# A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 3)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Tags:** trump\
**Created:** [January 20, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175 "2025-01-20T19:23:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 26

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/501 "2025-03-13T14:45:52Z")

</div>

> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> > Attorney: “idk, this is what the military told me.”

Maybe it’s just me, but this line in particular feels like a guy who is deliberately doing a shitty job because his boss _told_ him he has to do the job, but he knows the job is a bad idea. “I’ll argue the case, but in a way guaranteed to lose and create the exact opposite precedent from what you assholes want.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/502 "2025-03-13T15:51:17Z")

</div>

> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> “Hold on. I didn’t put words in your mouth. YOU put this in the record! …Never cite a document you have not fully read.”

This is probably my favourite.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/503 "2025-03-13T15:52:52Z")

</div>

> [@Horatius](#):
>
> Maybe it’s just me, but this line in particular feels like a guy who is deliberately doing a shitty job

With Trumpist lawyers, who can tell the difference?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/504 "2025-03-13T18:40:17Z")

</div>

In yet another case, Federal Judge William Alsup reinstated roughly 24,000 federal workers who were fired by the OPM at Trump’s discretion. So, another court loss for team OrangeAssholes. But what was much more fun was some of the things Alsup said in the oral ruling:

He called the firings a “sham” and said the administration attempted to circumvent federal laws on reducing the workforce by attributing the firings to “performance” when that was not in fact the case. The judge called the move “a gimmick.”

He added: "“It is sad, a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,”

He also had some not so nice words for the government’s attempts to foil his fact finding, saying:

"You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross examination would reveal the truth,” the judge said to a DOJ attorney during a hearing Thursday. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth. … I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth.”

A small glimmer of hope in a rough, rough patch.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/505 "2025-03-13T18:46:55Z")

</div>

Didn’t know where else to put this, so putting it here as it seems like the closest Trump topic it may meet discussion requirements of…

But huge protest at Trump Tower today in which over 100 people were arrested, all of them protesting the arrest of that first protester who was arrested… for… protesting.  
I feel like this is one of those loopdeloops.

> **[Protesters arrested after storming Trump Tower to demand release of Mahmoud...](https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/13/us/mahmoud-khalil-protesters-arrested-trump-tower/index.html)**
>
> Hundreds of protesters flooded the lobby of Trump Tower Thursday to denounce the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist detained by ICE over his involvement with pro-Palestinan demonstrations at Columbia University.

In this topic because, well, it had to have irritated the higher ups enough for them to call in the authorities, eh?

This does seem to set up more interesting calls into questions of protesting being legal or not under DT. I mean, I know we have the right to under the Constitution, but he’s already made it clear that document means nothing to him.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/506 "2025-03-14T02:09:53Z")

</div>

And they didn’t even say “thank you” once!

> **[​Vance loudly booed for 30 seconds straight by Kennedy Center crowd](https://www.rawstory.com/kennedy-center-2671325629/)**
>
> Vice President JD Vance recently got an icy reception at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after attendees spotted him sitting down in a VIP box with Second Lady Usha Vance.Guardian reporter Andrew Roth tweeted a video of the second couple...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/507 "2025-03-14T03:17:47Z")

</div>

This lawsuit is a thing of (legalistic) beauty:

> **[Perkins Coie Drags Trump Administration Clear To Hell In New Lawsuit - Above...](https://abovethelaw.com/2025/03/perkins-coie-drags-trump-administration-clear-to-hell-in-new-lawsuit/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--M0gW5kKzky2VuE9tfzd5tJ6tKAN_hmT1d_uA4dZyDulHnJpbHImK5lKT1Exhzbg9uTkKUc1jK7XhK2tjRBWb6TRmohg&_hsmi=351764898&utm_content=351764898&utm_source=hs_email)**
>
> They're cooking.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/508 "2025-03-14T11:55:02Z")

</div>

> [@Hamlet](#):
>
> He called the firings a “sham” and said the administration attempted to circumvent federal laws on reducing the workforce by attributing the firings to “performance” when that was not in fact the case. The judge called the move “a gimmick.”

I read this quickly, and assumed “performance” here meant “a performative act” – a gimmick, a show, just to make the MAGA idiots think something is being “accomplished.”

This meaning fits, too, of course\* – for this and a hundred other stupid actions this past month. The most obvious performance being, perhaps, sending (expensively) some undocumented immigrants to GITMO – and then bringing them back (for “normal” processing, mainly via deportation) just a couple weeks later.

