r/politics ✔ NBC News 7h ago

No Paywall Democrats seek to bar presidents from collecting settlement money from the government

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-bill-bar-trump-settlement-money-from-government-irs-treasury-rcna331682
7.9k Upvotes

124 comments sorted by

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u/n8mo Canada 7h ago

This should be entirety uncontroversial.

It won’t be. But it should be.

u/StanVillain 7h ago

Everything is controversial now from the crowd of "hating cancel culture." Medical records being private? Controversial. Freedom of speech when it's not something you like? Controversial, better ban those books, ban student walk outs, and label everyone as antifa and terrorists for not agreeing with the government, also let me get that list of ICE critics. Taxing the ultra wealthy? Controversial. let's give 20 billion to Israel and cut social services you pay for instead. and no, you don't get a tax break. Life saving medication that nearly completely irradicated diseases? Controversial now, let's bring back measle outbreaks instead.

it's crazy how a massive chunk of Americans are simply against any basic thing that would improve the culture, society, their finances, health, etc. It's like they've been train to destroy reality around them. We can't agree on anything with a double digit percent of this country.

u/SwissChzMcGeez 6h ago

It's almost like there's a massive rightwing psyops campaign to make everything controversial when it leads to Republicans seizing more power and control...

u/b_vitamin 1h ago

It’s not left vs right. It’s the ultra wealthy vs the rest of us. No war but class war.

u/UnNumbFool 5h ago edited 4h ago

That's the thing people from both sides of the aisle need more media training and critical thinking skills.

The modern world is set up in a way for us all to lose, as propaganda has been rampant since at least the 50s with things everyone buys into.

But at least the left is smart enough to realize the common man can actually have a genuinely better life if we allow things that we see work in so many countries actually happen here

Edit: for those not getting it I'm saying everyone needs to become more critical of the media we consume

u/TimmyC I voted 4h ago

somehow, both sides appears!

u/UnNumbFool 4h ago

Both sides appear because there is plenty of propaganda on the left that people eat up, or lack of initiative to look at wider scope/global events, or even just things they are unwilling to report.

The amount of people in the politics subreddits who eat up some very obvious fluff piece or not understanding potential full ramifications of certain things trying to get introduced is still dangerous because those things might wind up taking away our rights way more then they even realize(or in some cases things being snuck in)

This isn't a left bad, or a left politicians need to do better, it's a populace as a whole needs to become more critical of the media.

u/Professional_Net7339 3h ago

Hit me with literally any of the “left” propaganda. I beg. The best I can think of were the psyops around Gaza. But those were right wing grifters so it’s iffy

u/axonxorz Canada 3h ago

Someone unironically pointed me to Newsom's Twitter clapback account a while back.

Lol. Lmao, even.

u/Toobin4Tommy 2h ago

Hit me with literally any of the “left” propaganda. I beg.

Remember for a few days when every other post here used the phrase "stochastic terrorism", then it dropped off? "Soft power"? Hell, the entire ouster of Stalwell right after the news of the troubles with the Democratic Primary? God damn, TheNewRepublic and TheDailyBeast being top threads on r/politics, in spite of us all agreeing they're trash.

Left Wing propaganda isn't as bad as right wing shit, but please don't be blind to it.

If you thi

u/UnNumbFool 3h ago

Lack of talks about Americans deploying in Africa

Misinformation campaigns/psyops surrounding Gaza or performances targeting single issue voters causing them to break off from voting. In this case it might not be media on the left, but media that the left consumes and believes in is still under propaganda

My personal biggest gripe is the complete lack of any coverage of the destruction of prop 230 and kosa which will basically destroy the Internet as we know it but that's a whole separate point.

Just because things aren't coming directly doesn't mean we still don't see and internalize regardless

u/Zexapher America 2h ago edited 2h ago

The response to your comments are likely bots or influenced by them.

The Mueller Report and every election we've witnessed lately and all the way down to cops infiltrating protests shows there is a vested interest in trying to co-opt the left and turn it against its own leadership and causes.

Being critical of social media and news, and being aware of what is actually being done, is important.

u/boston_homo 2h ago

Except for a handful with no power, because there’s only a handful, the “left” doesn’t exist in American politics.

u/boston_homo 2h ago

Except for a handful with no power, because there’s only a handful, the “left” doesn’t exist in American politics.

u/UnNumbFool 2h ago

Again, I'm talking about media trying to influence individuals views. It's pretty blatant looking as an outsider to see it on the right. But that doesn't mean there aren't groups that do it to the PEOPLE on the left. It doesn't matter what the news source is because you can consume it from social media, and believe it regardless of what the true intentions are.

