Donald Trump has nominated Gail Slater to be deputy attorney general of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, according to a tweet Wednesday from the president-elect on Truth Social. The announcement comes as Trump has made a series of appointments, including crypto-evangelist Paul Atkins to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Big Tech has been running amok for years,” Trump wrote Social Truth. “Smothering competition in our most innovative industry and, as we all know, using its market power to suppress the rights of many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech! I have been proud to fight these abuses during my first term, and our Department of Justice’s antitrust team will continue this work under Gail’s leadership.”
It’s unclear whether Trump considers his social media platform Truth Social to be “small tech,” but he has personal incentives to harm Big Tech in any way he can. And Slater might be the right person to do it, whatever his motivations.
Slater served in the first Trump administration working on technology policy for the National Economic Council and worked at Fox before advising Vice President-elect J.D. Vance as a senator from Ohio. Trump stressed that Gail will treat companies “fairly,” which remains to be seen.
“In her new role, Gail will help ensure our competition laws are enforced, vigorously and FAIRLY, with clear rules that facilitate, rather than stifle, the ingenuity of our largest companies. Congratulations Gail – together we will make America competitive again!” Trump concluded.
Trump has vowed to attack big tech companies and even threatened to throw Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in prison last summer. But this was before Zuckerberg, who really wants Republicans loved it, praised the incoming fascist president, and went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring. Most Big Tech companies, including the top brass at Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, all were is quick to congratulate Trump after his election victory on November 5. And it seems obvious that they will continue to appease the commander in chief, even as he remains a clear and present threat to liberal democracy in this country.
Like the New York Times notes, Republicans are generally opposed to government agencies preventing large companies from merging and have been generally opposed to the Biden administration’s attempts to break up monopolies in the pharmaceutical industry and airlines. And while Slater will likely pursue Big Tech, the methods and degree of “fairness” are still very much up in the air.
The Department of Justice currently has active cases against Big Tech companies such as Apple AND Googledue to their alleged monopolistic practices. And it seems likely that these cases will not be dismissed if Slater is confirmed in her role running antitrust at the agency.
Everyone largely understands that Trump runs the show, regardless of who he appoints to positions of authority in his administration. And if he’s not going to divest himself of companies like Trump Media, which owns Truth Social, he has a lot to gain by attacking competitors with the full force of the government. In normal times, divesting from their companies is a pretty standard move for US presidents. Of course we don’t live in normal times.
