If
you
step
back
far
enough,
you
might
be
able
to
see
some
compatibility
between
a
Trump
presidency
and
strong
antitrust
policy.
Gotta
lower
those
egg
prices
somehow,
right?
But
as
you
get
closer,
his
affinity
for
deregulation
and
putting
big
business
at
the
front
row
of
his
inauguration
makes
it
a
little
harder
to
square
the
theories
that
usually
go
behind
using
antitrust
law
as
a
tool
to
fight
for
the
average
consumer.
While
Making
Antitrust
Great
Again
isn’t
an
impossible
road
to
travel,
the
terrain
is
looking
pretty
rough.
CBS
News
has
coverage:
Internal
friction
with
the
Justice
Department
team
that
fights
monopolies
has
led
to
private
conversations
in
the
Trump
administration
about
whether
to
push
out
some
staff
in
the
antitrust
division
or
to
work
to
smooth
out
the
issues,
according
to
multiple
sources
familiar
with
the
situation.Gail
Slater,
who
in
March
took
charge
of
lawsuits
against
Capital
One,
Apple,
and
other
major
companies
as
head
of
the
Justice
Department’s
antitrust
division,
still
has
support
from
some
top
officials
in
the
administration,
but
she
and
some
on
her
team
have
been
a
target
of
criticism
from
colleagues
and
business
leaders,
sources
inside
and
outside
the
administration
told
CBS
News.
In
a
related
article,
Politico
managed
to
get
some
imput
that
puts
some
of
the
tension
in
focus:
“The
Republican
Party
has
two
forces
within
it,”
Fiona
Scott
Morton,
a
former
deputy
assistant
attorney
general
in
the
Obama
DOJ’s
antitrust
division,
told
DFD.
“The
money
people,
corporations
who
want
to
be
allowed
to
merge
anytime
…
and
then
there’s
the
populists
who
are
more
against
large
corporations.”
The
really
interesting
bit
is
that
Trump
could
be
the
final
decision
maker
at
the
end
of
the
day.
It’s
a
little
attenuated,
but
let’s
assume
for
the
sake
of
argument
that
Elon’s
plan
of
having
the
FTC
and
DOJ
antitrust
departments
collapse
in
on
each
other
and
the
DOJ
becoming
the
primary
antitrust
agency
goes
through.
Trustbustin’
would
be
weakened
generally,
but
the
DOJ
would
still
retain
the
authority
to
carry
out
criminal
antitrust
cases.
Say
there’s
some
egregious
anti-competitive
business
practicing
afoot
and
Zuckerberg
or
Bezos
or
their
companies
are
hit
hard
with
a
Sherman
Act
violation
and
fined
millions
of
dollars.
Couldn’t
Trump
just…
pardon
them
after
the
fact?
And
even
if
he
has
some
bad
blood
with
a
billionaire
that
could
get
hit
with
an
antitrust
violation
*cough
Elon
cough*,
surely
it’s
nothing
an
anonymous
investment
in
Trump’s
memecoin
couldn’t
fix.
He
already
extended
the
pardon
power
to
corporations
back
when
he
pardoned
BitMEX
after
it
violated
the
Bank
Secrecy
Act.
The
presidential
pardon
could
act
as
a
strong
check
and
balance
that
cuts
in
the
favor
of
big
business.
Tension
Over
Antitrust
Division
Crops
Up
Inside
Trump
Administration,
Sources
Say
[CBS
News]
What
‘America
First
Antitrust’
means
for
Big
Tech
[Politico]
Earlier:
DOJ
And
FTC
Antitrust
Enforcement
May
Get
Merged
Together
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.