(\* I don’t mean to imply that this – like most of the stupid actions – doesn’t have long-term and truly harmful consequences, for many individuals and for the US overall…of course, it does. It’s that the _intent_ is essentially performative. It almost has to be, because there sure isn’t any objectively good reason for any of this shit!).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/509 "2025-03-14T12:00:36Z")

</div>

Wow! Are we sure this didn’t also violate the Third Amendment (which prohibits the quartering of soldiers in private homes without the owner’s consent in peacetime)? 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/510 "2025-03-14T12:03:58Z")

</div>

> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> violate the Third Amendment (which prohibits the quartering of soldiers in private homes without the owner’s consent in peacetime)?

Come on, they have to save _something_ for April.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/511 "2025-03-14T14:05:11Z")

</div>

Well…

> **[Galveston County deputies asking Crystal Beach homeowners for free stay...](https://abc13.com/post/galveston-county-sheriffs-office-asks-crystal-beach-homeowners-let-deputies-use-homes-free-during-jeep-weekend/16013623/)**
>
> A new ad is calling for short-term rentals in Bolivar, but it's not for tourists. Deputies are asking for free beachfront stays to beef up law enforcement presence during 'Jeep Weekend.'

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/512 "2025-03-14T20:50:38Z")

</div>

Pffffffffft

[![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/bafkreicnvsshyu6cj7wv4cnhmqljibgokob7e3ltury7y76dwqsmh4aedu@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/bafkreicnvsshyu6cj7wv4cnhmqljibgokob7e3ltury7y76dwqsmh4aedu@jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/513 "2025-03-14T21:01:41Z")

</div>

So the Secretary of State went to Canada to mend fences. He got the customary red carpet treatment:  
[![](https://cdn.mastdn.ca/media_attachments/files/114/161/128/976/831/797/original/83299b56d403ce7c.png) ](https://cdn.mastdn.ca/media_attachments/files/114/161/128/976/831/797/original/83299b56d403ce7c.png)  
Sorry they could not find a longer carpet. OTOH: you could also call it the longest doormat in the world. So wipe your shoes clean before you enter our country. And it landed in a puddle, but what can you do when the plane stops just where it stopped? Set the red carpet up beside the stairs? That would be disrespectful. Why did the plane not roll a handfull of feet further?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/514 "2025-03-14T21:15:59Z")

</div>

> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> the longest doormat in the world

I don’t think Rubio is that long. 🤷

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/515 "2025-03-14T22:10:00Z")

</div>

They should have used one of Trump’s ties.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/516 "2025-03-14T22:29:01Z")

</div>

👏 👏 👏

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/517 "2025-03-15T02:01:21Z")

</div>

Trump looks like a frog that just noticed how hot the water is.

> **[Trump’s Approval Rating Worse Than Ever, Savage Poll Result Shows](https://newrepublic.com/post/192768/donald-trump-approval-rating-poll)**
>
> Donald Trump’s economic policies are unpopular with just about everyone.

> Americans are unhappy with the president on just about every key issue, according to a poll published Thursday by [Quinnipiac University](https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3921).
> 
> Just 50 days into his second term, the majority of Americans—53 percent—disapprove of Donald Trump’s performance. That’s 11 points worse than Trump scored in a January 29 poll, when Quinnipiac found that 42 percent of the country disliked his performance.
> 
> Reacting to the survey, Fox News liberal host Jessica Tarlov noted that Trump is basically “underwater on everything.”
> 
> The country’s gripes with the MAGA leader include his decision to dismantle the Education Department, something that 60 percent of voters oppose, according to the Quinnipiac poll.

> “In the Quinnipiac poll released today, 1 percent of voters describe the state of the America’s economy as excellent. That’s not a typo,” Democratic strategist Matt McDermott [posted](https://x.com/mattmfm/status/1900265880480547017) on X.
> 
> That’s a noticeable plummet from how voters felt in December, when a total of 64 percent of respondents told Quinnipiac that they believed the economy was either not so good or poor.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/518 "2025-03-15T02:06:15Z")

</div>

> [@Skywatcher](#):
>
> Trump looks like a frog that just noticed how hot the water is.

That’s nice news. I wonder if I should bring this up with my MAGA relatives in as friendly and neutral way as possible? My MAGA mother in particular is always keen on doing more for veterans, and I haven’t asked her what she thought of the cuts to the VA and how that helped veterans. She’s dependent on Social Security, and I should probably make sure she has enough funds to cover any disruption of payments.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/519 "2025-03-15T02:07:43Z")

</div>

If only more voters had used more of their little grey cells to foresee Trump’s _entirely_ foreseeable crap back on Election Day.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175/520 "2025-03-15T02:14:21Z")

</div>

“Quinnipiac _University_? Must be one of those extreme-leftist so-called ‘institutions of learning’ that do nothing more than indoctrinate patriotic American kids into Marxism and Socialism. Probably a hotbed of DEI activity, too. Defund it, and arrest any protestors.”

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175.md?page=25)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-3/1013175.md?page=27)
