# The argument that Trump will do whatever he wants and no one can stop him is really fucking boring **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [December 12, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527 "2024-12-12T02:36:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 44
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/861 "2025-04-21T15:47:13Z")
“D. is a very weak-minded fellow I am afraid, and, **like the feather pillow, bears the marks of the last person who has sat on him!** ” - Douglass Haig, about a different “D” ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/862 "2025-04-22T13:04:37Z")
As I mentioned, in both mathematics and physics, a vector is a quantity that has both magnitude and direction. I think most of us have agreed on direction. The open question was of magnitude. We have some guidance here: [**Hundreds of scholars say U.S. is swiftly heading toward authoritarianism [NPR]**](https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5340753/trump-democracy-authoritarianism-competive-survey-political-scientist) > [@](#): > > In the benchmark survey, known as Bright Line Watch, U.S.-based professors rate the performance of American democracy on a scale from zero (complete dictatorship) to 100 (perfect democracy). After President Trump’s election in November, scholars gave American democracy a rating of 67. Several weeks into Trump’s second term, that figure plummeted to 55. > > “That’s a precipitous drop,” says John Carey, a professor of government at Dartmouth and co-director of Bright Line Watch. “There’s certainly consensus: We’re moving in the wrong direction.” Now, historians could end up being equivalent to economists, who have famously “accurately predicted 12 of the last eight recessions …” Or … y’know … not. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/863 "2025-04-25T16:26:25Z")
Now they are arresting judges. Nothing to see here. > **[Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan Arrested, Accused of Shielding Immigrant From...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/us/politics/fbi-arrest-judge.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CU8.dEBh.tO65guNRWUGB&smid=url-share)** > > Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on suspicion that she “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from” an immigrant being pursued by the authorities, the F.B.I. director said in a social media post that he later deleted. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/864 "2025-04-26T16:11:53Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Now they are arresting judges. Nothing to see here. I am sure our resident head-in-sanders will insist this is no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/865 "2025-04-26T16:25:40Z")
First they started deporting undocumented immigrants, but I did not speak up because I was not an undocumented immigrant. Then they started arresting judges, but I did not speak up because I was not a judge. Then they started shipping citizens who had committed crimes to foreign prisons, but I did not speak up because I have never committed a crime. Then they started arresting old white males who had dared to criticize Trump, but there was no one left to speak up for me. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/866 "2025-04-26T16:44:21Z")
People? Relax! They’re only arresting the judges that are trying to stop Trump from doing whatever he wants… ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/867 "2025-04-26T16:54:27Z")
FYI … > [@The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues/1010068/4361): > > You can keep track [here](https://bingobaker.com/view/8034282) or use [this one I just made (with a few additions to the list)](https://bingobaker.com#680cf1814d1c88e0). I’ll add more to the latter’s list as the second felonial era continues. Right now it generates a 4x4 card game. Soon, no doubt and sadly, there will be enough additions to make a 10x10 card game. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/868 "2025-04-26T20:03:31Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > do you still feel that our fears are still insignificant to the point of being “fucking boring”? Yet another poster who misunderstands the OP. The authoritarian moves by his orangeness are dangeous, real and anything but boring, and I have never suggested otherwise. A discussion of what he will try, what he will be able to get away with and why, and what can be done to ameliorate the damage, is not boring. However, a discussion of say “How would Trump try to justify and implement a ban on birthright citizenship?” With the response that “He won’t need to, since the Supreme Court will do whatever he says and therefore birthright citizenship is dead”, even if accurate, leaves no room for discussion and so is boring. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/869 "2025-04-26T21:03:26Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I am sure our resident head-in-sanders [![](https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/bernie-sanders-us-senate-november-2024-afp-kevin-dietsch.jpg.webp?itok=Qi8EHfxj) ](https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/bernie-sanders-us-senate-november-2024-afp-kevin-dietsch.jpg.webp?itok=Qi8EHfxj) ---
