Thom, once more, thanks so much for this insightful essay and research on term limits and their result in politics.
This counterpoint subject is little talked about or understood, yet, its negative ramifications clearly need to be more fully digested by the general public.
Thank you so much! This analysis has been clear to me, a public educated rural Iowa person, since the first time I heard the quip "term limits". That was a long time ago.
WE ALREADY HAVE A WAY TO END TERMS OF CORRUPT POLITICIANS! ELECTIONS!
The fix is overturn Citizens United, automatic voter registration at 18, public financing, election Day holiday..just my quick list.
Excellent point and one I hadn't considered. At the risk of overstating the obvious, the outsize influence and reach of lobbyists and billionaires are a foundational issue. Hello Citizens vs. United and the web of rules and regulations that have been enacted by big-money interests. I was not an early supporter of Sens. Sanders and Warner, but they are looking better and better.
The limits could also mean an end to oversight and investigations in some instances. One more thing the Republicans hate. They want the power, but they do not want to be accountable for how they use it.
In my naivete, I have liked Term Limits, reasoning that a legislator would have their last "term" free of the onerous duty of getting as many campaign contributions to remain in office as they can, so they;d be free to just plain legislate for their constituents. Thus making a higher standard for the next candidate to aspire to. I guess I must revert to my other theme: Never elect a billionaire; In 798 cases out of 800, he'll always legislate to preserve his own interests, not ours.
When voters say they want term limits, they must be thinking of those politicians they'd like to be rid of, not the politicians they return to office many times over. We do need to put an age limit on office-holding, however.
As for the undue influence of billionaires and their lobbyists, that's already a huge problem without term limits. We need to put strong limits on campaign spending, and do away with the permanent professionalized lobbying industry altogether.
What DOGE and Russell Vought have done is kill off the institutional memory, and in effect killing off the institution, thus enabling it to rebuild it, if that is what they wish, in their own image. For example the Civil Rights Commission is now chasing cases of "discrimination" against Christians and white males.
Pretty difficult to restore institutional memory, when it is scattered to the four winds.
Best that can be done is rebuiild it anew, and build it back better, but it will never be the same. Example: USAID is lost and gone forever, all the channels, the connections, the people who made it work are scattered to the four winds.
It will take more than litigation. But I understand when you are a hammer everything is a nail.
Exposure for damages can't rebuild that which was lost.
So you are saying that the people that Musk and Vought fired were only the political appointees who were on the job training and never learned jack in the first place?
If so I beg to differ, they ripped the guts out of the agencies and they have scattered to the four winds, and evenif they were rehired, the offices, the procedures, the machinery that made it work, no longer exists.
Plenty of former feds have institutional knowledge ( that you don't have a clue about).
I watched Trump's presser yestedrday where he attacked judges and even SCOTUS for restoring due process. Sounds like his lawyers have laid out his contingent liabilities.
Whose putting words in your mouth. I quoted your words.
Don't you get tired of posing as the wizard of OZ, he who knows all, they only one that has a clue about anything.
Again, once you deconstruct a bureaucracy, you can't put it back together.
Due process, contingent liabilities are irrelevant to the proper functioning of governments.
Legal remedies are not bureaucratic remedies.
If I walk into a department, fire all of the personnel, destroy all of the records,I've destroyed the institutional memory and what they department did and how it functioned are like the miners daughter Clementine.
Thom Hartmann, in today's letter, discussed a similar situation, with congress and term limits. He makes the case that term limits will hand the Heritage Foundation exactly what they want, but destroying the institutional memory, enbabling them to rebuild and redefine the law in accordance with their agenda and ideology.
Like so many "talking points", most people have an opinion before hearing the arguments. Term limits immediately sound great to most people, but everyone NEEDS to hear Thom's argument.
Until recently, the Brookings Institution was getting some of its funding from Qatar, the country where Trump opened a bank account for Venezuela's oil money. Maybe they don't except funds from Qatar anymore for that reason.
More retired members of Congress will increase the number of lobbyists.
How about the recent revelation that Hungarian taxpayers were supporting the Republican Party?
Meanwhile here in Baghdad By the Sea we have an ongoing trial re corruption and Venezuela. Marco Rubio was called in the ongoing federal corruption trial of his former roommate and longtime friend, former Republican Representative David Rivera.