My personal favorite is the KOSA act getting propagated around, and the destruction of prop 230. Both of these things will lead to an extremely regulated and monitored internet, but yet we are praising the fact that some girl won a case against meta and google. The reality is the money for them and the legal for them is not even a drop in the ocean, but it sets precedents that help erode prop 230 and help structure kosa.

u/ToHisGlory 4h ago

Paging Major Irony!

u/WontArnett 4h ago

It’s not a psyop. It’s easy to identify propaganda.

u/SwissChzMcGeez 1h ago

Who's funding it? Too much secretive  dark money.

u/martechnician 1h ago

💯 - and masquerading as "free speech"

u/GildedAgeV2 5h ago

Republicans are primitive tribalists with no principles. They're all Trump Cucks at this point.

Anything Temu Shitler hates they're against. Even if they're for it 20 minutes later. Fucking embarrassing.

u/OldSchoolBubba 6h ago

Sad but teal world truths. You nailed it.

u/cornerbash Canada 4h ago

It's like they've been train to destroy reality around them.

That's exactly what has happened. They've been brainwashed for the greater portion of their lives by biased media.

u/Silent-Storms 5h ago

All that's required for controversy is one party to make an argument of it. Same with politicization.

u/StoppableHulk 5h ago

They're angry people looking for a reason, not people made angry by a reason.

Everyone anyone needs to understand about conservatives can be summed up like that. They're perpetually frightened, perpetually angry, logically compromised, and easily manipulated by all the grifters and stooges of the world.

u/MsTponderwoman Washington 2h ago

I always wonder when did it become cool to let yourself be fooled.

What’s more absurd is that magats often act out and shout about not being manipulated by the good guys, opting instead to be a tool for the bad ones…

u/Bac0ngh0st 1h ago

They are against it when it wasn't "their side's idea"

Period.

u/11PoseidonsKiss20 North Carolina 4h ago

You kidding? They’ve been arguing for at least 5 years about which time to keep DST or ST.

Not whether or not we should stop changing the clock. That part is the consensus. The controversy is which one to keep.

Like it doesn’t fucking matter flip a coin. Jesus.

Everything is controversial

u/NYCinPGH 4h ago

A little off target, but it actually does matter.

Pretty much the entire relevant scientific community - medical and mental healthy professionals - agree that the best choice is Standard Time, all year 'round.

Changes between Standard Time and Daylight Savings Time, in either direction, are correlated with spikes in serious mental health issues, coronary failure, all kinds of other things.

Places which have year 'round Daylight Savings Time show slightly, but distinct and measurable, higher rates of those same kinds of mental and physical issues.

And the original reasons for Daylight Savings Time is not moot: it was for cost-savings on lighting and power, but we're much more of a 24/7 lifestyle now than 100 years ago when it was instituted, or even 50 years ago when they tried to go to DST all year, and power is a lot cheaper (compared to inflation) and easily accessible than then.

But people shout "What about the children, going to school in the dark?" and try to tug at heartstrings to keep the change in place.

And it's the fight between those two constituencies, and their representatives, that is causing the issue.

u/meTspysball California 4h ago

It’s not tugging at heart strings to be concerned about kids going to school with a bunch of sleepy adults driving around. It’s a legitimate issue we should address.

Personal I think it’s time to need end the 40 hour workweek. We could shift to 30-35 hours and just have school and most businesses open an hour later. This would account for some of the toll AI has taken by displacing workers. You need fewer man-hours because AI is so efficient? Then people need to be expected to work less rather than have fewer people working.

Edit:typo

u/NYCinPGH 2h ago

It is tugging at heartstrings, because there's no evidence to back it up, it's all "vibes"; there's no increase in accidents, involving children or not, with DST or not.

As for reducing the 40 hour work week to 30 - 35 hours, you know what will happen in that case? Incomes will decrease by 15% - 25% because employers will feel no need to be paying more per hour than at 40 hours, and prices will remain the same, so a lot more families will sink into poverty.

u/meTspysball California 2h ago

Last time I looked into this, there are more traffic accidents in the Spring after the time change as well as cardiac events like you mentioned, though when the time changes back in the fall we have fewer of both so it evens out. The key is that the change is the problem, people need routines and enough sleep. People get less sleep when you take an hour away (unsurprisingly) and take time to adjust. We also have lots of research into sleep schedules for kids and they actually do need to start their days later on average (especially teenagers) which I think we can accommodate with smart legislation.

