Democratic lobbyist described their advice to clients. And ever since the notably muted response by industry groups after Trump in April announced enormous new tariffs, several other lobbyists have told NOTUS — on condition of anonymity so as not to “poke the bear” — that playing defense has become an essential lobbying strategy early in Trump’s second term.
A NOTUS analysis of every Trump Truth Social post since Jan. 20 indicates they have cause for concern. Trump has used the platform — his Trump Media & Technology Group owns it — to call out companies, colleges and other corporations and organizations at least 177 times across at least 129 posts.
Asked where getting called out by Trump on Truth Social falls on a scale ranging from inconvenient to five-alarm fire, one Republican lobbyist told NOTUS it’s a “nine out of 10.”
“If you have a legitimate business issue and are able to have a conversation with the White House, then ultimately the president, you can possibly resolve the issues,” the Republican lobbyist said.
Another Republican strategist told NOTUS it’s “clearly not ideal” when Trump name-checks a client in anger, but it depends on the context.
“It’s shot across the bow. It’s a high fastball to that company. And he definitely gets the company’s attention,” the strategist said.
Media giants including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and MS NOW, the network formerly known as MSNBC, were by far the biggest targets for Trump in 2025, accounting for the majority of the 177 Trump mentions on Truth Social.
But few industries were entirely immune from the president’s posts.
South Korean automaker Hyundai got hit after an immigration raid on a battery factory in Georgia.
Trump smacked Walmart down for complaining about tariffs.
The Washington Commanders football team caught heat for changing their Native American-themed mascot that many Americans found racist.
And the National Football League got an earful from Trump about its “ridiculous looking” new kickoff rule.
The list goes on.
Trump has also name-checked individual executives, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts; comedians such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel; and political power brokers including the conservative legal activist Leonard Leo and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who were not included in NOTUS’ analysis.
White House spokesperson Liz Huston told NOTUS that “President Trump is the greatest communicator in American history.”
“No leader has used social media to communicate directly with the American people more authentically and effectively than President Trump,” Huston said.
Lobbyists told NOTUS that they instruct their clients to resist airing concerns with Trump on social media, or in the press. Instead, they suggest clients discreetly and directly connect with Trump administration officials.
“To avoid potential missteps with the White House, we advise clients to proactively seek ways to collaborate with the president’s team and advance their agenda,” a Republican lobbyist told NOTUS. “Even if a company does not fully align with a particular policy — whether in trade, financial services, manufacturing, energy or another sector — instead of publicly opposing the administration, find constructive ways to engage privately.”
“Above all, discard any negative press releases or statements,” the lobbyist added.
A second Republican lobbyist succinctly summarized the advice he would give a client that wants to pick a fight with the president: “You can do it, just don’t expect them to take your next call.”
“Our first instinct is to always figure out ways to open lines of communication that can be helpful and solve potential problems,” the lobbyist told NOTUS. “We like to be able to talk with anybody that we can get a meeting with, because when we’re talking, when it’s quiet, when no one’s watching, that’s when we can do our best, serious work to try to enlighten them as to why we think a certain thing, enlighten them as to how we’re gonna play by the rules and not get political, and try to convince them that we have a perspective that’s worth listening to.”
Publicly apologizing to Trump, or demonstrating a change in corporate ways, are other notable strategies some companies are employing to parry the president’s social media blasts.
The tech industry in particular has been working its relationships with the second Trump administration — and trying to avoid conflict after years of accusations from conservatives of censorship from tech titans. Among tech leaders who’ve courted Trump: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who all appeared onstage at the president’s inauguration and have courted him with political cash and changes to internal policies to better align with Trump’s priorities, particularly concerning diversity initiatives and unfettered conservative speech.
“If anything, I would notice the shift of all these companies when he took over,” the Republican strategist told NOTUS. “That was a big thing. That’s the first thing I noticed: These guys do not want to be on the radar of the administration at all.”
But that’s not always possible.
In February, for example, Trump lashed out at one of the world’s most powerful tech companies: Apple.
The company’s shareholders had voted overwhelmingly against a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. This conflicted with the Trump administration’s concerted effort to crack down on DEI, stripping funding for programs related to gender, race and climate change. It was pushing the private sector to follow suit.
“Apple should get rid of DEI rules, not just make adjustments to them. DEI was a hoax that has been very bad for our country. DEI is gone!!!” Trump, who now uses an Apple iPhone, wrote in an all-caps post on Trust Social.
After the vote, but before Trump posted, CEO Tim Cook said Apple “may need to make some changes to comply” with the new legal landscape.
So far, Apple — which did not respond to requests for comment — has not abandoned its DEI policies, even as other big companies including Meta and Amazon have rolled theirs back. But Apple has donated to Trump’s White House ballroom project, and Cook himself has personally made gestures, such as presenting Trump in August with a plaque featuring a 24-karat-gold base.
Other companies were even quicker to backpedal after facing Trump social media angst.