Charges: Failing to register as a foreign agent and money laundering.
The Allegation: Prosecutors claim Rivera was awarded a $50 million contract by Venezuela's state oil company (PDVSA) to secretly lobby the U.S. government to ease sanctions during the first Trump administration.
In his testimony, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio detailed several actions he took regarding Venezuela in 2017 while being "unwittingly" lobbied by Rivera.
Rubio testified that he was unaware Rivera was being paid via a $50 million contract from a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA. Based on information provided by Rivera during their private meetings, Rubio took the following actions:
Senate Floor Speech: Within days of a July 2017 meeting with Rivera, Rubio delivered a speech on the Senate floor signaling that the U.S. would not retaliate against Venezuelan government insiders who helped remove Nicolás Maduro from power.
Briefing the President: Rubio testified that he met with then-President Trump the day after his initial July 2017 meeting with Rivera to inform him that "there might be something happening in Venezuela" regarding a potential transition.
Televised Address to Venezuela: Rubio recorded a rare 10-minute address to the Venezuelan people that was broadcast exclusively on Globovision, a network owned by Raúl Gorrín (Rivera’s primary conduit to the Maduro government).
Meeting with Foreign Insiders: At Rivera’s request, Rubio met with Gorrín in a small Washington D.C. ballroom. Rubio testified he was led to believe Gorrín would deliver a letter from Maduro announcing a resignation and free elections; instead, Gorrín only complained about the situation in Venezuela.
Reuters
Rubio told the jury that had he known Rivera was under contract with a Venezuelan state-owned entity, he would not have taken any of these actions
BTW Brookings is a Dem oriented private foundation. Qatar has contributed to many government related entities. At one point I laid out how they contributed to colleges, in essence to brainwash them.
Foreign contributions to government is a crime.
AI: More
qatar lobbyists
The Qatari government maintains one of the most extensive and expensive foreign influence operations in the United States, spending nearly $250 million on lobbying and public relations since 2016. This network includes approximately 36 lobbying and PR firms as of 2025, which report more in-person meetings with U.S. political contacts than any other country.
Key Lobbyists and Firms
Doha frequently hires high-profile "revolving door" insiders, including former members of Congress and top strategists from both major parties:
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Prominent Firms: Mercury Public Affairs (former home of Susie Wiles), Ballard Partners, Cornerstone Government Affairs, Venable LLP, and BGR Group.
Former Members of Congress: Jim Moran (D-VA), Tom Davis (R-VA), Tom Reynolds (R-NY), and Bart Stupak (D-MI).
Trump Administration Allies:
Pam Bondi: earned $115,000 per month as a registered lobbyist for Qatar at Ballard Partners.
Cornerstone Team: Includes David Planning (former Trump special assistant) and Chris Hodgson (former aide to Mike Pence).
Garrett Ventry: A Republican strategist paid over $500,000 to highlight Qatar's role as a Middle East mediator.
Specialized Roles: Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett was recently hired for $210,000 to counter allegations regarding Qatari influence on U.S. campuses.
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Primary Objectives
The lobbying strategy focuses on shifting Qatar's reputation and securing specific policy wins:
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Regional Mediation: Positioning Doha as the essential mediator for ceasefires and hostage releases, particularly between Israel and Hamas.
Security Guarantees: Maintaining its status as a major non-NATO ally and ensuring U.S. military protection against regional rivals.
Crisis Management: Countering "terrorist sympathizer" narratives and ending the 2017–2021 diplomatic blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Economic & Academic Influence: Managing the optics of its multibillion-dollar donations to U.S. universities (e.g., Georgetown and Texas A&M) and significant investments in U.S. real estate and sports team
Instead of chronological limits, perhaps a psychological limit in the form of a political, moral, and intellectual admission or readmission test.
Like the Medical College Admission Test, for politicians before each run.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, $20,000,000,000 (How much kickedback to DJT?):
The Kushner Family Just Landed a $20 Billion Pentagon Contract
Let’s start with the one that should be on the front page everywhere but isn’t getting the attention it deserves.
The Pentagon has awarded a $20 billion, sole-source contract to Anduril Industries, which is a defense tech company backed by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Jared Kushner. Jared is serving as Donald's informal mediator in the same wars that this contract helps prosecute.