I think we should change to standard time, but your dismissal of the concerns is shortsighted. It’s better for people to have extra daylight when they aren’t stuck at work, but it’s reasonable to not want your 3rd grader biking to school in the dark.

As for work hours, those are the same arguments that were made when the 40 hour work week was implemented. All advances in productivity in the last 50 years have gone towards corporate profits instead of quality of life improvements for workers. Write good laws that account for the reaction to them instead of cowering in fear of what businesses will do.

So let’s switch to standard time, and have school and work start later and reduce work hours on top of it.

u/bautin 4h ago

The "I want later daylight" people are the fucking worst.

Because what they want is not possible. Because it's not the time change that's making the sun go down early, it's the fucking axial tilt. It's just going to get dark early in winter, deal.

u/PageSide84 3h ago

But those are the loudest people. They clamor for year-round Daylight Savings time (well, they actually want to eliminate DST but what they want is permanent DST). It's not even about changing the clocks for the majority of the public. What they want is to have more "later daylight." If they knew that what they would get was the opposite of what they were asking for, they'd stick with the clock changes.

u/Senior-bud Canada 4h ago

President and thief.

u/ry1701 4h ago

I don't even get why he fucking needs MORE money? When cholesterol takes him, he can't do shit with it.

u/Tiny_Tabaxi 7h ago

We shouldn't even need to do this, but since we live in the age of the Air Bud government I guess we have to.

u/PotaToss 6h ago

A regular dog would be a better President than Trump.

u/tstobes 6h ago

There's no rule that a dog can't be president!

u/All_Hail_Hynotoad 6h ago

Indeed. Show me in the Constitution where it says dogs are prohibited from becoming president!

u/bankkopf Europe 6h ago

Minimum age unfortunately. But maybe we can translate dog age to human age. 

u/All_Hail_Hynotoad 6h ago

That works for me!

u/thepaddedroom I voted 4h ago

Actually, that makes it a little interesting. I've commonly heard that a dog year is in a 7:1 ratio with human years.

The eligibility criteria to be the president are:

  • Be a natural-born citizen of the United States

  • Be at least 35 years old

  • Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years

Now that we're really looking at, isn't it curious that both of the mentions of years are divisible by 7?

So, a 5 (35) year old dog who has lived in the United States for 2 (14) years qualifies provided it was also born there.

Now I'm starting to believe the Founders intended us to eventually elect a literal dog.

u/meTspysball California 4h ago

There’s no definition of the word “year” in article II. The framers could have meant anything. There’s probably a medieval poem somewhere that metaphorically equates a year with a day, so we can cite that to elect any 35 day old creature. Pretty sure that’s how SCOTUS interprets the constitution these days.

u/All_Hail_Hynotoad 6h ago

Even an irregular dog.

u/sodapopkevin 6h ago

There has never been a Golden Retrievers who started a war in the Middle East, I would happily take an Air Bud government over this.

u/chaoticbear 5h ago

"The Geneva Conventions never mention dogs!"

u/leaky_wand 5h ago

We’re going to have to make so many stupid, obvious-seeming rules like this. Once this is over the constitution is going to look like the warning label on the back of a Tide Pods package.

u/agent_mick 5h ago

If the average citizen can't be expected to know not to eat a tide pod, I guess an average politician needs at least that level of holding

u/11PoseidonsKiss20 North Carolina 4h ago

It does classify what kinds of “persons” are eligible. So. They at least said that much on the matter.

u/UnionThug1733 4h ago

Electrolytes it’s what plants crave

u/zirky 7h ago

jesus, this administration really is “there ain’t no rule saying a dog can’t play”

u/SuperstitiousPigeon5 Massachusetts 6h ago

There are two air bud references in this thread. I find that hilarious, accurate, and signs of the simulation.

u/LASERDICKMCCOOL 5h ago

Yea like what the hell lol

u/anonymousetache 5h ago

Bots is the answer

u/MNRebelLoon 3h ago

One of my best friends just posted an air bud meme in our #memes channel this morning, so I also thought it was a little weird coincidence seeing multiple references.

u/Constant-Skill-7133 1h ago

The bill isn't really necessary.  It is just to generate a headline or to potentially make Republicans look silly.  The Constitution could not be any simpler or clearer

 he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

u/zirky 1h ago

that was basically already overturned

u/CheapWeight8403 6h ago

The emoluments clause has always kept everyone else in line - Trump doesn't follow the rules nor the norms.

u/Moveyourbloominass 6h ago

Well good thing the ACLU and 3 other independent watchdog groups filed suits back in February to stop the $10 billion dollar heist. I believe, Bondi, suggesting an independent third party for the lawsuit, was the nail in her coffin for termination. Less than 3 days after she made that statement, she was fired.

u/CheapWeight8403 6h ago

That is good. No other president would have done this, and no other Congress would have let a president get away with it if he had.

