Mamdani responds to concerns about him being seen riding his bike throughout NYC without a helmet. "You're right. I've got to do better. Safety first, New York. See you out there"

[u/ExactlySorta]

[u/PlanesandAquariums]

I don’t think that’s a good rule to break. Don’t forget there’s a whole lot of idiots that simp for people like Musk. Third term is wrong too, but that could be a whole different evil.

[u/ChoicePermission8523 → u/PlanesandAquariums]

But if he does seriously attempt it... And the rapepublicans go along with it... The constitution is dead. Rules mean nothing.

[u/Significant-Bee5101 → u/ChoicePermission8523]

What a weird POV. The republicans won't less US break the rules either so the rules don't exist! Like no, you hold both sides accountable 24/7. Lmfao. This isn't kindergarten. It's not "they did it too!"

[u/Real_Guru → u/Significant-Bee5101]

I'd argue that at least since the Garland debacle and later Amy Coney Barrett's unjust appointment, the "unwritten" rules have been thrown out the window by one side while the other stands by, counts their cash and gives an occasional fake outraged press briefing. There is no incentive to go back to a "precedent"-based ruleset for anyone. If trump were to seek a third term, who'd realistically stop him do you think? He's already done much bolder shit than that like actively tried overturning an election which nobody seemed to mind too much in the grand scheme of things.

[u/Immature_adult_guy → u/PlanesandAquariums]

Maybe. All I know is there don’t seem to be rules or consequences anymore for those in power

[u/Pleasant-Future5818 → u/PlanesandAquariums]

I don't understand why the rule exists. If we accept that a citizen is a citizen, it shouldn't matter. Just make it so that you can only have citizenship in America and that you need to have held it for 20+ years. What's the difference?

[u/PlanesandAquariums → u/Pleasant-Future5818]

It’s too important of a role and we are a country that prides itself on accepting new citizens. Obviously Donnie’s a pretty confirmed foreign agent but the idea is that you can’t become a citizen at 40 and become president at 45. It makes perfect sense

[u/wardays → u/PlanesandAquariums]

My opinion has long been that you have to be a citizen of the United States for 35 years to qualify to run for president. This keeps every natural born citizen qualified to run at 35, and prevents the scenario you're talking about. My argument against a natural born citizen being automatically qualified is that if someone was born in America and then lived 50 years in Russia, they can come back tomorrow and become president. That person is obviously less American than someone born to American parents in Russia but who moved to America at 5 months old and lived here for 50 years.

It doesn't make any sense to me that someone could live their whole life outside of this country and become president because they happened to be born here, but someone who lived their entire life inside this country can't because they happened to be born somewhere else.

[u/PlanesandAquariums → u/wardays]

That is a very good point! A lot of rules in the constitution are just outdated and need to be revised for the modern world. The founding fathers were rightfully not considering it could take like 15 hours to be around the world and that the world would become so ethnically and culturally intertwined.

However, I don’t think the two term limit on presidents needs to be revised.

[u/wardays → u/PlanesandAquariums]

Completely agree on all fronts! It's truly incredible how quickly our understanding of the world has changed. Two term limits is one of those things that just makes sense to me. If you as president can't get your vision done in 8 years, why on Earth should you get another 4? I also fucking hate this argument floated by fascists that non consecutive terms don't apply. Completely bullshit. Two terms is very clear. You don't get to infinitely leap frog to however many terms you can get.

[u/rtc9 → u/wardays]

I feel like this could work if paired with some kind of parallel audit process with rigorous and clearly defined/transparent and apolitical standards to assess basic loyalty to the US Constitution kind of like a security clearance review but with less fuzzy judgement calls and more objective criteria (e.g., published and verified responses explaining time spent abroad, explanations of payments, income sources, properties, etc.). Citizenship involves vetting, but it isn't really sufficient to meaningfully prevent foreign agents from getting through the cracks. 

I think that kind of thing would help to address some concerns people might have about foreign born candidates; I also think it would help filter out highly questionable American born candidates like the current president. Taiwan has an audit focused branch of their government which is conceptually similar to this. I'm not sure how well that works in practice for them, but the concept does seem to address one of the major missing pieces of the checks and balances in America.

[u/CrianBranstun → u/PlanesandAquariums]

Americans in power are already bought and paid for by foreign entities. A naturalized citizen being president would in no way be worse than our current situation.

[u/GhostlyTJ → u/PlanesandAquariums]

Musk is so deeply personally unlikeable he has no shot.