151

Have we entered the twilight zone?

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[-] BruceCampbellschin@lemmy.world 84 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Low blood sugar. 100%. Get that man a Snickers stat and he'll be back to his sex trafficking, child raping self.

[-] bus_factor@lemmy.world 72 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The stocks thing isn't new. He, AOC and others actually co-sponsored a bill banning members of Congress from owning individual stocks.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-gaetz-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-congress-stock-ban-bill/

[-] NevermindNoMind@lemmy.world 63 points 8 months ago

Watch Gaetz run for governor (and then president?). Run, Gaetz, run. Most old school Regan Republicans would never go for this stuff. Limiting their own terms? Banning donations from lobbyists? Limiting SCOTUS terms and risk losing the theocratic supermajority? Gudouttahere.

Gaetz knows this. He also knows the establishment right wing media (Fox) is trying to make him the villain, "It's not that Republicans can't govern, it's just that this one guy is an asshole."

When Gaetz does shit like this, it makes him sound almost reasonable, right? Republican voters say, ok I think all that stuff would be good, so why won't the rest of the party go along with it? Hmm, maybe Gaetz is right about House Republicans being part of the swamp. Maybe Gaetz is a true fighter for America and not the asshole that blonde lady on Fox said he was.

That's the game. Gaetz is building some serious media coverage and name ID. I have to admit, the shit heal is making the most out of his time in the spotlight.

[-] FriendOfElphaba@sh.itjust.works 38 points 8 months ago

shit heal

Chaotic evil clerics are the worst.

[-] KnowledgeableNip@leminal.space 15 points 8 months ago

+16 HP

-100 Dignity

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[-] MechanicalJester@lemm.ee 10 points 8 months ago

Did you watch the footage of Gaetz grilling the DEA on when were they going to delist marijuana as a schedule 1 drug and federally decriminalize it specifically addressing opioid crisis and THC being a viable alternative for pain management for many?

I totally agree with you. I was initially very confused, but it definitely diferentiates him from DeSantis.

What's next? He turns on Trump?

[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

He takes off his mask and your realize it was Santos all along

[-] speff@disc.0x-ia.moe 39 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This….sounds…reasonable..? I’m with OP - confused

[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 28 points 8 months ago

Like, I'm expecting to find out all his accounts have been hacked or Bernie Sanders has a gun to his head or something

[-] Rakonat@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

He's playing Fox New's game against them. GOP and their media outlets want to make him him the bad guy for canning one of their own.

So he's getting out ahead of it and saying all this stuff he knows Republican voters will agree so anyone who tries to smear him looks like deep state establishment that are entrenched in Washingtons ways. Not that he probably expects it to pass but it will give him a leg up if or rather when he tries to get Florida Governor in 2026 sincr DeSantis can't run again due to term limits.

[-] elliot_crane@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago

Same dude.. I can’t figure out what he stands to gain other than just being contrarian. I never thought I’d say this but I’m actually agreeing with something that representative butthead said. Strange times we live in.

[-] qprimed@lemmy.ml 14 points 8 months ago

yeah. a tad shocking... like, whats the angle here? guess we will see what shakes out.

[-] DocMcStuffin@lemmy.world 28 points 8 months ago

Gaetz is trying to raise his own profile and is only in this for himself. Basically the attention economy. Which he is getting plenty of by ousting the Speaker. Older politicians are facing more scrutiny and passing a term limits law would look good right now. He may be positioning himself to run for Florida governor in '26. Which means most of the stuff in Khanna's reforms wouldn't hurt him if he runs for state office.

I'm all for term limits and if by some weird chance Gaetz being his prick self gets it passed, then sure why not. However, I really doubt a bill like that would get passed by a republican controlled house.

[-] qprimed@lemmy.ml 7 points 8 months ago

appreciate the considered reply. 👍

[-] Rapidcreek@reddthat.com 16 points 8 months ago

Motion to Vacate is now what I'm calling my morning poo.

[-] TheJims@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Matt Gaetz is what I call my morning poo.

[-] Techmaster@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago

At least you aren't calling it Santorum.

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[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 14 points 8 months ago
[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 65 points 8 months ago

Right??

Noted MAGA Republican Matt Gaetz, who just ousted Conservative Speaker for daring to work with Democrats, is now demanding...

  • Ban money from lobbyists and political actions committees to congressional candidates

  • Ban members of Congress from trading stocks and from ever becoming lobbyists

  • Term limits for members of Congress

  • Term limits for Supreme Court justices

  • An ethics code for Supreme Court justices

What in the actual fuck?

[-] speff@disc.0x-ia.moe 15 points 8 months ago

Listed out like that, it’s not completely out of left field. The MAGA wing has been advocating for a few of those items on the list. It’s just bizarre that it’s being brought up as a bargaining chip /now/. You know - after obliterating the last R that worked with Dems. Like…what…?

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

he's running the populist playbook.

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[-] mwguy@infosec.pub 5 points 8 months ago

Populism over party has a few positives. These are the sort of things Trump advocated for in his campaign that got him so much support on the right and from people who traditionally we're "fed up" with politics in America.

[-] Rakonat@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

His biggest rivals in the house right now are senior GOP members, not Dems. So if he can use the Dems to force his rivals out of office... well it just looks good for him.

[-] ninekeysdown@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Even a broken clock is right twice a day or something like that… still feel really awkward when I find myself agreeing with him. He’s gotta a couple of other things right too. Don’t like the man at all but I can give credit where/when it’s due.

