Brendan Carr
Announced as expected Chairman of the FCC
Brendan Carr is the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and an unusually vocal and outwardly political regulatory appointee. He is currently facing immense pushback and potential allegations of Ethics and Hatch Act violations, which restrict federal employees from using their official authority for political activities, due to misuse of his official position for political purposes by contributing to Project 2025. As the sole author of the FCC chapter of Project 2025, he calls for major reforms and returns to Trump-era communication regulations.
Carr was first appointed as commissioner of the FCC by Trump in June 2017 and confirmed by the Senate two months later. He was renominated to a full five-year term by President Trump in 2018 and again by President Biden in 2023. Carr previously served as the FCC’s general counsel and before that as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices.
During the Trump administration, Carr was referred to as Trump’s “unexpected ally” and “embracing a flavor of distinctly Trumpian rhetoric,” including in his appearances on conservative media outlets like Fox News. While in office:
– Told Lou Dobbs on Fox News, “Since the 2016 election, the far left has popped from hoax to hoax to hoax to explain how it lost to President Trump at the ballot box.”
– Accused House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff of running a “secret and partisan surveillance machine,” just weeks after Chairman Schiff oversaw Trump’s impeachment trial.
– Argued in 2020 that the World Health Organization was “beclowned” in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
– Accused Politico of spreading “Communist propaganda” by publishing an article that quoted Chinese social media users’ mockery of Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
– Accused Twitter/X of “weaponizing” the platform for left-wing political goals by censoring conservatives and promoting left-of-center groups.
– Accusing the Biden administration of pressuring the FCC to “break far left” and calling the administration’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program an example of pressuring “Internet companies into censoring American’s protected speech—a coordinated effort to flag and suppress political viewpoints expressed on social media.”
In his Project 2025 chapter, Carr calls for the FCC to “change course” towards tackling perceived anti-conservative bias by big tech. He specifically calls for:
– “Reforms that prohibit discrimination against core political viewpoints,” tracking with “the approach taken in a social media law passed in Texas, which was upheld on appeal in late 2022 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.”
– “Return to Internet users the power to control their online experiences” including suggesting “to empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.”
– Ban the TikTok application entirely from the U.S. “on national security grounds.”
– “Return to the successful spectrum and infrastructure policies that prevailed during the Trump Administration”
– “End wasteful broadband spending policies”
– “Holding government accountable” through “stronger oversight and a fresh look at eliminating outdated regulations that are doing more harm than good”