Liz’s view
The big business story of 2025 was watching CEOs scramble to reorient their companies to fit President Donald Trump’s agenda. They committed trillions of dollars to American investments, stacked their boards with MAGA friends, abandoned progressive causes, watched what they put on their air, brought gilded gifts to the White House, and wrapped themselves — metaphorically and sometimes physically — in the flag. With Trump looking unstoppable and conservative culture looking ascendant, companies, law firms, universities, and other institutions decided that acquiescence was both the safest option and good business.
But political pendulums swing both ways. With the White House on its heels on a number of fronts, and polls suggesting the Democrats will win the House and possibly the Senate, those decisions may age badly. “Big business has to understand there are consequences when they team up with corrupt government,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote yesterday, threatening to investigate corporate mergers approved by the Trump administration. Senate Democrats are hinting at hearings on the Justice Department’s antitrust drama and, as Semafor’s Rohan Goswami scooped this morning, warning David Ellison not to misplace any communications between Paramount and the president.
There’s no predictable way to win in this form of capitalism, which is why it generally hasn’t led to broad prosperity around the world. The apolitical company went extinct sometime around 2020 — if it ever existed at all; part of this is just closed-door influence-peddling coming out into the open. There’s no easy way back. Just this morning, the new head of New York’s biggest CEO council said proudly that the group was moving “into a place more overtly political.”
Last year was a bumper job market for MAGA insiders. Democratic legislative staffers may be the most sought-after corporate hires in 2026.
Notable
- Americans are split evenly in two on whether companies should make statements about political or social issues, according to a Pew Research Center survey from 2025. Democrats are more likely to see statements from companies as important.
- A 2023 piece from the Manhattan Institute argues that companies should avoid the “minefield of social activism” and focus on profits, suggesting that political entanglement can distract from shareholder value.