You might think it would be a no-brainer to ban senior politicians and their spouses from trading or owning stocks. Anyone with a brain can see there’s a major conflict of interest here, as they can influence policy that’ll benefit specific companies and laugh all the way to the bank. It’s just common sense, so we’re glad to see that there’s a bill currently going through the Senate that aims to ban it for good. This bill, initially known as the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act (acronym PELOSI in a dig at Nancy Pelosi), has since transformed into the Honest Act, and now includes a provision to ban the president and vice president from owning stock. The bill went before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee yesterday, which voted 8-7 to approve it. All the Democrats on the committee voted to advance, meaning the deciding vote was Republican Josh Hawley, who voted with them. Needless to say, Donald Trump isn’t happy. The White House has been fiercely lobbying against a ban for the president and vice president to be able to trade stocks, even though Trump has indicated he agrees that members of Congress should be banned. But anyway, here’s his usual blathering word salad: In a disquieting twist, under the current terms of the act, both Trump and Vance would not be affected by this, as it would only apply to people starting new terms in office. It’s reaching a bit to take this as a sign that Trump might be considering a third term in 2028 (if that would even be considered a new term of office under this law), but who knows at this point? This is what actually draining the swamp looks like You don’t need me to tell you that many members of Congress are firmly aboard the financial gravy train the office provides. Simply by having advance knowledge of what bills will and won’t be passed gives them an enormous advantage when it comes to stock trading, as they can invest and divest in companies they know will soon have financial advantages over their competition due to legislation. And, as for the president? Well, a simple pronouncement from Trump on social media has the potential to wreck a company’s bottom line. If he really has it out for you, as Elon Musk and Tesla may soon realize, he can simply cut off government subsidies with a stroke of his pen, tanking their stock price overnight. We can only hope this Honest Act passes but, pessimistically, the chances of politicians voting to limit their financial prospects seem unlikely. Maybe some form of it will become law, but we’d be surprised if it wasn’t substantially watered down by then.