# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678 "2025-02-22T21:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/581 "2025-04-06T00:02:41Z")
How many times can O’Connor say “I am prohibited by HIPAA law from answering that question” in front of Congress? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/582 "2025-04-06T00:35:35Z")
Until they respond with “Shut the fuck up and answer the question, or go straight to jail”. Without any real consequences, the answer is “Forever, idiots!”. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/583 "2025-04-06T01:02:11Z")
Why do I suspect he fell for one of those advance-fee fraud emails? ---
**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:** [April 6, 2025, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/584 "2025-04-06T01:15:03Z")
I’m just surprised by how quickly the message went from “You’ll be so rich you won’t know how to spend it” to “your children long for the mines”. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/585 "2025-04-06T01:32:42Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > problem-solving skills, knowledge, and experience Every one of those is kryptonite for today’s republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/586 "2025-04-06T03:29:55Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Isn’t Jackson the guy who said that if Donald Trump had eaten healthier over the past 20 years, he might live to be 200? He’s Donald Trump’s Dr. Nick Riviera. [![](https://preview.redd.it/dr-nick-riviera-appreciation-post-v0-d6rq1008a7md1.jpg?width=454&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82e6efbd3aaeb11e4ff264b38066ecd27d4aa5c1) ](https://preview.redd.it/dr-nick-riviera-appreciation-post-v0-d6rq1008a7md1.jpg?width=454&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82e6efbd3aaeb11e4ff264b38066ecd27d4aa5c1) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/587 "2025-04-07T09:06:20Z")
Tariffs on uninhibited islands that are owned by another country were always part of our master plan! You dumbos just don’t get it! > **[US defends tariffs on remote island of penguins and seals](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce84jr5mvnno?xtor=AL-71-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bbbc.news.twitter%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_medium=social&at_campaign_type=owned&at_ptr_name=twitter&at_link_origin=BBCWorld&at_link_type=web_link&at_link_id=1538A002-1374-11F0-84F6-D0EAAD68E3CD&at_format=link)** > > A group of islands, occupied only by penguins and seals, has been swept up in Trump's trade war. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/588 "2025-04-07T14:00:13Z")
**Compound Stupid.** We should be throwing eggs at these clowns defending the stupid (if only eggs weren’t so expensive). ---
**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:** [April 7, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/589 "2025-04-07T14:34:12Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > “I guarantee you … “ **He was probably putting** What was that Sesame Street Song? “One of these things is not like the others…” ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/590 "2025-04-07T14:35:27Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > We should be throwing eggs at these clowns defending the stupid (if only eggs weren’t so expensive). Maybe we could import some eggs from a country where they’re cheaper. Oh…wait. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/591 "2025-04-07T14:47:30Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Tariffs on uninhibited islands that are owned by another country were always part of our master plan! You dumbos just don’t get it Basically, they’re claiming the Penguin Tariffs are there to prevent someone from transshipping their products via these islands, and claiming that they’re really made on the island, to avoid tariffs from their actual country of origin. Which sounds great, if you believe it, and if you don’t notice that people have already pointed out one such discrepancy in their tariff schedule which legally creates just such a transshipping opportunity: > But not because they automatically fall under the tariffs because they belong to Norway, but because they have their own tariffs. While Norway is subject to a 15% tariff, exports from Svalbard and Jan Mayen to the US are subject to a 10% tariff, according to [NRK](https://www.nrk.no/tromsogfinnmark/lavere-toll-for-svalbard-og-jan-mayen-1.17368041). These places are all legally “Norway”, and there’s no way the US would be able to really figure out if products transshipped in Svalbard are really from there, or from mainland Norway. So yeah, I don’t believe they really planned this all out from the beginning. It looks like a stupid mistake, because it really was a stupid mistake. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/592 "2025-04-07T20:12:33Z")
And as I noted elsewhere, the tariff on France is 20%, but the tariff on French Guyana - which is a part of France ievery bit as much as Hawaii is part of thr US - is only 10%. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/593 "2025-04-07T20:58:30Z")
And if “We have to tariff everyone to prevent loopholes”, then how come we’re not tariffing Russia? By the way, has anyone pointed out to Trump yet that the word “tariff” comes from Arabic? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/594 "2025-04-07T23:09:01Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > uninhibited islands These islands need to learn some decorum. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/595 "2025-04-07T23:09:19Z")
Apparently the new talking point is that tariffs are manly things for manly men that will make real men out of men. MEN MEN MEN. [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:222rnvnta2lbl364bog2plxw/bafkreiboxogruyddknnmie5gysznbrl5t7fntejvlm7er4hwqg7sunyfzi@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:222rnvnta2lbl364bog2plxw/bafkreiboxogruyddknnmie5gysznbrl5t7fntejvlm7er4hwqg7sunyfzi@jpeg) [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nnn5h7jefzfbpqmdzxtdidrp/bafkreia76m2evgrjmpehvqw225gpig7zogbbaslumc34vvzpkmj4ozwose@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nnn5h7jefzfbpqmdzxtdidrp/bafkreia76m2evgrjmpehvqw225gpig7zogbbaslumc34vvzpkmj4ozwose@jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/596 "2025-04-07T23:53:45Z")
Hmm. Tariffs make men more manly? But what will they do to the women? (The tariffs. Not the manly men.) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/597 "2025-04-07T23:56:07Z")
How people can watch that and not laugh or recoil in bemused disgust. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/598 "2025-04-08T00:28:41Z")
Are board & tabletop games manly? These goobers and their “manly obsession.” > **[Tabletop teams near panic as Trump tariffs could kill decades of growth](https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/552558/tabletop-panic-tariffs-on-china-layoffs-bankruptcy-gama)** > > ‘Devastating consequences’ on the way, says trade group ---
**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:** [April 8, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/599 "2025-04-08T00:37:08Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Are board & tabletop games manly? Excuse me while I laugh my ass off at all those alt-right numbskulls who completely miss the point of WH40k and draw fanart of Trump as the Emperor of Mankind as if that were a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/600 "2025-04-08T00:41:06Z")
I didn’t see this elsewhere, but a nice example of how elections are going to proceed going forwards: When the Democratic candidate for the North Carolina supreme court narrowly won the election in November (by just a few hundred votes), the Republican candidate demanded a recount. Fair enough you might think. Then another recount. When neither of those recounts gave the “right” result, he took the case to court and now a (Republican-majority) appeals court has ruled that 65,000 votes are going to be thrown out, unless those people all, individually, submit documentation proving their eligibility to vote within the next two weeks. Note that there’s no evidence of any voter fraud or anyone breaking or changing any rules. > **[New court decision in a disputed North Carolina race means 65,000 votes are a...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/new-court-decision-disputed-north-carolina-race-means-65000-votes-are-rcna199746)** > > The fresh ruling could tip the results of a race for North Carolina state Supreme Court, which is still caught up in legal battles months after Election Day 2024. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=31)