[Killer Software is easily deployed within the Homeland, if you know what I mean.]
The 10-year deal consolidates what had been more than 120 separate procurement actions for Anduril’s commercial solutions into a single enterprise contract covering hardware, software, infrastructure, and services. At its core is Anduril’s Lattice platform, an AI-driven command system capable of detecting and responding to threats without human input. The company also makes surveillance drones, sentry towers, and loitering munitions that can hunt and eliminate targets autonomously across hundreds of miles.
The contract was awarded under a “sole source” framework, meaning the Pentagon bypassed the normal competitive bidding process, claiming no other company could match Anduril’s capabilities. The public notice inviting vendors to respond was posted over the holiday period in December and gave companies just three weeks to reply. One company confirmed it couldn’t compete. Three others either didn’t respond or turned out not to be defense contractors at all. The Pentagon took that as confirmation that only Anduril could do the job.
Joshua Kushner holds his Anduril stake through his venture capital firm, Thrive Capital. Sources say Thrive co-led a $4 billion funding round for Anduril just days before the Pentagon announced the contract.
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner, who holds no official government title but has been repeatedly deployed by Trump to lead negotiations in Ukraine, the Middle East, Iran, and Venezuela, is currently facing a congressional inquiry after Democrats accused him of soliciting billions from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and Gulf monarchies while conducting those diplomatic missions. Qatar, sources say, ultimately poured around $200 million into Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, after initially declining and reconsidering ahead of Trump’s reelection.
Also . . .
[In 2018, the 666 5th Ave building was taken over via a 99‑year ground lease by Brookfield Asset Management.
Brookfield’s real‑estate arm is Brookfield Property Partners.
One of Brookfield’s largest outside investors is the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) — Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
Jail for this Piece of Sh*t.]
This is the same Jared Kushner who sat at the table in Islamabad for ceasefire talks with Iran last weekend. His brother’s company just received a $20 billion Pentagon contract to service those wars.
The White House declined to comment. The Pentagon said contracts are awarded based on merit.
Dwight Eisenhower warned us back in 1961 about the military-industrial complex gaining what he called unwarranted influence in our government. Still, even Ike couldn’t have imagined a version where the president’s in-laws own pieces of that complex while one of them is walking into ceasefire rooms with a direct financial stake in how long the shooting lasts. This is exactly the self-dealing the founders wrote an emoluments clause into the Constitution to prevent, and it’s happening in broad daylight while most of corporate media looks the other way.
There is more. Defense Secretary Hegseth faced allegations last month that his financial broker inquired about defense sector investments in the weeks before Trump launched his Iran attacks. Senator Markwayne Mullin, now DHS secretary, purchased stocks in defense contractors and oil companies five days before the Venezuela invasion, while sitting on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sources say $580 million in oil futures flooded the market roughly 16 minutes before Trump announced a pause in strikes on Iranian power plants. The administration has denied any wrongdoing on all counts.
The picture these stories collectively paint demands sustained, independent scrutiny. That is not what is happening in corporate media right now.
Term limits are a crazy way to do things. Lets look at any other profession instead to see the point. A person does a phenomenal job at research science for instance -think Anthony Fauci
Physician and former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of United States for example.That person has been on the job for decades and is going strong. Should you now pass legislation to term limit research scientists after 8 years and oust that person and replace him with Robert Kennedy jr? Now, that would be stupid wouldn't it?
Becauae of term limits, Califonia is loosing Newson and is now at risk of being rudderless or being run by another rich guy. This does not look good for Californians who likes a governor who can stand up to Trump.
Maybe term limits have their place but what do you do when someone good is term limited out. I think the real answe is for voters to limit politicians out because rhey need to be. Unfortunately we don't have active and concerned voters. It gives lobbyists and the rich an opportunity to oust a good politician working for the people and replace that person with a tRump look alike spouting out lies.
Instead of term limits I believe we need a LIE METER limit and when they hit a certain number of lies they get ousted after a fact check. TRump and most of the forrmer republican party - now the fascist party-would be out on their ears trying to run YOUTUBE scams.
