this scenario seems more than likely:

1. Pai announces he's leaving the FCC, with the timing intended to help nudge the rush appointment of Trump-ally and Section 230 hater Simington to the FCC

2. GOP wins Senate run off races

3. GOP blocks the appointment of a new Democratic FCC boss and Commissioner, keeping FCC gridlocked at 2-2 for at least two years.

4. folks then get mad at Biden for not restoring #netneutrality or doing good things

5. anger at the "lack of Democratic action" at the FCC (and other agencies where similar stories will play out) then comes back to bite Democrats on the ass in the 2022 elections, by folks who don't understand how toxic the GOP's obstructionist tactics are.

the Georgia run offs and converting a few key GOP votes on Simington could alter this trajectory.

but what a cool, democratic system you've got where a few thousand Georgians get to determine if the FCC is capable of functioning in the public interest for years to come.

you have to figure AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon's policy and lobbying guys are all gunning full bore for this gridlocked scenario. Not giving one damn that a gridlocked and paralyzed FCC during a national health crisis means it can't respond to the unprecedented challenge.

so when I see the Stoller/Greenwald wing of Twitter punditry trying to claim that the GOP and Josh Hawleys have seen the light and are taking monopolization and antitrust seriously all I can do is LMAO.

Democrats have ample flaws, but the GOP is a toxic, obstructionist mess.

anybody claiming Josh Hawley and the GOP are nurturing a new, genuine interest in policing monopolies has absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

This includes the "big tech" face fanning, which is utterly performative, populist bullshit untethered from policy reality.

step one in genuinely giving a shit about monopolization and corporate power? Stop kneecapping the regulators (FTC/FCC) tasked with overseeing said monopolies.