In retrospect, the week of Donald Trump’s inauguration was an inopportune time for Walmart to hold the grand opening of its new corporate campus. Conceptualized in 2017 and under construction since 2019, the January 2025 opening of the 350-acre mini-city filled with mixed-use office buildings, food halls, hiking trails, and retail storefronts was meant to make Walmart modern––to keep it in the mix of companies that could attract top corporate and tech talent to Bentonville, Arkansas in an era when it all seemed headed to Silicon Valley. Glittering office buildings now line Walmart-owned streets with names like Excellence and Integrity. The “Maverick” building sits at the corner of 10th and Customer; the Moon Pie and Ol’ Roy buildings are between Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway and Respect Drive. To the south of campus is Bud’s Preserve, a large park which houses the headquarters’ utility buildings and a “lake” that supplies water to the campus.…