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The Hartmann Report

Daily Take: Term Limits Won’t Drain the Swamp: They’ll Flood It

The Hartmann Report

Thom Hartmann

The Hartmann Report, Climate Change, Democracy, News, America, Debate, Congress, Economics, Thom Hartmann

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How stripping lawmakers of experience hands power straight to lobbyists and billionaires…

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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Thousands of customers report less joint pain, stronger nails, younger looking skin, better sleep, and even improved bone density scans. Try a risk-free with a 365-day money-back guarantee. Head over to getnativepath.com slash Hartman. That's G-E-N-A-T-I-V-E-P-A-T-I-E-P-H-T-H-T-H-M-A-T-H-M-T-H-M-T-H-M-T-T-T-E-T-T-E-T-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-R-E-E-T-E-R- from the studio and turned on the TV to see an MS Now host and her guest agree on how important it is that Democrats unite around the issue of term limits for members of Congress.

1:17.8

Last week, the Democratic governor of a swing state said on my program that he was pushing

1:22.4

for term limits. In just the past 48 hours, I've heard three different commentators on MS Now and CNN speak of them as if term limits are the solution to elderly legislators or to the naked corruption that's so rampant in D.C.

1:37.6

This is the wrong discussion for Democrats to have now.

1:41.5

Term limits actually do more damage than good, which is why Republicans

1:45.6

and the Heritage Foundation have been pushing them for decades. For example, they'd get rid of good,

1:51.7

effective, high-quality legislators like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Maxine Waters,

1:56.9

Barbara Lee and Pramilla Giappol, among others. But the problem with term limits goes far deeper than that.

2:02.7

Unfortunately, term limits are popular because they seem like an easy fix to the corruption

2:07.1

crisis in American politics.

2:09.4

Over 70% of Americans favor them.

2:11.8

But in reality, they simply hand more power over to giant corporations in the morbidly rich.

2:17.1

Here's how. First, term limits shift the

2:19.9

balance of power in a legislature from the legislators themselves to lobbyists, which is why

2:25.5

corporate-friendly Republicans so often speak fondly of them. Historically, when a new lawmaker

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