The old adage, "If it ain't broke, then don't try to fix it," seems appropriate to term limit discussions. Our government only limits terms for CEOs: Governors, Presidents, cabinet members, and agency heads. When we dump Trump, his corrupt network is dumped with him. Without term limits, we are like SCOTUS, stuck with greedy and corrupt judges who screw up governing by and for the people. They have proven that they too should have term limits as a means of preventing corruption. As for the rest of our government. SCOTUS is the only office that would help minimize corruption via the Constitution.
After 45 years in DC, I learned that what enabled me to improve government performance was networking - developing a large web of unelected people without term limits (mainly civil servants and philanthropic foundations), whom I could count on to help inform and build institutional support for constructive change. Granted, that takes time. In my experience, Deep State boot camp lasts about 6 years. After that, your network keeps expanding like tree roots, and you become increasingly more effective in your work.
Requiring periodic re-election has proven to be sufficient because if a legislator is not serving their constituents, that is on the voters who are victims of their own resistance to change. Setting term limits on POTUS does one essential thing: it forces change with a chainsaw. While that puts a lot of pressure on parties to keep grooming replacements, it does not undermine networking as most candidates are senators and governors who bring their party networks with them. In my view, what needs fixin' is SCOTUS. 10-12 years seem more than adequate.
There is a beautiful doe in the meadow. I love that. Of course when I came into my living room and looked out through my big balcony window, she stopped eating for a moment and looked in my direction. Animals always know when they are being observed, and they know where the observer whether animal or bird or human is. Some people with ADHD seem to have that ability, too.
The evil, as always is money. If we can’t ban term limits, we could (it would never pass because of money) forbid politicians from taking a job with any lobbyist after their terms of office, and from any business entity for which they wrote favorable laws. Hardly a panacea, but as my comments here and elsewhere make clear, I believe the love of money is the fatal flaw of our species. It explains why we keep destroying each other, other species, and our planet. And why we are short term, not long term, thinkers and planners.
Too many of us are now happily Louis XV — “Apres moi, le deluge.”
Thom, once more, thanks so much for this insightful essay and research on term limits and their result in politics.
This counterpoint subject is little talked about or understood, yet, its negative ramifications clearly need to be more fully digested by the general public.
Thank you so much! This analysis has been clear to me, a public educated rural Iowa person, since the first time I heard the quip "term limits". That was a long time ago.
WE ALREADY HAVE A WAY TO END TERMS OF CORRUPT POLITICIANS! ELECTIONS!
The fix is overturn Citizens United, automatic voter registration at 18, public financing, election Day holiday..just my quick list.
I agree with your fix.
Excellent point and one I hadn't considered. At the risk of overstating the obvious, the outsize influence and reach of lobbyists and billionaires are a foundational issue. Hello Citizens vs. United and the web of rules and regulations that have been enacted by big-money interests. I was not an early supporter of Sens. Sanders and Warner, but they are looking better and better.
The limits could also mean an end to oversight and investigations in some instances. One more thing the Republicans hate. They want the power, but they do not want to be accountable for how they use it.
See you in the streets.
In my naivete, I have liked Term Limits, reasoning that a legislator would have their last "term" free of the onerous duty of getting as many campaign contributions to remain in office as they can, so they;d be free to just plain legislate for their constituents. Thus making a higher standard for the next candidate to aspire to. I guess I must revert to my other theme: Never elect a billionaire; In 798 cases out of 800, he'll always legislate to preserve his own interests, not ours.
When voters say they want term limits, they must be thinking of those politicians they'd like to be rid of, not the politicians they return to office many times over. We do need to put an age limit on office-holding, however.
As for the undue influence of billionaires and their lobbyists, that's already a huge problem without term limits. We need to put strong limits on campaign spending, and do away with the permanent professionalized lobbying industry altogether.
What DOGE and Russell Vought have done is kill off the institutional memory, and in effect killing off the institution, thus enabling it to rebuild it, if that is what they wish, in their own image. For example the Civil Rights Commission is now chasing cases of "discrimination" against Christians and white males.
Very good point William.
That was a "like." This is across the board, mainly to avoid the consequences of past investigations against Trump and Musk.
Litigation. Contingent liability. Restore institutuional memory. That's why I contribute to CREW, Common Cause, etc. .
Pretty difficult to restore institutional memory, when it is scattered to the four winds.