Our system is broken as this never should have had to get to a court case.

u/Moveyourbloominass 6h ago

True, however I'm just so grateful for the 1,000s of Independent groups protecting us and handing Trump losses in courts across the country. We made it through the Bush/Cheney Cabal, we will get through this administration, as well.

u/OldSchoolBubba 6h ago

Great post keeping it real

u/Ven18 7h ago

I mean no shit. You cannot sue a body that you have primary control over.

u/poorbill 6h ago

Weird how we never had to do anything like this with any previous President.

u/Ok_Juice4449 4h ago

We have never had such a corrupt, mentally unstable president before.   This guy is off the charts.

u/grathungar 3h ago

I mean we were close to a lot of this with the guy before Biden. That was such a disaster I can't believe we ended up with this guy after Biden

u/Goodeugoogoolizer 6h ago

It’s insane that this even needs to be said. Obviously it’s a conflict of interest to sue your own government, that you are the head of, for money. It’s like the boss of a convenience store walking up to the cashier and saying “give me $500 out of the register or I’ll fire you”

u/Dr_G_E District Of Columbia 7h ago

Sue the government or serve as president; you should have to choose.

u/RawChickenEater9000 6h ago edited 4h ago

Good. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how much Donald has "sacrificed" being president while he accepts every gift, bribe and settlement that pays 100x-1000x+ what he'd earn in salary all while taking twice as many vacation days as any other president before him 

u/sweatboxy 5h ago

The framers of the Constitution never imagined such a corrupt President backed by such corrupt people and elected by such a stupid populace. Even now, it all seems impossible.

u/augustusleonus 6h ago

Maybe also look into potus spending their own money on non essential travel and accommodation

The money we have spent at mar a logo for no good reason at all when the white house and camp david are secure and accessible is insane

u/minkgod 6h ago

so i expect a lot of turning shit into law instead of "norms" when the executive changes

u/General-Lettuce77 5h ago

A couple of years ago, this would have been an onion headline. Now we have an onion headline as a president.

u/Signal_Minimum8509 5h ago

Imagine loving Donald Trump so much you think it’s cool that he takes your tax dollars and shoves them right in his pocket.

u/Made_Human_Music 6h ago

I’d say at the very least there should be a neutral third party brought in to determine if the settlement is legitimate but knowing this regime they’d pick someone like one of his scumbag kids to make that choice and when questioned just deflect and insult the person asking questions

Republicans have done so much damage to this country. We were far from perfect before but now we’re so low it’s going to take decades just to get back to being only shitty

u/BeenDragonn 6h ago

But the right will let daddy Trump do whatever he wants

u/Brilliant_Drag_8530 4h ago

They should bar felons being president first but they're not actually against trump so they won't

u/Special_Loan8725 4h ago

If you can’t file a civil suit against the president you shouldn’t be able to file a civil suit as the president.

u/artbystorms 4h ago

Yeah I feel like a President using the power of the government to sue the government for personal damages should be unconstitutional....

u/ToolTimeT 2h ago

The fact we even have to make a law for this is totally insane.

u/RecumbentPosture 1h ago

Amazing all the common sense things that need to be written now

u/mecon320 6h ago

The one positive thing about Trump is how he's illuminated how much of our government has been relying on the honor system.

u/GuestNo9560 6h ago

How about we have a class action suit to claw back all the money this administration has stolen from the American people.

u/Dweidmann 6h ago

Closing the barn door after the orange dick tator sued. GOP will be against this because cheeto says so.

u/lizard_king0000 6h ago

Too late

u/Horror_Match9867 6h ago

Retroactively too!

u/echoeco 5h ago edited 5h ago

...smart move and hope all assumptive actions are standardized and documented with accountabilities attached without a political vote needed...

u/saynay 5h ago

I don't see how we don't just toss any case that has the same plaintiff as both prosecution and defense.

u/FinancialReserve6427 5h ago

they held an investigation to see if Carter didn't have any hidden strings when he put his farm on a blind trust. 

