| One of the biggest policy questions going into President-elect Donald Trump’s second term is whether his personnel decisions would reflect the populist rhetoric he channeled on the campaign trail — or the laissez-faire principles traditionally favored by conservatives. When it comes to reining in Big Tech, so far the populists seem to be winning out. Trump in recent weeks has tapped a slew of conservatives critical of tech giants such as Google and Meta for key roles on his transition team or next administration. The moves could foreshadow a more adversarial posture toward Silicon Valley titans than during Trump’s first term, when key federal enforcers were criticized for not targeting those companies more forcefully. Trump’s first such pick landed months before his decisive electoral victory, when he announced Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate in June. Vance has long championed more aggressive tech oversight, backing efforts to declare Google a public utility and running for the Senate partly on his support for breaking up the tech giants. Since entering the Senate in January 2023, Vance has been an outspoken ally of Lina Khan, the Democratic regulator touted by some in both major parties for going after Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies. Until recently, however, it was unclear whether Vance would wield much influence over Trump’s approach to tech policy or whether the pick would mark a trend or dead end. Now the answer appears clear. Bloomberg reported Monday that Trump is expected to tap James Braid, a top Vance adviser, to serve as White House director of legislative affairs. Braid previously served as chief of staff to Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colorado), who until he resigned this year was the face of the antitrust movement on the right and allied with Democrats to push for major legislation taking aim at Big Tech. As Trump’s liaison to Congress, Braid could play a significant role in shaping what tech legislation the White House rallies around at a time when the president-elect’s negotiating power is at an all-time high. Braid is the second notable Vance adviser in Trump’s orbit, with White House alum Gail Slater helping to oversee tech policy during Trump’s transition. In addition to elevating Vance and some of his closest advisers, Trump recently named Matt Gaetz and Brendan Carr, two outspoken critics of major tech companies, to key roles potentially overseeing the industry. Gaetz, the former Republican lawmaker from Florida, has been tapped to lead the Justice Department as Trump’s attorney general, while Carr is Trump’s choice to chair the Federal Communications Commission. As we have written in the past week, Gaetz joined Buck in advocating for tech antitrust legislation in the last Congress while Carr has laid out a sweeping plan to target online platforms over allegations of censorship at the FCC. Braid and Slater worked in Trump’s first administration and Carr was first appointed as an FCC commissioner by Trump, but they are poised to wield greater influence in his second term. There are still major vacancies for Trump to fill that could shift the administration’s approach on tech, including at the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, but early on, populist conservatives are racking up victories. While several recent picks have been antagonistic toward the biggest companies in Silicon Valley, their statements don’t mean the administration will uniformly be hostile to major corporations, nor even to the broader tech sector. While Carr plans to go after social media companies, he has struck a far more laissez-faire tone on telecom issues, warning against “heavy-handed regulation” that stifles innovation in his chapter of “Project 2025.” The FCC has historically regulated telecommunications, not social media. Slater, meanwhile, has championed free-market approaches to building out 5G networks. Trump himself pledged on the campaign trail to slash regulations on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, remarks that have been welcomed by those industries. And former federal officials and antitrust experts have said they expect the Trump administration to be less aggressive in challenging mergers and pursuing new regulations on tech issues. | 
Email
