December 2024

Trump’s staffing picks and a new tech consensus

With two key staffing picks—Federal Trade Commissioner Andrew Ferguson as the new chair of that agency, and U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commissioner (and Palantir senior adviser) Jacob Helberg as undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment—President-elect Donald Trump is giving some early hints as to how his second administration will try to forge a new Republican consensus on tech. The two men will be responsible, in part, for enacting a sea change from the Biden administration in how government relates to tech — and turning the diverse, heter