(2023-02-13) Doctorow Obamas Turncoat Antitrust Enforcer Is Angry About The Google Breakup

Cory Doctorow: Barack Obama's turncoat antitrust enforcer is angry about the Google breakup. Exhibit A: Dave Gelfand, who served as the DoJ's antitrust boss during Obama's second term. Gelfland has spent his career rotating between BigLaw firms like Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and public service. His rap sheet includes advising T-Mobile on its acquisition of Sprint, a catastrophic merger that has since plunged the enshittification of American telecoms to new lows. Gelfand also represented Coors before the DoJ when it bought Miller, accelerating the process whereby two companies sell nearly all the beer in the world.

And before that? Gelfand represented Google in its acquisition of DoubleClick – one of the anticompetitive mergers the DoJ is currently seeking to unwind.

Given this history, the fact that Obama – a self-style progressive Democrat – put this guy in charge of the nation's antitrust enforcement is darkly hilarious.