# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678
**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:** 4
### Author:  [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/61 "2025-02-26T17:07:12Z")
Paying massively over the odds for a table at Mar a Lago
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/62 "2025-02-26T17:29:54Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#):
>
> But he can line his pockets with bribes (excuse me, “campaign contributions”)
Tips. Gratuities. Pre-tips. Early gratuities. Unrelated gratuities that just happen to be paid right before a tax cut.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/63 "2025-02-26T19:19:39Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#):
>
> > [@LurkMeister](#):
> >
> > (excuse me, “campaign contributions”)
>
> (excuse you, “lawsuit settlements”)
(excuse _you_, “gratuities.”)
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/64 "2025-02-26T19:20:49Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> (excuse _you_, “gratuities.”)
MAGA!!!
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### Author:  [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/65 "2025-02-26T21:49:56Z")
Gifts.
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/66 "2025-02-26T22:06:42Z")
Gifts are subject to tax. Gratuities are easier to hide.
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### Author:  [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/67 "2025-02-27T00:27:10Z")
Well, tips won’t be taxed soon.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/68 "2025-02-27T05:51:13Z")
Mike Lee wants to issue letters of marque to posses so they can hunt down drug cartels and seize their assets in prize court, which sounds like a really good way to get a lot of rednecks killed by the Mexican Army.
> **['Posse of good ol' boys': MAGA senator wants citizen ‘pirates’ to hunt down...](https://www.rawstory.com/mexican-cartels/)**
>
> Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) suggested that private citizens – which he referred to as “privateers” – should be allowed to chase down Mexican drug cartels and receive a profit for their bounty as a way of easing risk to United States military personnel. Lee...
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/69 "2025-02-27T08:13:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> Mike Lee wants to issue letters of marque to posses so they can hunt down drug cartels and seize their assets in prize court, which sounds like a really good way to get a lot of rednecks killed by the Mexican Army.
>
> ['Posse of good ol' boys': MAGA senator wants citizen ‘pirates’ to hunt down drug cartels](https://www.rawstory.com/mexican-cartels/)
Or alternately, seeing as drug cartels’ assets mainly consist of drugs, a cool way to establish a bunch of new cartels.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/70 "2025-02-27T09:41:09Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> Mike Lee wants to issue letters of marque to posses so they can hunt down drug cartels and seize their assets in prize court, which sounds like a really good way to get a lot of rednecks killed by the Mexican Army.
>
> ['Posse of good ol' boys': MAGA senator wants citizen ‘pirates’ to hunt down drug cartels](https://www.rawstory.com/mexican-cartels/)
Too risky for the military … but let’s have private citizens have a go at it?
Sounds like a plan to eliminate a basket or two of deplorables. Regardless of whether it’s the cartels or the Mexican army taking them out.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/71 "2025-02-27T10:12:10Z")
This is gonna REALLY piss off the pharma donors.
And a couple hundred million other people.
> **[FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season's shots](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-cancels-meeting-select-flu-strains-seasons-shots-rcna193931)**
>
> The canceled meeting comes just days after a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting was abruptly postponed.
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/72 "2025-02-27T13:29:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> This is gonna REALLY piss off the pharma donors.
Nah, they’re going to sell ten times as much. Each company will create its own mix based on their own research, and then advertise which strains they cover. Since the public won’t have any good information on which ones they really need, they’ll have to get all the shots. $$$$$$
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/73 "2025-02-27T13:51:33Z")
Vaccines are a net negative for drug companies, anyway. It’s a lot more lucrative to sell treatments after people get a disease than preventatives. Especially when you can sell treatments that don’t actually work, like ivermectin or quinine for covid, so people will stay sick (and paying for treatments) for longer.
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/74 "2025-02-27T14:24:18Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> This is gonna REALLY piss off the pharma donors.
>
> And a couple hundred million other people.
>
> [FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season's shots](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-cancels-meeting-select-flu-strains-seasons-shots-rcna193931)
Unfortunately, I had this one on my bingo card.
MASA
Make America Sick Again
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### Author:  [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/75 "2025-02-27T14:26:16Z")
On January 6, Republican Congress Critters Mike Lee (R-UT) and Chip Roy (R-TX) were texting with White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, begging Meadows to tell them what to do and say. Lee repeatedly pressed Meadows for the “talking points,” meaning: he was asking Meadows what he could possibly _say_ that would justify and excuse what was happening on that day, and the White House’s failure to stop it dead in its tracks.
Trump supporters behave in the exact same way, begging Trump and his operatives to give them _some_ answer … _some_ defense … _some_ excuse … for Trump’s endless and indefensible bad behavior and criminal acts. Like The Congress Critters above, it really doesn’t matter how viable, plausible, cogent, consistent, truthful, or valid those talking points are. They just need _some_ way to perpetuate the charade – if only for one more day – that they weren’t used by one of the US’s most notorious con men.
TL;DR: the addicts continue to beg their dealer for _just one more hit,_ so they don’t have to suffer through the misery of withdrawal and reality.
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/76 "2025-02-27T14:34:15Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#):
>
> TL;DR: the addicts continue to beg their dealer for _just one more hit,_ so they don’t have to suffer through the misery of withdrawal and reality.
It’s like employers at the height of the “No one wants to work any more” crisis a couple of years ago. They’d do anything they had to to find new employees, _except_ actually offering to pay them more.
The MAGAs are looking for any reason at all to explain Trump’s crazy actions, _except_ for the one where he’s just doing exactly what we warned them he would do.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/77 "2025-02-27T16:14:31Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#):
>
> asking Meadows what he could possibly _say_ that would justify and excuse what was happening on that day, and the White House’s failure to stop it dead in its tracks.
And they went with “nothing, nothing at all is happening, it’s just a group tour, why does everyone keep asking me that?”
[ ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/20e2b5abcc2598dc5e1d716a7d8d9113/tumblr_ole52yY4bN1vdqirto3_250.gif)
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/78 "2025-02-27T21:58:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Vaccines are a net negative for drug companies, anyway.
The OOP for a flu shot is about $100. 45% of Americans get a flu shot every year. That’s a good $17 billion or so. No small chunk of change for executives who only care about Making Line Go Up.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/79 "2025-02-27T23:11:08Z")
Besides, as a matter of principle drug companies want people to live as long as possible, because the older you get, the more drugs you need. Dead people means fewer future customers.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/80 "2025-02-28T01:13:17Z")
Kash Patel wants the UFC to train the FBI, because apparently he thinks he lives in a '40s detective movie and the agents solve crimes by punching things.
[https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi-director-considering-having-ufc-train-agents-martial-arts-say-people-2025-02-27/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi-director-considering-having-ufc-train-agents-martial-arts-say-people-2025-02-27/)
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