President-elect Donald Trump has named his choice to head the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that oversees antitrust law: Andrew Ferguson, a longtime Republican FTC commissioner who has already pledged to purge the institution of anyone disloyal to Trump.
"Andrew most recently served as Solicitor General of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to Government service, he was an antitrust litigator at several Washington, D.C. law firms. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Virginia. Andrew also clerked for Judge Karen L. Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas," Trump posted to Truth Social.
"Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History," he added. "CONGRATULATIONS ANDREW!"
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The FTC is currently chaired by Lina Khan, a progressive icon who raised the ire of several wealthy business leaders by cracking down on anticompetitive mergers. This week, she secured a major victory when a federal judge blocked the merger of supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons, which opponents noted would create a giant grocery retailer with more locations than Walmart that would've resulted in higher prices. Tech billionaire Elon Musk in particular has pushed hard for Khan's removal.
Ferguson appears set to pump the brakes on this effort, stating on a campaign page to lobby Trump for the job, that he would "stop Lina Khan's anti-business agenda" and reverse the "war on mergers." He additionally promised to fight "DEI wokeism" and go after "censorship" on social media platforms.
Perhaps most ominously, however, Ferguson also vowed to "terminate uncooperative bureaucrats" who aren't on board with Trump's agenda — part of a broader push, outlined in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 plan, to strip merit protections from civil servants and replace them with party loyalists.
