The ultimate tweet …

Republicans in Congress don’t like him. Democrats in Congress despise him. Bureaucrats and lobbyists detest him. Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hates him.

So what is Trump to do?

It’s really quite simple. Bypass them all and go directly to the American public with his weapon of choice: Twitter. With one simple tweet he can rock them all back on their heels. 

That tweet?  Ask for legislation to enact term limits on Congress. I suggest two terms each for Representatives and for Senators.

I’ll even write the tweet for him: “Today I’m asking Congressional leaders to start the process to enact term limits -- two terms in the House; two terms in the Senate, max.” 

That’s under 140 characters. But it would be like a nuke.

All the lifers in Congress would go berserk. All the lobbyists who own them would shake down to their Gucci loafers. The media would go ballistic.

The only people who would love to hear this?  The American public.  Poll after poll shows an overwhelming majority of American voters – up to 75% according to Gallup – would vote in favor of term limits for Congress.  It’s one of the few things on which registered Republicans and Democrats, and independents, can wholeheartedly agree, and they do in a big way.  

Of course, an overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats in Congress are opposed to this. Which is why, despite what most American voters clearly want, they always fight any consideration of term limits on themselves. 

And which is why it takes a Donald J. Trump to seriously propose it.

He doesn’t owe them anything. He was elected without their support. In truth, he was elected despite their complete opposition, not just from Democrats, but from the Republican Party itself.  Even now he’s only nominally a Republican.

I would love to see the press conference following his term-limits tweet. And there should be a press conference by Trump about it.  He could point out that voters elected him to shake things up in Washington. Nothing could shake up Washington more than term limits.

He should add that grandfathering in existing members of Congress – which would certainly come up – should be off the table.  Those in office now who have exceeded the suggested term limits would be allowed to finish out their term, but they couldn’t run again.  No exceptions.

Americans realize that nothing will change in Washington as long as those in Congress wielding power on both sides of the aisle remain the same for decades. I think the voting public will applaud this move to change the way Congress now works – because frankly it doesn’t. 

With dinosaurs such as Schumer, McConnell, Pelosi, McCain, Maxine Waters, Elijah Cummings, Dick Durbin and Steny Hoyer at the helm, nothing gets accomplished. Trust me, regular Republicans want the Democrats in that group kicked out; regular Democrats want the Republicans in that group to hit the bricks as well. Independents probably want all of them gone. 

It's time the clown car Congress has devolved to empties out. And, unfortunately, given the power of incumbency to out-raise and out-spend potential challengers, and outright bribe constituents with pork projects and government handouts, it won’t happen without term limits.   

The talking heads and political pundits will note that it would take an amendment to the Constitution to put term limits on Representatives and Senators.  

That’s precisely when Trump should double down.

Since everyone knows the current Congress will never, ever vote for term limits, he should announce that he will only back candidates in any coming elections, regardless of party, who promise to enact term limits if elected.  Also, as a backup plan, he should announce that he plans to start working with state legislatures across the country to get the two-thirds required to force a Constitutional Convention to consider Congressional term limits among other things.

He should say that nothing is more important to our democracy than allowing the people to have the final say about the direction the country should take. Reversing the wholesale corruption of our political system by lobbyists and special interests can only be done by slowly but surely making Congress more reflective of the needs of the people, rather than the needs of the well-financed few. 

In short, he needs to attack the status quo, something he did so successfully when he ran for office. He needs to attack – dead on – the lethargy and inertia in Congress that keep anything substantial from getting accomplished. Far from attacking our democratic principles – which he will be accused of doing by asking for term limits – he can make the case that he’s trying to reinforce our democratic principles by wiping out a political class increasingly isolated from ordinary voters.      

Would it set back his legislative agenda with Republicans now in Congress? In case you haven’t noticed, his legislative agenda has been stalled by Republicans too worried about their next election to get anything done, and those who want things to stay just the way they are. 

That’s why he really has nothing to lose. And everything to gain.  If he gets the public on his side again, this time about term limits, Republicans in Congress will have a clear choice: Listen to what the broader public wants; or make his case they are only interested in retaining power, public be damned.

Choosing the latter is not a good position to defend.

So I hope he does it. One tweet can change everything.    

As Randy Newman sang: “They all hate us anyway, so let’s drop the big one.”