GuShiio.com What really prevents politicians from continuing to flood the big money craze right now is the already shaky market.
Author: Zen, PANews
On February 27, California Democratic Representative Sam Liccardo launched his first legislation since taking office, called the Modern Pay and Malfeasance Enforcement Act (MEME Act), which aims to prohibit senior federal officials from issuing, sponsoring or promoting securities, commodities or digital assets, subject to criminal and civil penalties.
“Make corruption criminal again.” In the U.S. House of Representatives, the new congressman used the sentence “MAGA” to start.
Targeting Trump and $TRUMP, forcing them to “eat and vomit”
Under the draft of the Modern Pay and Malfeasance Enforcement Act, sponsored by Liccardo, which has more than a dozen Democratic co-sponsors, it would prohibit presidents, members of Congress and other senior officials, as well as their spouses and children, from issuing or sponsoring securities, commodities and cryptocurrencies such as meme coins. In addition to restricting future politicians from issuing coins to “cut leeks”, the bill also requires Trump to hand over all profits he makes from selling meme coins.
“I think when President Trump started implementing this plan to bid up stock prices and sell, everyone was confused.” Liccardo said such behavior was clearly unethical and wondered why there was no clear enough ban. He also added that Trump’s meme coins have raised concerns about transparency, insider trading and negative impacts overseas.
On January 18, Beijing time, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, he announced the launch of Trump’s namesake meme coin,$TRUMP. According to the official website of $TRUMP, two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization control 80% of the total number of tokens, with only 200 million tokens in initial circulation, and the remaining 800 million tokens will be gradually unlocked in the next three years. After Trump himself verified that “bringing the goods in person” was true,$TRUMP soared rapidly, and the fully circulated market value once exceeded US$70 billion, with a peak of US$80. According to CoinGecko data, as of February 28, the price of $TRUMP has fallen to US$11.32, a drop of more than 85%.
According to a survey by Chainalysis, an online data analysis firm, about 200,000 retail investors suffered heavy losses in the plunge. Retail investors and MAGA supporters attracted by Trump’s influence have become the ones who take over. According to Reuters,$TRUMP’s online trading platform Meteora allows creators to “minte meme coins and earn fees for life,” while the creators of $TRUMP have earned approximately 100 million US dollars by providing liquidity on the Meteora exchange.
Liccardo also compared Trump’s meme coin to similar behavior by other leaders, such as the Central African Republic’s Meme coin CAR, and Argentine President Javier Millay’s promotion of LIBRA-which has made him the focus of corruption investigations.
New bill that is impossible to pass
“I can assure you that this was not my plan when I ran for office.” Liccardo said the bill was introduced because Trump’s memecoin, which he launched before taking office last month, needed some kind of response, which was offensive even to cryptocurrency enthusiasts who supported Trump.
However, in the current Republican-controlled Congress, there is almost no chance of passage of the Modern Pay and Malfeasance Enforcement Act, which points the finger at Trump, and Liccardo also knows this. He also said the bill could serve as a “placeholder” that it could be reintroduced and pushed through if Democrats took power in the future, and was also a symbolic protest against apparent corruption.
“In the future, we have to at least make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” Liccardo said.
However, just as laws such as the Hatch Act already prohibit government officials from using their positions to influence political campaigns, its effectiveness actually depends entirely on the White House’s decisions, and the same may be true of Liccardo’s new bill.
A federal investigation shows that during Trump’s previous term, at least 13 former Trump administration officials violated the law by confusing campaigns with government business. However, the past 2020 election shows that, at least for the most senior officials in the government, if the White House chooses to ignore the requirements of the Hatch Act, the American public will have no protection from senior government officials using their official power to illegally gain partisan political interests.
In addition, Trump’s daughter and then senior adviser Ivanka Trump brought Goya coffee beans on Twitter in 2020, claiming that the company had been treated unfairly and said she had “every right” to publicly express her support. Government watchdogs have criticized her for not having authority to violate ethical rules that prohibit government officials from using official positions to support specific products or groups. The White House did not punish her for moral violations.
In contrast, Trump, as president, tweeted the next day to express his love for the Goya brand, and posted a photo on his Instagram account of him in the Oval Office with his desk filled with various Goya products. Even if the ethics of employees in the administrative branch clearly stipulate that they cannot use their public positions to promote private enterprises.
Right now, what really stops politicians from continuing to flood the big money craze is the already shaky market.