Best that can be done is rebuiild it anew, and build it back better, but it will never be the same. Example: USAID is lost and gone forever, all the channels, the connections, the people who made it work are scattered to the four winds.
It will take more than litigation. But I understand when you are a hammer everything is a nail.
Not dead yet.
Most political appointees were OJT, and many of them never learned jack in the short time they were in office.
Exposure for damages should bring an attitute adjustment.
Exposure for damages can't rebuild that which was lost.
So you are saying that the people that Musk and Vought fired were only the political appointees who were on the job training and never learned jack in the first place?
If so I beg to differ, they ripped the guts out of the agencies and they have scattered to the four winds, and evenif they were rehired, the offices, the procedures, the machinery that made it work, no longer exists.
Don't put words in my mouth.
Plenty of former feds have institutional knowledge ( that you don't have a clue about).
I watched Trump's presser yestedrday where he attacked judges and even SCOTUS for restoring due process. Sounds like his lawyers have laid out his contingent liabilities.
Whose putting words in your mouth. I quoted your words.
Don't you get tired of posing as the wizard of OZ, he who knows all, they only one that has a clue about anything.
Again, once you deconstruct a bureaucracy, you can't put it back together.
Due process, contingent liabilities are irrelevant to the proper functioning of governments.
Legal remedies are not bureaucratic remedies.
If I walk into a department, fire all of the personnel, destroy all of the records,I've destroyed the institutional memory and what they department did and how it functioned are like the miners daughter Clementine.
Thom Hartmann, in today's letter, discussed a similar situation, with congress and term limits. He makes the case that term limits will hand the Heritage Foundation exactly what they want, but destroying the institutional memory, enbabling them to rebuild and redefine the law in accordance with their agenda and ideology.
Like so many "talking points", most people have an opinion before hearing the arguments. Term limits immediately sound great to most people, but everyone NEEDS to hear Thom's argument.
Until recently, the Brookings Institution was getting some of its funding from Qatar, the country where Trump opened a bank account for Venezuela's oil money. Maybe they don't except funds from Qatar anymore for that reason.
More retired members of Congress will increase the number of lobbyists.
How about the recent revelation that Hungarian taxpayers were supporting the Republican Party?
Meanwhile here in Baghdad By the Sea we have an ongoing trial re corruption and Venezuela. Marco Rubio was called in the ongoing federal corruption trial of his former roommate and longtime friend, former Republican Representative David Rivera.
Charges: Failing to register as a foreign agent and money laundering.
The Allegation: Prosecutors claim Rivera was awarded a $50 million contract by Venezuela's state oil company (PDVSA) to secretly lobby the U.S. government to ease sanctions during the first Trump administration.
In his testimony, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio detailed several actions he took regarding Venezuela in 2017 while being "unwittingly" lobbied by Rivera.
Rubio testified that he was unaware Rivera was being paid via a $50 million contract from a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA. Based on information provided by Rivera during their private meetings, Rubio took the following actions:
Senate Floor Speech: Within days of a July 2017 meeting with Rivera, Rubio delivered a speech on the Senate floor signaling that the U.S. would not retaliate against Venezuelan government insiders who helped remove Nicolás Maduro from power.
Briefing the President: Rubio testified that he met with then-President Trump the day after his initial July 2017 meeting with Rivera to inform him that "there might be something happening in Venezuela" regarding a potential transition.
Televised Address to Venezuela: Rubio recorded a rare 10-minute address to the Venezuelan people that was broadcast exclusively on Globovision, a network owned by Raúl Gorrín (Rivera’s primary conduit to the Maduro government).
Meeting with Foreign Insiders: At Rivera’s request, Rubio met with Gorrín in a small Washington D.C. ballroom. Rubio testified he was led to believe Gorrín would deliver a letter from Maduro announcing a resignation and free elections; instead, Gorrín only complained about the situation in Venezuela.
Reuters
Rubio told the jury that had he known Rivera was under contract with a Venezuelan state-owned entity, he would not have taken any of these actions
BTW Brookings is a Dem oriented private foundation. Qatar has contributed to many government related entities. At one point I laid out how they contributed to colleges, in essence to brainwash them.
Foreign contributions to government is a crime.
