Summary
Donald Trump fired FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the agency’s only Democrats, prompting accusations of illegal action.
Both cited Supreme Court precedent protecting FTC commissioners from dismissal without cause. Bedoya warned Trump wants the FTC to serve corporate interests, while Slaughter said the administration fears accountability.
The 1935 Supreme Court ruling bars presidents from removing FTC commissioners arbitrarily.
Critics say the move undermines regulatory independence and eliminates opposition voices that could challenge Trump’s policies favoring major corporations.
The fact that approval ratings for Trump are still as high as they are while the approval for the only other far, far, far lesser evil you can vote, the Democrats, is sinking, does not give me any hope whatsoever for the US, were I naive enough to believe that the next elections that matter could come soon enough or that they would still remain legitimate. The US no longer has a trace of Democracy except for the mask it wears, it is at the same or even lower level than Russia’s.
I think it’s important to put it in context: the Democrats are hemorrhaging support from their base who thinks they should be doing more to resist this administration. That does not mean they are losing support in favor of Republicans.
Meanwhile Trump is only losing a tiny amount of support because his base is a cult of personality that worships him. They won’t turn against him until he’s hurting them so directly that they can’t rationalize it as somehow being Obama’s fault. But many of them are delusional enough that they will never abandon their fealty so matter how much he harms them.
Democrats hemorrhaging support despite that support not being in favor of Republicans is what already cost them the elections, and they are the sort to more easily fall prey to propaganda meant to dissuade them from participating.