Democrats are trying to figure out how to fight back against President Trump, regain their political identity and rebuild their coalition. They are doing this amid the pillaging of the government at the hands of Trump and his cabal of billionaire oligarch buddies.
Here is an idea: Democrats must be the party of the rule of law. Enforcing the laws on behalf of consumers, workers and small businesses isn’t just the right thing to do — it also sends a powerful political signal.
For decades the federal government has shirked its duty and ignored its power to push back against elite corruption, illegal business practices and the rigging of the economy. This made people rightly disillusioned, and created the turmoil and unrest that Donald Trump used to win, and win back, the White House.
When I was chief of staff for Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, we enforced the antitrust laws on the books without fear or favor. That means we went after companies if they were illegally monopolizing markets, regardless of their owners’ political leanings.
We took on companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Big Pharma, John Deere, and Pepsi not because of how their c-suite felt about politics, but because the law required us to prevent their companies from harming American consumers, workers and small business owners.
And it was popular. We went out on the road to hear from workers and shoppers worried about what would happen if Kroger and Albertsons, the two largest grocery store operators, merged.
The crowds were large and bipartisan, and the energy in the room was intense. But people didn’t hide their cynicism; one person told me that she appreciated our visit, but knew we’d go back to Washington and sit on our hands.
We didn’t. We challenged the merger, a judge agreed to block it, and earlier this month, the CEO of one of the companies stepped down.
But beyond this small victory for the rule of law, Trump has tapped into that cynicism and sentiment that the economy is rigged, and he has done it incredibly effectively. He made Americans believe that he would disrupt the elite consensus that has hollowed out towns, shipped jobs overseas and closed down small- and medium-sized businesses in favor of giant, uncaring conglomerates. He promised to restore the power of government to fight for its citizens.
Instead, his White House is teeming with oligarchs. Guests of honor at his inauguration included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
The wealthiest person in the world, Elon Musk, has been so central to the second Trump presidency that a Time magazine cover last month depicted him sitting in the Oval Office, behind the Resolute Desk.
Under Trump, the White House has become a lawless place, circumventing Congress and sometimes ignoring the law altogether. The hastily assembled Department of Government Efficiency has already had some of its illegal actions overturned by the Supreme Court.
Some voices in the Democratic Party look back fondly on an era when the oligarchs were more favorable to their own party. They believe that their money and public support was a vital piece of their party’s governing coalition, and that we should do whatever we can to earn back their friendship — including letting their businesses exist above the law in ways that are no less lawless than what Trump is doing now.
For example, last week, writer Matt Yglesias responded to Jeff Bezos’ craven decision to Trumpify the Washington Post editorial board by saying that “Bezos is simply angry at Democrats” because the Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon under Khan.
Noting that Bezos permitted editorial independence at the Post during the first Trump administration in a way that was helpful to Democrats, Yglesias implies the move is justified because Biden elevated Khan to lead the FTC, rather than rewarding Bezos “for his trouble.”
In other words, Democrats should consider exempting powerful allies in business from certain laws, lest they take their “business” across the aisle.
Last month, when asked by reporters to reflect on the 2017 tax bill, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that Democrats should have set the tax rate “that corporate America was asking for.”
And on the day he was elected chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin made the party’s position clear: “There are a lot of good billionaires out there.” (Disclosure: My husband ran against him for the position.)
Of course, businesspeople trading their wealth for political influence is nothing new. Last year, billionaire Democratic donor Reid Hoffman called for Khan to be fired and replaced as FTC Chair. At the time, the FTC was investigating a company that Hoffman co-founded, for its dealings with Microsoft, of which Hoffman is a board member.
The overwhelming public response we heard to Hoffman’s attack against Khan was “keep it up!” People saw that we were trying to hold the oligarchs to account, and apply the law to everyone equally.
This is a basic principle of fairness that is central to the American identity, yet has been lost amidst the technocrats, money in politics and the capture of the American government by wealthy corporations and their lobbyists.
But the American people aren’t fools. The average voter might not know what an antitrust statute like the Sherman Act is, but they see the government letting businesses grow so big they can screw over their consumers with impunity. They see that different rules apply for different people based on who they know, and how big of a check they can write.
They feel this deeply, and it makes them incredibly angry. Angry enough to take drastic action at the ballot box three elections in a row.
The way back for Democrats isn’t to double down on the old model. We need to show voters that Democrats are willing to use the powerful laws Congress has already created to make real economic change.
Another decade of Democrats ignoring the law for fear of upsetting elite donors will only reinforce the public’s view that the government is either corrupt, useless or both. Democrats being “the party of government” means they suffer the most electorally when the government is not working hard enough for its citizens.
I hope candidates for office in the midterms and Democratic leaders thinking of running for president in 2028 take this to heart. The Democrats need to be the party of the rule of law, no matter how many oligarchs get mad at them for it.
Governing is not about keeping a handful of obscenely rich and powerful people happy. It’s about showing the American people that the system can work, and the law matters with no exceptions. By standing against lawbreaking in our economy, Democrats can show America who they’re standing with.
Sarah Miller is the former chief of staff for former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.
