Bill Kolasky and Madison Arent co-authored an article entitled "What to Expect from the Trump Administration: A Historical Perspective," for the February issue of The Antitrust Source, a bimonthly online journal for antitrust and consumer protection matters sponsored by the ABA Section of Antitrust Law.
 
The article examined the marked shifts in both antitrust doctrine and enforcement policy that followed the changes in political parties occupying the White House every eight or 12 years over the last century and what a Trump administration's antitrust enforcement program may look like.
 
"The populist rhetoric of his campaign might suggest a continuation of strong antitrust enforcement, but some of his early appointments to the Cabinet and his antitrust transition team would seem to suggest otherwise," they wrote.
 
The article noted that President Trump's likely judicial appointments, especially to the Supreme Court, will certainly move the country back toward less interventionist antitrust enforcement.
 
"Although it remains to be seen what type of antitrust enforcement record the incoming Trump administration will have, the outcome of the 2016 election may well mark yet another turning point in antitrust enforcement," they wrote. "If so, that would be no different from what we have experienced over the past century when, every eight or twelve years, the voters have replaced one party with the other in the White House."