The White House has created a spreadsheet that rates hundreds of companies for their loyalty, according to a new report from Axios. And while that may not be entirely shocking news, given Donald Trump’s way of doing business, it’s worth stepping back and asking how news of a loyalty scorecard by a sitting president would’ve been received in the pre-Trump era.
The rankings on the loyalty spreadsheet are currently determined by a given company’s perceived support of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, a budget package that passed in July and is poised to strip healthcare from at least 17 million people while lowering taxes on the wealthiest Americans. That support is gauged by social media posts, press releases, ads, and more, according to Axios.
The spreadsheet reportedly contains 553 companies and trade organizations, each getting one of three ratings of support for Trump: Strong, moderate, or low. Examples of companies that were “good partners,” according to Axios, include Uber, DoorDash, United, Delta, AT&T, and Cisco.
And while it’s entirely possible the rankings are solely determined by public displays of support, it’s impossible to ignore the financial contributions those companies have often made to Trump. AT&T, Delta, United, Uber, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi each contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee, according to CNBC. DoorDash contributed $100,000. Cisco didn’t donate to Trump’s inauguration, but spoke glowingly about the president shortly after he was elected in 2024.
Trump has insisted on fealty to his far-right agenda and has set out to crush anyone who doesn’t fall in line. That includes some of the largest companies in America, which have dutifully met with Trump to kiss the ring and sing his praises. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who also donated $1 million to Trump, visited the White House to announce new spending in the U.S. and even gave the president a piece of glass with the Apple logo sporting a 24-karat gold base. It’s the kind of tacky gesture that Trump loves—symbolism that makes it clear the king is in charge.
Axios quotes an unnamed White House source who describes the loyalty spreadsheet as an “evolving” document, and support for other initiatives beyond the Big Beautiful Bill will be included in the future. And Axios notes it will be used whenever lobbyists approach the Trump regime with requests. “If groups/companies want to start advocating more now for the tax bill or additional administration priorities, we will take that into account in our grading,” the White House official is quoted as telling Axios.
It all sounds like a mafia-style operation, of course. But that’s no secret. Trump has always been a transactional president and isn’t shy about shaking down anyone who he thinks isn’t sufficiently deferential to his whims. Even if Trump doesn’t like someone, he seems willing to bring them back into the “loyal” camp as long as they play along.
For example, Trump recently criticized the CEO of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, calling him “highly conflicted” and insisting he needed to resign over supposed ties to China. Tan denied the allegations, met with Trump, and now we have reports from Bloomberg that the U.S. government might take a stake in Intel and might use funds from the Chips Act to do it. We don’t know exactly what happened there, but we can make some educated guesses. If you want to do business in the U.S., you need to pay your tithe to Trump’s empire in one way or another. Unfortunately, Trump’s empire isn’t just his collection of private businesses these days. He sees the entire country and all its wealth as his for the taking.
Trump is also working on getting a 15% cut from Nvidia and AMD on chips shipped to China in what’s being characterized as a “revenue-sharing agreement.” That deal seems unconstitutional, according to Fortune, but that doesn’t seem like it will matter in the long run. Trump’s government flagrantly breaks the law, there’s sometimes a protracted legal fight, and he keeps pushing boundaries while the courts that are stacked with his own judges debate the finer points.
The U.S. public was absolutely scandalized when it learned of President Richard Nixon’s enemies list in 1973. But in the second Trump era, this kind of loyalty ranking from the White House is just a tiny drop in an ocean of bizarre news that defies the norms of another age.
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