President Trump just nominated Gail Slater, an economic policy adviser to Sen. and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, to serve as the assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. This was a brilliant move and represents President Trump’s opening strike against Big Tech monopolists in his second term — crucial unfinished business from his first term.
Slater, a former FTC enforcement attorney for many years, previously worked for President Trump during his first term as a tech policy adviser. She is a leading expert in antitrust law, particularly in Big Tech. As a friend and colleague of hers in the battle against Big Tech for years now, I can confidently say Gail Slater is the most effective voice for enforcing our centuries-old antitrust laws, which are central to American competitiveness and innovation.
Like other free-market conservatives, Slater knows that free markets require functioning markets. And when Big Tech monopolists Alphabet (Google and YouTube), Amazon, Apple, and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) use their market power to crush competition, shutter small businesses, and cancel those with whom they disagree, we no longer have functioning, and thus free, markets. Our antitrust laws require targeted law enforcement against anticompetitive tumors like Big Tech. Antitrust enforcement differs from the type of industry-wide regulations tech monopolists welcome, which are little more than market entry barriers for startup competitors yet rounding errors for Big Tech.
