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Suing Trump’s White House: Has Costco Cracked the Code?

Bryan DeAngelis, Partner and Head of the Washington Office, Penta Group

14-Jan-26 12:00

Suing Trump’s White House: Has Costco Cracked the Code?

In late November, Costco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “Liberation Day tariffs", and the White House remained surprisingly silent.

BFM speaks with Bryan DeAngelis of Penta Group to decode this "quiet rebellion." Corporate America is finally "unbending the knee," but they are doing it with a new playbook: filing lawsuits based strictly on business logic while avoiding the public shaming that bruises the President's ego.

We discuss:

  • The Costco Strategy: Why the retailer’s decision to sue quietly after Thanksgiving, relying on "brand math" rather than PR stunts, possibly saved them from a Truth Social firestorm.

  • The "Business Lane": How companies are learning to push back against policies like tariffs by framing them strictly as shareholder protection rather than political opposition.

  • Political Volatility & Populism: With the President's poll numbers sinking, Bryan explains why the administration is leaning harder into populist rhetoric (like the attack on institutional housing investors) to regain momentum.

  • The 2026 Midterm Outlook: Why "razor-thin" margins in Congress mean Democrats could flip the House even before November, and how this gridlock will force the President to rule almost exclusively through Executive Orders.

The Erosion of Authority: From GOP resignations to state-level defiance on redistricting, we analyse whether the White House is losing its grip on its own party.

Produced by: Roshan Kanesan

Presented by: Roshan Kanesan


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Categories:  politicsgovernmentCorporatesinternational

Tags:  us politicscorporate strategytariffsmidterms 2026trump 2.0





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