Last week, the journalist Sohrab Ahmari broke a story titled The Antitrust War Inside MAGA: Powerful Lobbyists Are Battling Populist Reformers. In it, he reported that the recent $14 billion deal in which Hewlett-Packard acquired its competitor, Juniper Networks, was quietly shepherded along with help from the Justice Department, complete with martini-sipping backroom deals. Two attorneys within the department who objected to the shady procedural maneuvers were reportedly fired.

Today on the show, Matt and David bring Ahmari on to unpack the situation, what it could mean for antitrust policy under the second Trump administration, and whether this signals the end of populist influence within the MAGA movement.

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