No one loves President Trump more than FCC Chairman Brendan Carr

Before he became Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr seemed to be a big believer in the agency’s role as an independent branch of the federal government. According to the pre-2025 version of Chairman Carr, the White House interfered with the agency’s independence when a Democratic president publicly urged the FCC to adopt net neutrality rules. When the Biden-era FCC reinstated Obama-era net neutrality rules in 2024, then-Commissioner Carr alleged that President Biden “took the extraordinary step to pressure the FCC—an independent agency that is designed to operate outside undue political influence from the Executive Branch.” As evidence, Chairman Carr pointed to a 2021 executive order in which President Biden called on agency heads to “consider using their authorities” for various types of pro-competitive policies, including the adoption of net neutrality rules. But then President Trump won a second term in office and promoted Commissioner Carr to the position of FCC Chairman in January 2025. A few weeks later, Trump issued an executive order declaring that historically independent agencies could no longer operate independently from the White House.