Let's Control-Alt-Delete on Delete, Delete, Delete

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission, Chairman Brendan Carr, recently launched his own proceeding he calls “IN RE: DELETE, DELETE, DELETE.” Carr says he’s following Trump’s orders to deregulate the telecommunications industry to spur economic prosperity. But based on Carr’s own words and actions over the past few months, maybe instead of DELETE, DELETE, DELETE, we need to “Control-Alt-Delete” and reboot before he does any more harm. Carr claims he is alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens on industry, but these claims ring hollow when we take even the most cursory look at his recent public pronouncements and reports of behind-the-scenes deals. He has demanded top executives explain themselves in private meetings, warned media companies against prioritizing the hiring or promotion of diverse candidates, criticized editorial choices, threatened public hearings, and, in general, tried to intimidate executives with the specter of potentially costly reviews of their dealings. He’s even gone after the radio and TV stations that bring you Morning Edition and All Things Considered, Antiques Roadshow, and Big Bird. All under pretenses that at least one U.S. Senator calls “arbitrary and capricious.” Even in this proceeding, Carr is exercising power as if he is the only decision-maker at the FCC. Disregarding an 80-year-old law that governs how federal agencies develop, issue, and “delete” regulations, he launched this affair without the support of his fellow commissioners or FCC staff.