When restaurant chain Cracker Barrel announced a change to its iconic “old timer” logo, Trump slammed the company on Truth Social and demanded it “admit a mistake based on customer response.”
A few hours later, Cracker Barrel changed its logo back. Trump celebrated. The president even posted his own version of their logo that included Trump in the chair leaning against an “oil barrel” with the words “America First” where “Cracker Barrel” usually goes.
In early August, a few weeks before the Cracker Barrel debacle, Trump called for the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan over his alleged ties to China, calling him “highly CONFLICTED.”
“There is no other solution to this problem,” Trump wrote on Aug. 7.
But four days later, Trump posted that he, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had “an interesting meeting” with Tan. And a little over two weeks after his initial post, Trump announced a deal with Intel that gave the U.S. government a 10% stake in the company.
Neither Cracker Barrel nor Intel responded to requests for comment. Cracker Barrel said in a statement earlier this year: “We said we would listen, and we have.”
Some sports giants have also made some major changes after pressure from the president.
After Trump criticized Major League Baseball from excluding Pete Rose from the Baseball Hall of Fame, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced in May that players are no longer classified as ineligible for induction once they die.
Rose, who died last year, had been permanently barred from baseball and declared ineligible for Hall of Fame induction because he bet on baseball games, including his own. Manfred acknowledged that Trump’s support of Rose contributed to MLB’s policy change.
Trump also said earlier this month that perennial all-star Roger Clemens, who has denied allegations that he used performance enhancing drugs during his playing career, should sue MLB if he isn’t admitted to the Hall of Fame.
And Trump’s disdain for the Washington Commanders’ new name led him to threaten a deal the franchise struck with municipal officials in Washington, D.C.
The stadium project has moved forward and the Commanders have not changed their name. But Trump reportedly continues to agitate for officials to name the stadium after him — in line with his efforts to attach his own name to the Kennedy Center and a new class of Navy warships — and influence the stadium’s design.
MLB, the NFL and the Washington Commanders did not respond to requests for comment.
Media reports on warnings about the potential impact of tariffs and the ultimate fallout attracted a lot of pushback from Trump.
Companies critical of the tariffs also took a hit.
In mid-May, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned during the company’s earnings call that tariffs — particularly on Chinese imports — were expected to raise prices on a range of products.
Trump shot back in a Truth Social post a few days later that Walmart should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote. “I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
In response to the post, Walmart spokesperson Joe Pennington told several media outlets the company has “always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won’t stop” and promised Walmart would “keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins.”
A few months later, in August, the investment giant Goldman Sachs published an analysis that found customers could bear as much as two-thirds of the cost of tariffs — an analysis Trump lambasted, saying the company and CEO David Solomon “refuse to give credit where credit is due.”
While Goldman Sachs’ October report found customers were shouldering 55% of tariff costs, another Goldman Sachs analysis published Monday anticipated better times ahead, stating that the United States “is likely to outperform substantially … because of reduced tariff drag, tax cuts, and easier financial conditions.”
Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Walmart did not respond to requests for comment.
Among media companies, NBC and its parent company, Comcast, were Trump’s most frequent targets: Trump mentioned NBC and Comcast on Truth Social no fewer than 20 times since his inauguration, including threats to revoke its broadcast license. He also threatened ABC’s license, and has called out the network and its parent company, Disney, at least 14 times since his inauguration.
In mid-September, ABC “indefinitely” suspended comedian Jimmy Kimmel for a joke he made after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Trump called the move “Great News for America,” but the decision ignited a firestorm of controversy that ultimately ended in Kimmel’s reinstatement — even after Trump said “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!”
In early October, the president also waded into a contract dispute between YouTube TV and Univision. Trump called YouTube TV’s decision to black out the network due to a dispute over pricing and channel placement “VERY BAD for Republicans in the upcoming Midterms.” Univision ultimately returned to the platform at the end of November after a nearly two-month blackout, several weeks after the president’s post.
Trump’s Truth Social feed also informs another remaking of the media landscape: public media.
Throughout the spring and summer, Trump railed against “two horrible and completely biased platforms,” NPR and PBS, which for decades received taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Despite a monthslong lobbying campaign by public media, the Republican-led Congress passed a bill to claw back funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is shutting down in January after nearly 60 years.
Trump tried to defund NPR and PBS during his first term. The fact that he was able to actually accomplish it speaks to how times have changed — and it’s not just because of Truth Social.
One Republican lobbyist told NOTUS that the difference between the first and second Trump administration is “night and day.”
“It’s a completely different ball game from the first go-around,” the lobbyist said. “The change in social media platforms like X and the rise of podcasts are game changers for this [administration]. We didn’t have that first go-around.”
While it’s ultimately advisable to stay off of the president’s warpath, it’s not necessarily a permanent corporate crisis if Trump attacks, one of the Republican lobbyists told NOTUS.
“Everyone knows this to be true: He’s fickle, the grudges never last forever. There’s people he loves that he falls out with and there’s people that he falls out with that come back into the fold,” the lobbyist said.
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