Two Cheers for Antitrust

Reid Hoffman hates Lina Khan, but the polling firm he funds keeps demonstrating the popularity of her crackdown on corporate monopoly power.

We at RDP have recently found ourselves aligned with a group we really hadn’t expected: Blueprint 2024. Blueprint is a polling outfit funded by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman with a mission to “study the most crucial voting groups and which policies and messages are breaking through and resonating with them.” It has also, since its launch, been a preferred source for opinion data for our good pal Matt Yglesias. 

And while they insist that “Blueprint does not advocate for any specific policy agenda; this effort is focused on identifying [winning] messaging and narratives,” you’d be forgiven for expecting an organization bankrolled by a (para)social networking website to hew strongly towards the interests of Hoffman and his rich friends. That’s what we were expecting when we heard about it. Largely, though, we’ve been pleasantly surprised; Blueprint has consistently corroborated our common sense theory of electoral politics: name and shame villains who make people’s lives tangibly worse. Blueprint’s findings have routinely been consistent with our preferred political messaging strategy and in line with the larger body of opinion research. There are many examples of this, but here are a few that stand out:

• Blueprint recently found that only 13% of men consider crypto important electorally while providing crypto as the first example of “the least important issues” to men, which really ought to throw a bucket of cold water on Yglesias’ calls for weakening crypto regulation as an electoral triangulation. (if you’re going to sell out, the issue should at least resonate!)

• Another poll found that economic populism played extremely well in swing states, including 64% support for cracking down on price gouging.

• Polling from the run-up to the DNC found that Tim Walz’s policies on healthcare expansion, capping insulin prices, free school lunch, and cracking down on price gouging were all viewed extremely positively.

It’s notable, and pretty funny, that these results are coming from a firm bankrolled by the billionaire who has led the campaign to oust FTC Chair Lina Khan. Through her revival of the dormant Brandeisian tradition of corporate trust busting, Khan has done more than arguably any other Biden administration official to enact policies that are popular with voters.

This Week In Neoliberalism:

Welcome back to our weekly selection of hackery! We know you’re busy and there’s a lot of news, so we’re happy to keep you up to date with the ponderous pundits, neoliberal know-nothings, and kooks of the commentariat. 

Will Catherine Rampell Ever Discuss RealPage?

For a columnist who devotes so much time to “debunking” price gouging arguments and discussing inflation, it sure is strange that Rampell hasn’t discussed the alleged price-fixing app RealPage. I guess she just hasn’t gotten around to it, after all, it’s only been about two years since ProPublica first exposed the issue. 

Declines In Government Capacity Are The Result Of A War On Government Effectiveness 

Could conservative opposition to effective governance be driving declines in government capacity? No. Matt Yglesias bravely takes the evidence-free position that it’s progressives eroding government functions. Ronald Regan who?

Swing State Voters Aren’t Actually Moderate

It turns out swing state voters don’t actually reflect the most moderate views on any given issue. They’re idiosyncratic, strange and really want a crackdown on shady corporate business practices. Maybe the corporate crackdown being done by Lina Khan’s FTC, Rohit Chopra’s CFTC, and (surprisingly!) Pete Buttigieg’s DOT isn’t just good policy, but good politics too. 

FTC’s Crackdown On Invitation Homes Highlights Corporate Landlords’ Exploitation Of Tenants

The country’s largest single family home landlord is up to some shady stuff. I’m sure all the outlets who write lurid pieces on increasing crime rates will cover this and praise Lina Khan for her tough stance on lawbreaking, right? 

Khan’s Prime-Time Interview Dispels Corporate America’s Concerns Raised By Lesley Stahl

60 Minutes interviewed FTC Chair Lina Khan. Despite repeated questions that could’ve been written by the lobbyists of the companies Khan is holding accountable, the Biden administration’s FTC came out on top. 

Inside 'Tax Prom': The Corporate Sponsors and Award Recipients Shaping U.S. Tax Policy

Sometimes DC is the worst. Imagine if prom was only for nerds, extremely boring and also helped shape US policy in favor of the rich. That’s what the Tax Foundation’s annual event is.