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[-] Rakonat@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

The irony here is Gaetz and several other junior GOP members have pissed off the GOP seniority. So they are going to shut him down at every turn while he is trying to build steam and reputation for a '26 governor run in Florida.

So with GOP leadership locking him out, he needs to do the cardinal GOP sin of working with Democrats and actually legislate and govern to get his name on anything, and if he somehow gets term limits passed then suddenly a lot of that GOP leadership trying to control him suddenly will be out of office after 2024 and then he can really pander to his GOP base.

[-] dingleberry@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 8 months ago
[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

But he rapes more than he saves

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 5 points 8 months ago

If he knows he's toast with the GOP & is defecting, we don't want him.

[-] Rakonat@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Hes not defecting hes just taking advantage of the chaos. If he can term limits put through then suddenly about half or more of thr GOP in the house are not eligible to run in 2024 and he suddenly gets to be in a position of seniority and will use that freedom to prep for a 2026 Florida Governor election

[-] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)
  • Good and necessary, doable. But it might get struck down since the courts seem to think money = the most important form of protected speech.

  • Good, necessary, and doable.

  • I don't personally think this is actually a good thing, but that's debatable. However, it requires a Constitutional amendment to do, not just legislation.

  • Requires a Constitutional amendment to do, not just legislation.

  • Good, necessary, but the Supreme Court is very likely to just ignore it, rule Congress doesn't have the power, etc

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[-] twistypencil@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Suddenly, I'm uncomfortable with liking something this guy wants. Sure let's have these incredibly populist reforms, but I sure as shit won't be giving Gaetz any credit for them if they happen.

[-] KonalaKoala@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

It sounds like they are more likely to support the motion-to-vacate Gaetz from Congress by expelling him at this point.

[-] fruitleatherpostcard@lemm.ee 7 points 8 months ago

Would he support raising the age of consent in Florida?

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

I'm not sure he knows that even exists

[-] Hello_there@kbin.social 7 points 8 months ago

Term limits would just add more power to lobbyists

[-] Vorticity@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Can you explain why? I have a vague idea of why you would say that but can you help me clarify why term limits would empower lobiests?

[-] Hello_there@kbin.social 5 points 8 months ago

What we have seen in state legislatures with short term limits is that new officials come in and they need some help figuring things out. Whereas before you'd have qp year veteran lawmakers to partner with or etc., now the only people that have been around long enough to actually know how to get things done are the under staff and the lobbyists.
As an example, the Senate has a bunch of arcane rules that you have to know how to manipulate to be able to exert leverage. Now, we have Schumer and Turtle, who knows how to use those levers. However, if we had term limits, I doubt they would be able to operate those levers as effectively. But the lobbyist who has been there and watched things for 20 years will still know.
Also, there's a reason this is coming from Gaetz, and it's because someone is bankrolling him to support this. We all know he has no principles.
Tldr: I'd rather keep the power in hands of an elected official than in the hands of unelected corporate lobbyists. We all know corporations practically run the country right now, why give more power?

[-] BaroqueInMind@kbin.social 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

If they know they are going to get fired, they will maximize the amount of money they can get paid by greasing as many hands as possible before they are kicked out.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 11 points 8 months ago

If they know they're going to be a Congress member for life... they're also going to maximize the amount of money they can get paid lol

[-] elliot_crane@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

This is a very good counterpoint imo. I know it’s a bit of a slippery slope argument, but thinking about this as an “in for a penny, in for a pound” kind of scenario really does empirically align with human nature. If you’re willing to sell out for something comparably small at the start, you’ll think less of it next time your donors ask for more, and it goes on and on with no end in sight.

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[-] Nougat@kbin.social 6 points 8 months ago

The plan would seek to enact term limits for Congress members and Supreme Court judges, ban congressional stock trading, create a judicial code of ethics for all federal judges and Supreme Court justices, and prohibit candidates running for federal office from accepting donations from lobbyists or political action committees.

You can only do that by constitutional amendment.

[-] FriendOfElphaba@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago

I’m not familiar with a constitutional ban on term limits, and the idea has been floated by people at fairly high levels. Where do you think the restriction is, and do you think any limits could apply to new justices even if the currents are grandfathered in?

[-] AssPennies@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Not the term limits, the donations. The supreme court already rule via Citizens United that money is free speech, which is how PACs and dark money became legal. So to undo that, either the court has to reverse it (yeah right), or there has to be a constitutional amendment (which even the SC can't overturn).

[-] roguetrick@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

which even the SC can’t overturn

Technically they can by using torturous logic, but then they'd swiftly be impeached.

[-] Nougat@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago

Article 3, Section 1:

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Unlike for President, Senators, and Representatives, no term is given for Federal Judges, which includes the Supreme Court Justices. They "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour." Once a Federal Judge, always a Federal Judge.

[-] clearedtoland@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I’m neither a lawyer nor scholar but that wouldn’t seem to preclude term limits or explicitly establish lifetime appointments.

[-] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Justices hold it during good behavior, not time limited per the Constitution.

As for members of Congress, a term limit would essentially be adding another qualification to those required by the Constitution.

The Constitutional requirements to be a Representative are:

  • at least 25 years of age; (Article I section 2)
  • a citizen of the United States for at least seven years prior to being elected; (Article I section 2)
  • a resident of the state he or she is chosen to represent; (Article I section 2)
  • not having taken part in insurrection or rebellion after taking an oath of federal or state office(14th Amendment)

Term limits would add on another restriction, disqualifying those who'd already served the term. Thus, unconstitutional.

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this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
151 points (93.6% liked)

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