Trump’s pick to head the FTC is willing to undo the good stuff from Lena Khan

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will nominate Andrew Ferguson to head the US Federal Trade Commission. Ferguson will replace Lina Khan, a regulator who has fought for consumer rights and vigorously resisted monopolists. There is every indication that Ferguson plans to undo much of what Khan has accomplished, even as some particularly naive commentators insist that he will fight potential abuses by Big Tech.

“Andrew has a proven track record of standing up to Big Tech censorship and protecting freedom of expression in our great country,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social. “Andrew will be the most pro-innovation America First and most pro-innovation FTC Chairman in our country’s history.”

Ferguson is one of two Republican FTC commissioners appointed by Joe Biden to the five-person panel. No more than three Senate-confirmed commissioners can come from the same political party.

Under Khan’s leadership, the FTC has taken bold steps on several fronts. Prohibition of non-compete clausespursuing companies such as Google and Amazon Being anti-competitive, and issuing important reports on topics such as Mass surveillancee by Big Tech, to name a few. But Ferguson hopes to undo much of that.

like I was upset He notes that Ferguson released a one-page document last week that “made clear that he was currying favor with Trump by talking about all the powers the FTC had to go after his culture war enemies for their rhetoric.” The document described Khan’s time at the FTC as part of a “woke” agenda and outlined the things he accomplished to hurt the Biden administration.

“Commissioner Ferguson is the America First, pro-innovation choice for Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission,” the document begins. “Ferguson has impeccable legal credentials, proven loyalty to President Donald Trump, and a track record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, the DEI movement, and the radical left’s anti-business and anti-innovation agenda. President Trump could appoint Ferguson as FTC Chairman on Day One From the Trump administration – Senate confirmation is not required for the FTC Commissioners to become Chairman, and his term does not end until 2030.

Obviously, this is a good way to lead your sales pitch to Ferguson as head of the FTC. But it doesn’t stop there. Line by line, the book lays out the ways Ferguson will reverse Khan’s legacy at the FTC, calling it an “anti-business agenda.” The document promises to stop Lina Khan’s “war on mergers” and with it stop mergers in the world of big tech companies.

And it’s this last bit that many commentators have jumped on to insist that Ferguson will in fact be tough on Silicon Valley in a way that fights for the little guy. But the more you read, the clearer it becomes that Ferguson’s agenda isn’t actually about helping the average consumer. His goal is to fight anything conservatives don’t like, including DEI, campaigns against hate speech, and racial bias in algorithms. The document also calls for a “boycott of advertisers,” one of Elon Musk’s hobbies. Billionaire Donald Trump helped get elected in November by throwing more than a quarter of a billion dollars at Trump and Republicans, and is insisting that it should be illegal for private companies to stop advertising with companies that don’t align with their values. This is important to Musk because his social media platform, X, has seen a lot of controversy since he bought the company in late 2022.

Obviously, no one can predict the future. But if you take a look at Ferguson’s one-page pitch to Trump for office, it’s filled with the same injustices in the MAGA world that animate the modern right. Trump has criticized big tech companies for being unfair to him, and it seems very likely that Ferguson will go after the Silicon Valley giants but not for any reason that might align with Khan’s more progressive worldview.

Donald J. Trump’s second term is expected to be one of the most sadistic in history. As Ferguson prepares to take the helm of the FTC, don’t get your hopes up that anything good will happen as he wages his war on “wokeness” while allowing big companies to grow at the expense of competition.

You can read Ferguson’s full document below: