Amid the noise and theatrics of the capital, something rare is happening in Washington, D.C. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is laying down a vision that’s not just technocratic policy. It’s populist, muscular, and unapologetically pro-American.
His “Build America Agenda” doesn’t nibble at the edges of regulatory reform or throw taxpayer money at shiny programs. It’s about doing what the Trump movement always promised: building again.
Carr’s FCC is taking a jackhammer to the bureaucratic delays and regulatory bloat that have kept America’s digital backbone stuck in the 20th century. But what makes his approach striking isn’t just the scope — it’s the simplicity. This plan was forged not in Beltway conference rooms but in conversations with tower climbers in South Dakota, rural farmers, small-town nurses, and the telecom crews who literally keep America connected.
The message is simple: It’s time for Washington to get out of the way and let Americans build.
This is far from the oft-repeated and never-enacted slogans of the old policymakers. It’s a concrete strategy that focuses on an area past Republican efforts too often missed: results for real people, such as broadband to the farm, jobs on the tower, cheaper service at home, fewer foreign companies exploiting our infrastructure, and more spectrum for the technologies we actually use.
Carr’s agenda doesn’t just deregulate for ideology’s sake. It clears the runway for investment, growth, and opportunity across a wide range of industries.
It also captures the Trump-era instinct to think big and move fast. Under former President Joe Biden, grand ambitions about closing the digital divide collapsed into red tape and stalled rollouts. The FCC under Carr is unapologetically reversing course, backed by concrete proposals to eliminate outdated regulations, some of which have been in place since before the invention of the internet.
The heart of the “Build America” message is American self-reliance and innovation. Some Americans want to rebuild infrastructure, while others look ahead toward emerging technologies. But you cannot have one without the other, and the FCC has tremendous power to incentivize the developments that protect our national security and provide real economic opportunities for working-class Americans.
And let’s be clear: this is not just about laying fiber or allocating bandwidth. It’s a statement of national will. Carr’s plan aligns with the “America First” ethos by boosting domestic capacity, shoring up national security, and challenging Chinese dominance in wireless and satellite infrastructure. Whether it’s removing Huawei gear from U.S. networks or accelerating 5G deployment, the “Build America Agenda” is a strategic move in a broader geopolitical contest.
Republicans should take notice. Too often, the Right talks about deregulation as a theory. Carr is turning it into a hammer. Where others propose, he implements. Where others wring hands, he climbs towers. He’s making the government not just smaller but faster, sharper, and more focused on results.
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In the populist future of the GOP, this is what leadership looks like. Not endless culture war skirmishes or slogans with no follow-through, but a relentless focus on building, growing, and delivering for working Americans.
If Trumpism is to evolve into a governing philosophy rather than just a movement, it needs more than rhetoric. It needs blueprints. Carr just handed the party one.
Aiden Buzzetti is the president of the Bull Moose Project.