For decades, presidents avoided even the appearance of profiting from their office.
Harry Truman refused to lend his name to any business, even in retirement. Richard Nixon so feared a brother might profit off their ties, he had his phone tapped. And George W. Bush dumped his individual stock holdings before taking office.
Donald Trump is taking a different approach.
The family real estate business is undergoing the fastest overseas expansion since its founding a century ago, each deal potentially shaping everything from tariffs to military aid.
Led by Eric, and his brother, Donald Jr., the family business has expanded into cryptocurrencies with ventures that brought in billions of dollars but raised questions about whether some big investors received favorable treatment in return.
We need to elect someone who, among other critical traits, is comfortable with approving bills to limit their own power and the power of their successors.
I don’t believe that will actually be possible.
More likely will be a congressional supermajority forcing through such bills. At any rate there are already laws supposed to stop many of these grifts, but they are not enforced.
If an individual person can limit their own power, the next person will be able to strip those limitations just as easilly.
What we need is more direct democracy instead of just relying on representatives to do the right thing.
I’d like to see the ability to recall a sitting president added. Waiting for congress to step in is getting ridiculous.
And we should be able to directly pass laws, bypassing all branches of the government (including the Supreme Court).
That is fucking dangerous
So is entrusting all power to representatives, who, as we’ve seen many times over, inevitably become corrupt and/or drunk with power.