Cementing the antitrust revolution
By 
Ben Brody got his hands on the pitch FTC Chairman-Designee Brian Ferguson made to persuade Trump to appoint him, and the contents will be very disappointing for people who created a alternate universe version of Trump in their fevered imaginations and/or was in a coma for his entire first term:
Punchbowl's @benbrodydc.bsky.social got a copy of FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson's pitch to be chair under Trump:
[image or embed]— Justin Brookman (@justinbrookman.bsky.social) December 6, 2024 at 2:39 PM
Action items include “reverse Lina Khan’s anti-business agenda,” “stop Lina Khan’s war on mergers,” “end Lina Khan’s politically motivated investigations,” and “repeal burdensome regulations.” Not very subtle!
And now, the punchline:
Matt Stoller, a play in 3 acts:
1. "Mister Trump, a real economic populist unike that Thatcherite Kamala Harris, will fully cement the antitrust revolution!"
2. [Trump replaces Lina Kahn with the generic corporate lackey all evidence suggested he would]
3. "NEEEEEERAAAAAAAAAA!" pic.twitter.com/E3dvChUXpb— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) December 11, 2024
Whoops! I guess the anti-anti Trump red-brown set will have to turn their lonely eyes back to Ron DeSantis.
Albertsons has scrapped its proposed merger with Kroger in reaction to Khan’s initially successful suit against it. Corporate America funnelled a lot of money to Trump to stop this kind of thing from happening — unlike some pundits, they were actually paying attention when Trump was, you know, the president — and alas it worked.
Meanwhile, let’s check in on another one of Stoller’s “populist” idols:
Vice President-elect Vance rushed back from Mar-A-Lago this morning to vote against NLRB nominee McFerren, per a source. Vote failed 49-50 "He got on a plane to Washington specifically to be in the Senate for this vote"— Burgess Everett (@burgessev.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:26 PM
The Republican Daddy-curious anti-anti-Trump “left ;:” takes more Ls than the New York Jets.