Jackson Rubin

Antitrust Law • Competition Policy

[Jackson Rubin @jacksonrubin00]

Demagoguery and Donald Trump
[5 min]

[hasanabi @hasanthehun]

why should anyone demonstrate loyalty to the brand, when their loyalty should be to the working class? this isn’t about revitalizing the dem brand. it’s about fighting fascism and building a resilient working class movement that stops factoring in corpo/israels interests!!

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Abdul El-Sayed: “AIPAC and Israel are not the same as Judaism and the Jewish people. I love Judaism and I love the Jewish people. The single most dangerous thing they’ve tried to tell us is somehow they can extend the definition of antisemitism to include a foreign government and its leaders. I call bullshit”

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

Ro against the Robber Barons of our time.

[Briahna Joy Gray @briebriejoy]

The fact that no Black or latino organization, from the CBC to the NAACP, is willing to defend Darializa against this zionist/establishment harassment campaign speaks volumes about the limits of identity politics vs the power of monied interests.

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

Electability is the buzzword at Democratic conventions across our nation.

I understand why some Democrats are tempted to play it safe. Many see Republican victories in 2026 and 2028 as an existential threat and think the answer is to nominate the safest possible candidates.

But America is not facing an ordinary moment. We have levels of wealth concentration not seen since the first Gilded Age. Millions of young people cannot afford a home, childcare, healthcare, or college. Voting rights and women’s rights are being rolled back. Black and Latino communities, rural America, and factory towns have been excluded from the wealth generation of the modern economy.

The answer to a crisis of this scale is not caution. It is a bold vision equal to the moment.

We cannot simply be against Trumpism and go back to a status quo that tore this nation apart. We need a new economic patriotism that creates good jobs in every ZIP code, rebuilds American industry, delivers Medicare for All, provides childcare $10 day, makes public college tuition-free, creates 1,000 new trade schools and technical institutes, guarantees homeownership for every American who works hard by age 35, and ensures that the gains from AI and technological progress are shared by working and middle-class Americans.

We need to end foreign wars, reject gun boat militarism abroad, and stop providing aid to governments that violate human rights.

And yes, I believe America is strongest when it celebrates being a nation of immigrants. The future of this country is not one group against another or running away from our diversity. It is Americans of every race, faith, and background united around the simple idea that everyone who works hard deserves economic security, dignity, and a chance to succeed. That was Frederick Douglass’s prophecy of a Composite Nation in 1869.

If Democrats want to defeat Trumpism, we cannot simply run safe, focus-group-crafted politicians who try to substitute demographic or biographical connection for a real policy vision. We cannot recycle candidates who will never be seen as leaders for true change.

We have to offer something fresh, something bigger than fear and insults. We have to offer a vision of shared prosperity. We have to give people a reason to believe that the future can be better than the past.

That is the path that Franklin Roosevelt, a leader who governed from a wheelchair after polio, showed us. It is the path John Kennedy showed us as the first Catholic president. It is the path Barack Obama showed us as a trailblazing African American president. It is the path Bernie Sanders showed us as a Jewish, democratic socialist who transformed our politics.

The great reformers in American history did not win by playing it safe. They were by no means conventional candidates. They won by meeting the challenges of their time with courage equal to the moment.

We are at our best as Democrats when we are not afraid. We are at our best when we are bold.

[Florian Ederer @florianederer]

I believe we now have evidence of FIFA's World Cup ticketing shell game: FIFA is colluding with third-party resale platforms for its own supply management.

Look at this SeatGeek map (secondary market!) for Saudi Arabia vs Cape Verde. The circled areas are not random single resale tickets, but large, contiguous blocks of seats: entire rows and swaths in sections 101/102, 112/113, 119/120, 134–137, 139, ...

The blue circles appeared weeks ago, then the purple blocks suddenly showed up a day or two ago, and the red blocks seem to have appeared recently too.

That's not what ordinary fan or even commercial scalper resale looks like who resell pairs, fours, and scattered seats. Instead, this looks like inventory being dumped in bulk onto secondary markets, at prices below FIFA's official site.

Why doesn't FIFA just lower prices on its own site Probably because official price cuts could trigger refund demands, chargebacks, or consumer-protection headaches from fans who already bought at much higher prices.

Instead FIFA keeps official prices high, avoids openly admitting the market-clearing price is lower, and moves unsold inventory through third-party resale platforms instead.

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

Modern progressivism draws from at least three great American traditions: the Populist farmers and workers who challenged concentrated economic power and demanded a say over the economy, the New Deal which made economic security a duty of government, and the Black freedom movement which expansively defined economic rights as a necessity for political equality itself.

[Zeteo @zeteo_news]

Who does AIPAC hate the most?

AIPAC has tweeted hundreds of attacks on politicians since 2025 started. But among Dems floated as potential presidential picks, the 3 biggest targets are AOC, Ro Khanna, & Chris Van Hollen.

@prem_thakker tracked how many times AIPAC attacked them:

[Austin Ahlman for Congress @ahlmanforne]

Okay, this is a dangerous post but I’ll do it.

There are two justice systems in this country. Everyone knows it. Nobody in DC will say it. I’m going to – and it’s far bigger than Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, and Democrats and Republicans are silent about it.

See, there’s a justice system for you and me, and then there’s the system for the wealthy and well-connected elites.

Let’s talk about it.

In 2003, the Bush Administration took us to war in Iraq based on a lie. Thousands died. Billions were wasted. They also invaded everyone’s privacy and conducted illegal mass surveillance of American citizens.

