Donald Trump picks big tech critic and co-author of Project 2025 Brendan Carr to lead FCC – US politics live
Trump picks Project 2025 co-author to lead FCC as speculation over treasury secretary appointment mounts
Good morning, and welcome to our US politics blog.
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he has selected Brendan Carr to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the independent agency that regulates telecommunications.
Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and Joe Biden to the commission.
The FCC is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he views unfavourably.
“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for free speech, and has fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy,” Trump said.
Last week, Carr, a big tech critic, wrote to Meta’s Facebook, Alphabet’s Google, Apple and Microsoft saying they had taken steps to censor Americans. Carr said on Sunday the FCC must “restore free speech rights for everyday Americans”.
Carr has of late embraced Trump’s ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in “ Project 2025,” the right-wing plan for Trump’s presidency which would crack down on immigration, dismantle LGBTQ+ and abortion rights and diminish environmental protections.
In a chapter of Project 2025, Carr argued that the FCC’s main goals should be “reining in Big Tech, promoting national security, unleashing economic prosperity, and ensuring FCC accountability and good governance.”
In his chapter, Carr also suggested that social media platform TikTok should be banned if it does not disentangle from its China-based parent company.
You can read more on Carr’s appointment here.
Trump has not revealed his pick for treasury secretary yet. Two potential candidates – former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and billionaire Marc Rowan -will reportedly be interviewed at his Mar-a-Lago residence later today.
Republican US Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, 65, who Trump recently met at Mar-a-Lago, is also in the running for the role, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and investor Scott Bessent are also considered as top candidates for the job.
Key events
Are Republicans likely to push back if Trump bypasses the Senate to install cabinet picks?
Under the US constitution, the Senate and the president share the power of appointing top administration officials. Typically, senators question nominees for secretary of defence and other top posts at public hearings before voting on their fitness for office.
But Donald Trump wants the Senate to give up that gatekeeping role and allow him to make “recess appointments,” even though his Republicans will control the chamber next year with at least 52 seats.
He has called for the chamber to adjourn after he takes office in January, which would allow his personnel to take their positions without having to undergo Senate scrutiny.
Reuters has this analysis on whether Republicans will oppose Trump’s plans:
Republicans will control the House and the Senate by narrow margins next year, giving them little room for error if they want to go along with Trump’s proposal.
In the Senate, Trump allies like Florida Senator Rick Scott quickly signaled support while other Republicans have said they are reluctant to surrender such a significant power.
Incoming Senate Republican Leader John Thune has not ruled it out. “All options are on the table, including recess appointments,” he said on Fox News on 14 November.
Republicans could warm to the idea if Democrats manage to block or slow down some of Trump’s nominees next year. A recess appointment could allow them to avoid having to hold up-or-down votes on a divisive nominee like Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a former Democrat who has spread misinformation on vaccines and supports abortion rights.
In the House, Johnson, a close Trump ally, has not yet publicly said what he thinks of the idea. If he were to pursue it, he would have to keep nearly all of his fellow Republicans on board as he will likely start next year with a majority of fewer than three votes in the 435-seat chamber.
Linda McMahon expected to be announced as secretary of commerce – report
Several roles in Donald Trump’s new team, including the heads of the treasury, commerce and Labor departments are yet to be announced (you can view a full list of those who have been/could be offered key positions when Trump takes office in January here).
Reuters is reporting that Linda McMahon, a former Small Business Administration (SBA) director, is seen as the frontrunner to lead the commerce department, a federal government agency that promotes economic growth and job creation.
McMahon, 76, is a major donor and was an early supporter of the Republican president-elect when he first ran for the White House in 2015. This time, Trump tapped her to co-lead a transition team formed to help vet personnel and draft policy ahead of the 5 November election, which he decisively won.
McMahon is the co-founder and former CEO of the professional wrestling franchise WWE. She later served as director of the SBA, resigning in 2019, and went on to lead a pro-Trump political action committee that supported his 2020 reelection bid.
Iowa pollster J Ann Selzer has announced she is moving on “to other ventures and opportunities” after more than two decades predicting results in the politically important Midwestern state.
Her last poll – three days before the national vote on election day – projected a 47% to 44% lead for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump on the back of older women breaking for Democrats over the issue of reproductive rights.
Nearly every other poll in Iowa showed Trump leading the state, which the former president won in 2020 by eight points. When the votes were counted, Selzer was off by 16 points as the former Republican president won the state decisively.
Selzer announced the decision to retire from election polling in a guest column published on Sunday in the Des Moines Register. She wrote:
Over a year ago I advised the Register I would not renew when my 2024 contract expired with the latest election poll as I transition to other ventures and opportunities.
Would I have liked to make this announcement after a final poll aligned with Election Day results? Of course. It’s ironic that it’s just the opposite.
I am proud of the work I’ve done for the Register, for the Detroit Free Press, for the Indianapolis Star, for Bloomberg News and for other public and private organizations interested in elections. They were great clients and were happy with my work.
There were shocking polls for each, to be sure. In the end, my findings looked good.
Elon Musk has publicly weighed in on Donald Trump’s choice for US treasury secretary, one of the remaining key incoming cabinet nominations the president-elect will make in the coming days.
Musk urged followers on X to support a candidate that would not be “business as usual” and “will actually enact change” as he threw his support behind Trump’s transition co-chair Howard Lutnick to lead the treasury department.
Lutnick, former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that lost 658 employees in the 9/11 attacks, is believed to be up against Scott Bessent, the founder of capital management firm Key Square who has said he wants the US to remain the world’s reserve currency and use tariffs as a negotiating tactic.
“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk posted on Saturday. “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.”
You can read the full story by my colleague Edward Helmore here:
Trump picks Project 2025 co-author to lead FCC as speculation over treasury secretary appointment mounts
Good morning, and welcome to our US politics blog.
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he has selected Brendan Carr to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the independent agency that regulates telecommunications.
Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and Joe Biden to the commission.
The FCC is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he views unfavourably.
“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for free speech, and has fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy,” Trump said.
Last week, Carr, a big tech critic, wrote to Meta’s Facebook, Alphabet’s Google, Apple and Microsoft saying they had taken steps to censor Americans. Carr said on Sunday the FCC must “restore free speech rights for everyday Americans”.
Carr has of late embraced Trump’s ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in “ Project 2025,” the right-wing plan for Trump’s presidency which would crack down on immigration, dismantle LGBTQ+ and abortion rights and diminish environmental protections.
In a chapter of Project 2025, Carr argued that the FCC’s main goals should be “reining in Big Tech, promoting national security, unleashing economic prosperity, and ensuring FCC accountability and good governance.”
In his chapter, Carr also suggested that social media platform TikTok should be banned if it does not disentangle from its China-based parent company.
You can read more on Carr’s appointment here.
Trump has not revealed his pick for treasury secretary yet. Two potential candidates – former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and billionaire Marc Rowan -will reportedly be interviewed at his Mar-a-Lago residence later today.
Republican US Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, 65, who Trump recently met at Mar-a-Lago, is also in the running for the role, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and investor Scott Bessent are also considered as top candidates for the job.
