Republicans—and their corporate overlords—can't let the rest of us have nice things, like the open internet, so they've made gutting net neutrality a top goal. With an uninvolved and uninterested and uninformed President-elect Trump, that might be what they get.
In particular danger are key initiatives of the Obama years, including net neutrality and a pivotal series of Internet privacy regulations that came along with it.
"Net neutrality has a big target on its back," said Robert Kaminski, a telecom analyst at Capital Alpha Partners.
During the campaign, Trump vowed to “eliminate our most intrusive regulations” and “reform the entire regulatory code.” He has singled out net neutrality as a “top down power grab,” predicting it would allow the government to censor websites.
One way it gets gutted is with a new Trump FCC, but it doesn't have to necessarily, and not immediately. For one thing, Federal Communications Commissioners have five year terms. All of the Democrats on the five-member commission are there for at least another year, two of them up to two more years. That includes chairman Tom Wheeler. There is absolutely no reason for them to step down for Trump and make this any easier for him.
Republicans can also do it legislatively, which is a likelier bet but would have to overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, unless Mitch McConnell goes fully nuclear on it.
Regardless, millions of us regular people rose up and got net neutrality against all odds. It's not going to go down this time without a massive fight.