Nobody went to jail. The Republicans who cheerled it and the Democrats who rubber-stamped it looked the other way.

In 2008, Wall Street crashed the entire global economy. Millions lost their jobs and thousands lost their family homes. People were sent into bankruptcy. People died through suicide and not being able to pay medical bills.

None of the bankers responsible went to jail. Democrats and Republicans who raked in Wall Street donations looked the other way.

In the 2000s and 2010s, the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma flooded American communities with OxyContin, knowing it was addictive, lying about it, and paying doctors to prescribe it. The opioid crisis they helped fuel killed half a million Americans. The Sacklers are big donors, so their company paid a fine and they kept their billions.

Nobody went to jail. Democrats and Republicans looked the other way.

From 2016-2019, Boeing’s executives knew the 737 MAX had a fatal flaw that caused it to override pilots and ram into the ground. They hid it from regulators. 346 people died in two crashes before they were forced to take action.

Hundreds dead but Boeing just paid a fine. Nobody went to jail.

In the early 2020s, it was revealed that Meta’s own internal research showed Instagram was driving teenage girls toward depression, eating disorders, and suicide. They knew. They concealed it. They kept it running because it made them money.

Nobody went to jail. Congress did nothing.

In the mid 2020s, the Biden Administration and (and bureaucrats in the State Department) gave Israel a blank check of taxpayer money to wage a horrific war in Gaza that spiralled across the region. It is actually illegal under US law to send weapons to a country that obstructs aid and carries out atrocities. They did it anyway, and so did the current administration.

Nobody went to jail. One of those State Department bureaucrats is running to be our next congressman, and our current congressmen is an AIPAC-endorsee who supported it all the way.

And then this year there has been the illegal war in Iran – also brought to you by AIPAC and neocons and based on lies – which has cost taxpayers billions, killed countless civilians, and driven up prices of gas and fertilizer and everything else that we’ll be paying for for years.

Nobody will go to jail. Nobody will be held accountable.

This is what I mean about elite impunity being a massive problem in this country that nobody dares talk about.

If that angers you, remember my name and consider voting for me November: I’m Austin Ahlman, son of proud, working-class Norfolk meatpackers, and we can’t let the Epstein Class get away with this anymore.

These executives and politicians and bureaucrats have committed illegal acts that have killed mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They’ve robbed millions of their livelihoods. Infringed on fundamental rights and freedoms. Made every American poorer.

If you or I did that, imagine the consequences. But for them, the penalty is… nothing. And it’s a bipartisan policy.

Here’s the truth: If we never hold elites accountable for their actions, this will never change. We need to elect independents who will speak these hard truths, push for justice, and ensure that everyone in this country is playing by the same set of rules.

It’s time to end elite impunity once and for all.

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

.@grahamformaine @jamestalarico & @ossoff are all committed to taking on the Epstein class that @RepThomasMassie & I exposed.

Our political divide is working class versus Epstein class. Whose side are you on?

[Hal Singer @halsinger]

Sigh. I've tried to explain this false dichotomy to Matt several times. The Neo Brandeisians don't "care less about consumer prices," as Matt intimates. Indeed, they are willing to challenge a *broader* array of conduct to prevent price hikes compared to the Chicago School of antitrust (e.g., vertical restraints, self-preferencing, common pricing algorithms, etc.). The Neo Brandeisians also believe that antitrust can be used to stop exploitation by powerful buyers against workers and other input providers. That's why they were the first to challenge a book publisher merger that would have reduced a critical employment option for authors. One would think that, as a writer and aspiring book author, Matt would sympathize with this approach. Now it's true that a resource-constrained agency must pursue a finite number of cases, and stopping the exploitation of buying power might deprive a different case from getting launched. But nothing prevents private enforcers or state AGs, inspired by the Brandeisian tradition, from attacking concentrations of selling power. You can chew gum (attack selling power) and walk (attack buying power) at the same time!

[Ryan @Rybread_26]

Best JLG endorsement so far

[Dan Osborn @osbornforne]

JUST 4 companies control 85% of beef in the U.S.

But non-ranchers may not FULLY understand what this means and why it’s so bad.

To help, here are the Top 5 reasons why meatpacking consolidation is bad for ALL Americans.

[Jackson Rubin @jacksonrubin00]

@LeeHepner @econliberties @AGRobBonta 17 years later, we're still talking about Live Nation/Ticketmaster.

It's time for structural remedies. #BreakUpTicketmaster

2009 --> 2026

[Jackson Rubin @jacksonrubin00]

@SenBlumenthal @SenSchumer

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

A bold progressive agenda is popular among Suffolk graduates. Young people want action more than cliches. Watch for yourself:

[Jackson Rubin @jacksonrubin00]

@brahmresnik Reminds me of the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary debate

https://t.co/lRtLG91nW6

[Jackson Rubin @jacksonrubin00]

@mattyglesias I think the bigger “spoiler” to millions of working class Americans is when we elect a Democrat who campaigns as a fighter for ordinary people and governs as a caretaker for corporations.

[Jackson Rubin @jacksonrubin00]

@bigseb31213 I think the bigger “spoiler” to millions of working class Americans is when we elect a Democrat who campaigns as a fighter for ordinary people and governs as a caretaker for corporations.

@ahlmanforne

[Jackson Rubin @jacksonrubin00]

@mattyglesias The “spoiler” argument is how the establishment protects itself.

The real spoiler for working class Americans is a political establishment that would rather protect party machinery than support candidates actually willing to fight concentrated corporate power.

@ahlmanforne