'It's Trump 5.0': Lobbyists reveal how Trump is changing the influence game

As Donald Trump returns to the White House promising to obliterate business as usual in Washington, the city's lobbyists are preparing for a seismic shift in how — and where — they do business.

"Florida is becoming the power nexus for the country," Bill Helmich, a lobbyist and close Trump ally, tells Business Insider. "It's where decisions will get made."

It's a sentiment echoed by Evan Power, a lobbyist who's serving as chair of the Florida GOP. "Florida is now the epicenter of Trumplandia," Power says.

A dozen leading lobbyists, some of whom spoke with BI on the condition of anonymity, say that having a significant presence in Florida is now an essential part of doing business in Washington. First and foremost, that means hiring lobbyists in the state to work the hallways and links at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump and his inner circle have been charting the transition and making Cabinet picks. A presence at the resort — along with the golf courses Trump owns in West Palm Beach, Doral, and Jupiter — is now seen as a major currency in the lobbying game.

Never before, lobbyists say, has the geographic center of power shifted so dramatically with the arrival of a new administration. In many respects, they say, Palm Beach is going to be the new K Street — the headquarters of the political-influence industry — particularly since Trump no longer owns a luxury hotel blocks from the White House.

What's more, the consensus among lobbyists is that anyone who hopes to influence Trump this time around will have to dispense with traditional lobbying conventions. "We can't do this the same old way," says one prominent lobbyist with ties to Trump. "Trump is such a wild card, and that gives him a lot of leverage. Cookie-cutter lobbying efforts probably won't work like they used to."

For Washington lobbyists, that means changing the way they talk about the world to appeal to the hardcore MAGA loyalists who have succeeded at commanding Trump's attention and dominating his inner circle. "This is not Trump 2.0," says Justin Sayfie, a partner at Ballard Partners, a powerhouse lobbying firm with deep Florida roots and an office down the road from Mar-a-Lago. "It's more like Trump 5.0. This is the most anti-Washington president we've elected since maybe Andrew Jackson."

When it comes to lobbying, the big winner of Trump's first term was Ballard Partners. The firm's success offers some lessons for lobbying firms itching to capitalize on their ties to Trump and his inner circle and establish a beachhead in Florida.

Before Trump's unexpected victory in 2016, Ballard Partners had no presence in Washington to speak of. But its founder, Brian Ballard, had been part of Trump's inner sanctum — first as a top fundraiser in Florida, then as part of the president-elect's transition team. By leveraging his access to Trump, Ballard Partners was able to compete with the old white-shoe lobbying firms that have been the industry's dominant players for decades.

In 2017, the first year of Trump's term, Ballard added dozens of major clients, including Google, Amazon, Uber, American Airlines, Honda, the tobacco giant Reynolds American, the private-prison firm Geo Group, and the American Health Care Association. By 2020, Ballard ranked as the nation's seventh-largest federal lobbying firm in terms of income — an astounding feat for an office that was only 3 years old. Ballard's lobbying business in Florida, meanwhile, regularly ranks among the state's top-earning firms, making it ideally positioned to once again be the go-to lobbying shop for corporations and special interests eager to cozy up to Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress.

Corporate clients need lobbyists who appreciate that Trump is "disrupting the status quo in Washington," Sayfie, the Ballard lobbyist, says. "This creates a sense of both possibility — and great worry and anxiety to navigate."

Any presidential transition poses significant challenges for corporations. Business thrives on stability; it's hard to make plans in the middle of all the uncertainty that comes from shifting political philosophies, legislative goals, and regulatory ambitions. But lobbying insiders say Trump's presidential transition has brought a new level of unpredictability — one that also represents a golden opportunity, for those able to capitalize on it.

"Trump has a mandate from the American people and is using it," says B. Jeffrey Brooks, a partner at Adams and Reese, a law firm with more than 300 attorneys and lobbyists across the country. "It hasn't been this exciting on Capitol Hill since 1994, when Republicans had their Contract with America."

Through his appointments and his campaign promises, lobbyists say, Trump has clearly signaled his desire to remake Washington in Florida's regulation-slashing, "woke"-fighting image — and do so from the comforts of his "Winter White House," now a political redoubt for all seasons. Already, many of the top slots in Trump's administration are going to Floridians who have stuck by him through his many legal and political troubles. Among them are two former Ballard lobbyists: Susie Wiles, whom Trump has tapped to serve as his White House chief of staff, and Pam Bondi, his choice for attorney general.

"Trump's team has distinct, new views that are not old Washington," says Colin Roskey, a principal at the FHP Strategies lobbying firm who served as a deputy assistant secretary of health and human services during the first Trump administration.

Some major companies, lobbyists say, have been caught off guard by the rapid pace of Trump's transition moves. "They're freaking out a little bit," says Dave Wenhold, a partner at Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies, which provides clients with lobbying and strategic planning. "Things are going to be coming at them fast and furiously, more than before, and this is where the lobbying community can really show its value."

There's also a new way corporations can seek to influence Trump —without disclosing their influence. Unlike his predecessors, Trump is allowing donors — including foreign nationals — to finance his transition in secret, through unlimited private contributions. Those who bankroll his staff and travel before he takes office, lobbyists say, stand to build connections and curry favor with the once and future commander in chief. "People appreciate people who invested in them," says Power, the chair of the Florida GOP.

Taken together, Trump's singular take-no-prisoners style has lobbyists excited about the possibilities for influence. Scott Mason, a senior policy advisor at the lobbying firm of Holland & Knight who served as the director of congressional relations for Trump's presidential campaign and transition team in 2016, is blunt about the prospects of Trump 2.0: "It'll be a great year for the lobbying world," he says.

Having a good lobbyist, in fact, may be more important than ever. Whatever companies think of Trump and his policies, they now face the prospect of a president who speaks openly about pursuing retribution for what he perceives as slights. On the campaign trail, Trump threatened John Deere with tariffs, called for the prosecution of Google, and tanked Meta's stock price by denouncing Facebook as "an enemy of the people." In an environment of fear and uncertainty, lobbyists expect their business to boom — likely surpassing the record $4.2 billion clients spent last year on federal lobbying.

"You have to recognize how Washington affects your business," Mason says. "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu."

Dave Levinthal is an investigative journalist based in Washington D.C. He was a reporter and editor at Business Insider until 2022.