Ted Cruz Rushes To Illegally Stock The FCC With Trump Lackeys Before GOP Loses Congress

Despite already enjoying a voting majority, the GOP has simply flat out refused to appoint any new Democratic Commissioners to the nation's top media and telecom regulator, the FCC.

They've also refused to begin the process of appointing Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez to another term despite her term technically ending on June 30 (in part because she's aggressively criticized Brendan Carr for trampling the First Amendment).

Historically, the FCC is supposed to see a 3-2 partisan split depending on which party controls the White House. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,is now rushing to appoint Brendan Carr's long-time personal legal aide Danielle Thumann Severs as a new FCC Commissioner, securing a 3-0 voting majority over the agency:

Confirming Thumann Severs would give Republicans an unusual 3-1 advantage on the FCC. That could become a 3-0 advantage at the end of 2027 because FCC Democrat Anna Gomez would have to leave the commission at that time if Trump does not agree to renominate her."

Senator Ron Wyden recently warned the Trump administration that securing a 3-0 partisan domination over the FCC is technically illegal under the Communications Act:

The U.S. communications sector represents hundreds of billions of dollars in economic valuation, and relies on the legal validity of these FCC actions. Under an all-Republican commission, every single license renewal, equipment certification, spectrum transfer, or other delegated action would be legally defective, casting a cloud of crippling legal uncertainty over the entire communications industry."

Twenty-one Democratic lawmakers on the House Commerce Committee also wrote a letter last week to Cruz and Senate Majority Leader John Thune pointing out that any new appointment to the FCC must be accompanied with the appointment of a corresponding Commissioner from the opposing party.

With the dramatic wins by Democrats in the midterms, these warnings suddenly carry real weight, so Cruz wants to accelerate Severs' appointment before the end of the year.

Trump authoritarians aren't just keen to dominate (and disembowel) federal consumer protection regulators, they're so threatened by the mere thought of open debate that they've illegally fired commissioners at agencies like the FTC.

Carr's leadership" at the FCC has, of course, centered on an endless array of illegal attacks on the First Amendment, journalism, and free speech. But Carr's assault on journalism and free speech has often obscured his equally illegal attacks on stuff like broadband consumer protection or media consolidation limits (the latter of which has even angered traditional Republican allies like giant cable monopolies).

Carr's eager to have a full 3 commissioner majority to take full advantage of Trump's remaining two years and accelerate deregulation" (read: the brutal elimination of all corporate oversight across everything from your broadband bill to annoying robocalls). There's definitely still a lot of harm Carr can do whether or not Severs survives the congressional appointment process.

Severs is likely to see her rushed appointment succeed. Contrast that to what happened to popular telecom and media consumer rights reformer Gigi Sohn, whose appointment to the FCC you might recall was ratfucked by a bipartisan array of bad faith captured lawmakers. Captured lackeys get rushed appointments. Actual reformers get ratfucked. That's been the name of the game for decades.

That said, on the free speech front, Carr has very clearly enjoyed being portrayed by the press as an important person doing important things, but as Trump's health and power wanes you'll increasingly see companies standing up and fighting back (see: ABC's lawsuit against the FCC for trampling the First Amendment), exposing Carr as the weak, yipping, and performative culture warrior he always was.