**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 26, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/870 "2025-04-26T21:10:16Z")
Checked the OP again and that seems a bit of a shift. The OP asks several loaded questions that assert that things like the 14th amendment and need for senate approval will be a brake on trump’s power. And then a hypothetical second person that is just handwaving all this by saying trump has absolute power. Well it hasn’t aged well. To stay in the brakes metaphor, there have been a lot of car crashes already, and other situations where the brakes have been applied but we’ve yet to see if they can stop the car. Plus countless other events that we didn’t even consider were in the range of possibilities for what a president might do. The hypothetical responder, despite being glib, has been pretty much on the money. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/871 "2025-04-26T21:25:54Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > First they started deporting undocumented immigrants, but I did not speak up because I was not an undocumented immigrant. > > Then they started arresting judges, but I did not speak up because I was not a judge. > > Then they started shipping citizens who had committed crimes to foreign prisons, but I did not speak up because I have never committed a crime. > > Then they started arresting old white males who had dared to criticize Trump, but there was no one left to speak up for me. You left out the babies. The US citizen babies with cancer: > **[Trump Has Now Deported Multiple U.S. Citizen Children With Cancer](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-deport-child-cancer-us-citizen-1235325778/)** > > Two families who had lived in the United States for years, including a child with cancer and a pregnant mother, were deported by ICE on Friday. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/872 "2025-04-26T21:41:59Z")
Although it’s not explicitly stated in the article, I have the impression that while the children were born in the US and therefore (at least under current constitutional law) US citizens, the parents may or may not be US-born or naturalized citizens. This is probably the justification used by ICE to deport them. I’m waiting for word of a judge ordering that the deportation be reversed, and the subsequent arrest of the judge for daring to suggest that the rules be followed. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/873 "2025-04-26T23:11:09Z")
Yes as it turns out Trump has received less resistance to his agenda than than some scenarios. Trumps nominees sailed through, but that doesn’t mean that back in December there was no point in discussing what might come up at the hearings that could make their nomination challenging. I found such discussions interesting, even if in the end they the answer was that they didn’t work.I was annoyed by the blanket dead end repetitive statements that effectively argued that any discussion was pointless. Honestly this thread was really only intended to be a quick vent, that I expected would garner a couple of dozen posts at most. That it is far and away my most popular OP despite a near complete misunderstanding of its contents, seems ironic to me. I realize I should just give up, and let everyone think that I was arguing that Trump presidency would be boring. Boy was I dumb. I never conceived that he could be dictatorial. That creative bon mot “are you bored now” really put me in my place. I shall hide my head in shame. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/874 "2025-04-26T23:22:38Z")
I wonder if this is getting used to push this to the Supreme Court so Trump can revoke citizenship from children born from immigrants. ---
**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 26, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/875 "2025-04-26T23:23:44Z")
@Buck_Godot Well pobody’s nerfect. The first (and last) time I put significant money on a bet was for Harris to win the election. And if you had asked me what Trump would “accomplish” in his first 100 days, my predictions would have been as restrained as the next man’s. I mean, no single thing that Trump has done surprises me, but all of them in parallel has been astonishing. (In hindsight, it should have been obvious because I didn’t think there were any significant guardrails remaining). But anyway, I am not trying to engage in any kind of pile-on. Just disagreeing on some points. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/876 "2025-04-26T23:27:48Z")
The OP really did turn into some kind of Rorschach Test. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/877 "2025-04-26T23:36:28Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Although it’s not explicitly stated in the article, I have the impression that while the children were born in the US and therefore (at least under current constitutional law) US citizens, the parents may or may not be US-born or naturalized citizens. This is probably the justification used by ICE to deport them. Well, yes, this is obviously the _explanation_ for why they were deported. But I would not call it justification. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/878 "2025-04-27T00:23:21Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Well, yes, this is obviously the _explanation_ for why they were deported. But I would not call it justification. Note that I did not say that it _was_ a justification for what ICE did. Just that ICE will try to _use_ it as a justification for what they did. Just as they’ll use any excuse to seize and deport people without giving them due process. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/879 "2025-04-27T03:39:18Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > …some kind of Rorschach Test. I don’t have to take that. I got a note from Epstein’s Mom. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/880 "2025-04-27T19:35:03Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > I wonder if this is getting used to push this to the Supreme Court so Trump can **revoke citizenship from children born from immigrants.** Barron? (my bolding) > [@Mijin](#): > > The hypothetical responder, despite being glib, has been pretty much on the money. I expect you’ll agree: it’s SO annoying when a strawman gets up from his designed-to-be-prone position, and starts hitting back! Speaking of which: > [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > blanket dead end repetitive statements that effectively argued that any discussion was pointless. Haven’t seen this argument advanced here. At all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527.md?page=43) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527.md?page=45)