AI: More
qatar lobbyists
The Qatari government maintains one of the most extensive and expensive foreign influence operations in the United States, spending nearly $250 million on lobbying and public relations since 2016. This network includes approximately 36 lobbying and PR firms as of 2025, which report more in-person meetings with U.S. political contacts than any other country.
Key Lobbyists and Firms
Doha frequently hires high-profile "revolving door" insiders, including former members of Congress and top strategists from both major parties:
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Prominent Firms: Mercury Public Affairs (former home of Susie Wiles), Ballard Partners, Cornerstone Government Affairs, Venable LLP, and BGR Group.
Former Members of Congress: Jim Moran (D-VA), Tom Davis (R-VA), Tom Reynolds (R-NY), and Bart Stupak (D-MI).
Trump Administration Allies:
Pam Bondi: earned $115,000 per month as a registered lobbyist for Qatar at Ballard Partners.
Cornerstone Team: Includes David Planning (former Trump special assistant) and Chris Hodgson (former aide to Mike Pence).
Garrett Ventry: A Republican strategist paid over $500,000 to highlight Qatar's role as a Middle East mediator.
Specialized Roles: Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett was recently hired for $210,000 to counter allegations regarding Qatari influence on U.S. campuses.
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Primary Objectives
The lobbying strategy focuses on shifting Qatar's reputation and securing specific policy wins:
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Regional Mediation: Positioning Doha as the essential mediator for ceasefires and hostage releases, particularly between Israel and Hamas.
Security Guarantees: Maintaining its status as a major non-NATO ally and ensuring U.S. military protection against regional rivals.
Crisis Management: Countering "terrorist sympathizer" narratives and ending the 2017–2021 diplomatic blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Economic & Academic Influence: Managing the optics of its multibillion-dollar donations to U.S. universities (e.g., Georgetown and Texas A&M) and significant investments in U.S. real estate and sports team
Accountability? Is it possible?
Instead of chronological limits, perhaps a psychological limit in the form of a political, moral, and intellectual admission or readmission test.
Like the Medical College Admission Test, for politicians before each run.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, $20,000,000,000 (How much kickedback to DJT?):
The Kushner Family Just Landed a $20 Billion Pentagon Contract
Let’s start with the one that should be on the front page everywhere but isn’t getting the attention it deserves.
The Pentagon has awarded a $20 billion, sole-source contract to Anduril Industries, which is a defense tech company backed by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Jared Kushner. Jared is serving as Donald's informal mediator in the same wars that this contract helps prosecute.
[Killer Software is easily deployed within the Homeland, if you know what I mean.]
The 10-year deal consolidates what had been more than 120 separate procurement actions for Anduril’s commercial solutions into a single enterprise contract covering hardware, software, infrastructure, and services. At its core is Anduril’s Lattice platform, an AI-driven command system capable of detecting and responding to threats without human input. The company also makes surveillance drones, sentry towers, and loitering munitions that can hunt and eliminate targets autonomously across hundreds of miles.
The contract was awarded under a “sole source” framework, meaning the Pentagon bypassed the normal competitive bidding process, claiming no other company could match Anduril’s capabilities. The public notice inviting vendors to respond was posted over the holiday period in December and gave companies just three weeks to reply. One company confirmed it couldn’t compete. Three others either didn’t respond or turned out not to be defense contractors at all. The Pentagon took that as confirmation that only Anduril could do the job.
Joshua Kushner holds his Anduril stake through his venture capital firm, Thrive Capital. Sources say Thrive co-led a $4 billion funding round for Anduril just days before the Pentagon announced the contract.
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner, who holds no official government title but has been repeatedly deployed by Trump to lead negotiations in Ukraine, the Middle East, Iran, and Venezuela, is currently facing a congressional inquiry after Democrats accused him of soliciting billions from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and Gulf monarchies while conducting those diplomatic missions. Qatar, sources say, ultimately poured around $200 million into Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, after initially declining and reconsidering ahead of Trump’s reelection.
Also . . .
[In 2018, the 666 5th Ave building was taken over via a 99‑year ground lease by Brookfield Asset Management.
Brookfield’s real‑estate arm is Brookfield Property Partners.
One of Brookfield’s largest outside investors is the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) — Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
Jail for this Piece of Sh*t.]
This is the same Jared Kushner who sat at the table in Islamabad for ceasefire talks with Iran last weekend. His brother’s company just received a $20 billion Pentagon contract to service those wars.