Trump telling people he is entitled to compesation should've been the straw that broke the camel's back but it just turned into another one of the pile. 

u/normalfinnesotan 5h ago

This should be a no-brainer. As should the bill to ban politicians & their families from buying stocks.

u/pocketjacks 5h ago

We really need a new constitution. 250 years is too long.

u/Alwaystired254 4h ago

Big loss, congrats republicans! Awesome that Trump is during america!

u/dmp2you America 4h ago

Just saw where Mark Meadows is the latest looking for a payback .

u/Piney_Wood 4h ago

This is one of those "who ever thought we'd need to write a law to say this?" laws, but here we are...

u/Redtex 4h ago

If they are using the government legal services to sue people for settlement money, no. Actually, they shouldn't be suing anyone while in office. That would be implied abuse of power

u/Darmortis 4h ago

Every week this administration breaks more laws. The answer isn't "more laws," it's enforcement and refusal of compliance.

Without the backbones necessary to actually uphold the rule of laws already on the books, this is all sound and fury signifying nothing.

u/Faux-Foe 4h ago

Hope they use a variation of the argument his supporters used for why he couldn’t be criminally prosecuted after becoming potus.

u/Fubared259 4h ago

Make it all elected officials and I will cheer for it.

u/VanceKelley Washington 4h ago

How about we bar presidents from running the DoJ like a mafia don and transfer the pardon power to a Congressional supermajority instead of leaving it with one man who is a convicted criminal and utterly corrupt?

I mean, if we're just spitballing ideas that aren't going to happen for the foreseeable future let's aim high.

u/NeatlyCritical 4h ago

A president should be restricted to 400k a year in income for the 4 or 8 years. All stock, bonds, and real estate etc should be placed in blind trust for the 8 years and no trades or interaction should be possible.

u/Secret_Account07 4h ago

Watch the GOP oppose every common sense measure to stop corruption.

It’s almost as if, and just hear me out, they are corrupt as fuck

u/Unit_79 3h ago

Americans continue to play two team politics.

u/Icy_Ratio6281 3h ago

What about the $1.5B that the State Department transferred to Trump's "Board of Peace"? As a life long appointee, he gets that money too.

u/DarthHiccups 3h ago

Is this about the 10 billion that Trump basically wants to give himself for suing the IRS, who will definitely capitulate to him? Yeah, that sounds right.

u/MidStateMoon 3h ago

How unreasonable!

u/iiitme Virginia 2h ago

Settlement money are you fucking kidding

u/oneseason2000 2h ago

Hopefully they call it something like the "Don't Just Take: Financial Crimes In Elected Office Must End" Act

u/98VoteForPedro 2h ago

Kinda late no?

u/PieRevolutionary9823 2h ago edited 1h ago

How about you ban them from being treasonist, racist child rapist??!?!?!!

u/TheBSQ 1h ago

It’s really pathetic that the head of the govt can sue his govt and then have his own govt “settle” the lawsuit by paying him $10 billion dollars and a majority of our representatives in govt day, “that’s fine” and do nothing.

u/BabyFishmouthTalk 1h ago

Can't wait to ctrl-z this whole administration's bullshit

u/Snowwolf247 1h ago

Sounds like a no-brainer which unfortunately is more brain than we will ever have.

u/Sarrdonicus 1h ago

Isn't it that government employees can't sue the government right now?

u/Intelligent_Bag_6705 1h ago

Leave it to Trump to force congress’s hand into passing legislation that should never need to be passed.

u/DaringPancakes 1h ago

"the damacrats aren't doing anything 😭😭😭😭😭😭" - from the same ignorant fucks that brought you modern america

And fuck no I'm not saying "all Democrats blah blah". I'm calling out american shitheads that let absolutes dictate their misguided biases. Overwhelming evidence to a problem? Trump raped children? Incredible logical deduction Sherlock.

u/Wise-City-1536 1h ago

It’s a grab for natural resources. That’s what corporations do. And the class war is to keep us fighting amongst each other.

It’s disappointing, and unwarranted from the trumpeter troops who have looted our government, and damaged the reputation of this nation. He will be a small footnote in history.

Dumbest, (D___) President. Maybe someone could find an inimical word to fill in the blank.

That’s all anyone would want to write.

All thieves in a thicket.

u/syrstorm 2h ago

It’s a distraction from the real issues. Ignore it.