The Oval Office does not operate in a vacuum. President Donald Trump's policy decisions are influenced by not only the recognizable names close to him, but by proxy, a second tier influencing his inner circle.
The report available for download below explores the network of individuals who shape President Donald Trump’s thinking using a data-driven, two-tiered approach. Penta wanted to understand if we could predict what would be on
President Trump's agenda in Q3 2025 by understanding the nuances and growth of conversations
amongst the people and organizations influencing him.
Approach
Penta used Named Entity Recognition (NER) analysis on X data to identify the influencers appearing frequently in Trump’s tweets, mentions, and related discussions. Further NER analysis of the X activity of the Tier 1 Influencers reveals the individuals most frequently mentioned in their tweets, uncovering the people who influence Trump's influencers.
Using Penta’s storyline identification tool, we found the most common topics of discussion among Tier 1 and Tier 2 influencers’ tweets. Penta then analyzed the acceleration and deceleration of these topics and provided a projection of where each would feature in Q3 2025. We predicted this would help to reveal which narratives are gaining traction and are most likely to feature on President Trump’s upcoming agenda.
Below is a summation of Trump's Tier 2 Influencers, as well as an extraction from our key findings. Download the full report for details on the issues drawing the most White House attention, which influencers align with which topics, and the implications of these findings.
Tier 2 Influencers (alphabetically ordered)
| Government Officials | Trump Admin & Family | Media Commentators | Political Commentators and Activists | Business Leaders | Science and Tech |
| Ashley Moody | Dan Scavino | Ann Coulter | Scott Presler | Bill Ackman | Greg Autry |
| Mike Lee | Peter Navarro | Benny Johnson | Alex Bruesewitz | David Sacks | Greg Wischer |
| Bernie Moreno | Stephen Miller | Bridget Phetasy | Ben Bergquam | Marc Andreessen | Harrison Smith |
| Eduardo Bolsonaro | Russel Vought | Charlie Kirk | Brooke L. Rollins | Mario Nawful | Lex Fridman |
| Condoleezza Rice | Eric Trump | Chris Cuomo | Cara Castronuova | Michael Shellenberger | Michael Benz |
| Henry McMaster | Donald J. Trump Jr | Colin Rugg | Dominick McGee | Peter Diamandis | Robert W. Malone MD |
| Marsha Blackburn | Kash Patel | Dan Bongino | Jack Posobiec | Shaun Maguire | Sawyer Merritt |
| John Thune | Roger Stone Jr. | Larry O’Connor | Kirk Elliott | Shawn B. Johnson | Jason DeBolt |
| Rand Paul | Sebastian Gorka | Laura Loomer | Kurt Schlichter | Steve Witkoff | |
| Rick Scott | Steven Cheung | Matt Walsh | Liz Churchill |
Top influencers of President Trump are vocal on immigration and contested narratives, amplified through emotionally charged and provocative framing