The White House declined to comment. The Pentagon said contracts are awarded based on merit.
Dwight Eisenhower warned us back in 1961 about the military-industrial complex gaining what he called unwarranted influence in our government. Still, even Ike couldn’t have imagined a version where the president’s in-laws own pieces of that complex while one of them is walking into ceasefire rooms with a direct financial stake in how long the shooting lasts. This is exactly the self-dealing the founders wrote an emoluments clause into the Constitution to prevent, and it’s happening in broad daylight while most of corporate media looks the other way.
There is more. Defense Secretary Hegseth faced allegations last month that his financial broker inquired about defense sector investments in the weeks before Trump launched his Iran attacks. Senator Markwayne Mullin, now DHS secretary, purchased stocks in defense contractors and oil companies five days before the Venezuela invasion, while sitting on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sources say $580 million in oil futures flooded the market roughly 16 minutes before Trump announced a pause in strikes on Iranian power plants. The administration has denied any wrongdoing on all counts.
The picture these stories collectively paint demands sustained, independent scrutiny. That is not what is happening in corporate media right now.
Credit RAW with minor editorializing by moi.
Term limits are a crazy way to do things. Lets look at any other profession instead to see the point. A person does a phenomenal job at research science for instance -think Anthony Fauci
Physician and former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of United States for example.That person has been on the job for decades and is going strong. Should you now pass legislation to term limit research scientists after 8 years and oust that person and replace him with Robert Kennedy jr? Now, that would be stupid wouldn't it?
Becauae of term limits, Califonia is loosing Newson and is now at risk of being rudderless or being run by another rich guy. This does not look good for Californians who likes a governor who can stand up to Trump.
Maybe term limits have their place but what do you do when someone good is term limited out. I think the real answe is for voters to limit politicians out because rhey need to be. Unfortunately we don't have active and concerned voters. It gives lobbyists and the rich an opportunity to oust a good politician working for the people and replace that person with a tRump look alike spouting out lies.
Instead of term limits I believe we need a LIE METER limit and when they hit a certain number of lies they get ousted after a fact check. TRump and most of the forrmer republican party - now the fascist party-would be out on their ears trying to run YOUTUBE scams.
The old adage, "If it ain't broke, then don't try to fix it," seems appropriate to term limit discussions. Our government only limits terms for CEOs: Governors, Presidents, cabinet members, and agency heads. When we dump Trump, his corrupt network is dumped with him. Without term limits, we are like SCOTUS, stuck with greedy and corrupt judges who screw up governing by and for the people. They have proven that they too should have term limits as a means of preventing corruption. As for the rest of our government. SCOTUS is the only office that would help minimize corruption via the Constitution.
After 45 years in DC, I learned that what enabled me to improve government performance was networking - developing a large web of unelected people without term limits (mainly civil servants and philanthropic foundations), whom I could count on to help inform and build institutional support for constructive change. Granted, that takes time. In my experience, Deep State boot camp lasts about 6 years. After that, your network keeps expanding like tree roots, and you become increasingly more effective in your work.
Requiring periodic re-election has proven to be sufficient because if a legislator is not serving their constituents, that is on the voters who are victims of their own resistance to change. Setting term limits on POTUS does one essential thing: it forces change with a chainsaw. While that puts a lot of pressure on parties to keep grooming replacements, it does not undermine networking as most candidates are senators and governors who bring their party networks with them. In my view, what needs fixin' is SCOTUS. 10-12 years seem more than adequate.
There is a beautiful doe in the meadow. I love that. Of course when I came into my living room and looked out through my big balcony window, she stopped eating for a moment and looked in my direction. Animals always know when they are being observed, and they know where the observer whether animal or bird or human is. Some people with ADHD seem to have that ability, too.
The evil, as always is money. If we can’t ban term limits, we could (it would never pass because of money) forbid politicians from taking a job with any lobbyist after their terms of office, and from any business entity for which they wrote favorable laws. Hardly a panacea, but as my comments here and elsewhere make clear, I believe the love of money is the fatal flaw of our species. It explains why we keep destroying each other, other species, and our planet. And why we are short term, not long term, thinkers and planners.
Too many of us are now happily Louis XV — “Apres moi, le deluge.”