# The current second Trump administration: a compendium of horrors **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 6, 2024, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774 "2024-11-06T09:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 128
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2546 "2025-11-02T09:48:25Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Like America, Nigeria has no option but to celebrate the diversity that is our greatest strength. Somebody is in trouble 🎶 ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2547 "2025-11-02T16:07:20Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > > Nigeria is a God-fearing country where we respect faith, tolerance, diversity and inclusion, in concurrence with the rules-based international order. > > IOW the **opposite** of the current American regime. 🙄 Well, it _does_ mention diversity and inclusion. If Nigeria mentions equity, all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2548 "2025-11-09T13:57:30Z")
Trump apparently plans to win the midterms by showering money on the populous. He [posted it in Truth Social this morning](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115519726463094783). Could it work? > [@](#): > > People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER. We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion. Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place. A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2549 "2025-11-09T14:58:10Z")
If it does somehow get paid, it’ll work great. I sooner suspect he’ll loudly repeat the promise, do little to nothing to make it pass, blame D intransigence for it not getting paid by the midterms, and loudly insist that only by electing even more R congressmen can we overcome those D-devils and get you your citizen dividend you so richly deserve. After the midterms, regardless of outcome, the idea will be promptly forgotten until shortly before the 2028 election. IOW, the basic carrot on a stick in front of the donkey who’s stupid enough to fall for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2550 "2025-11-09T15:29:55Z")
Scott Bessent was surprised to hear it this morning from George Stephanopoulos. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2551 "2025-11-09T16:28:46Z")
> **[The Bombshell Inside Trump’s $1.3 Billion Pardon Market](https://medium.com/@carmitage/the-pardon-for-pay-president-2c1d01767923)** > > The Pardon for Pay President > Trevor Milton founded Nikola, an electric truck company. In October 2022, a jury convicted him of securities fraud after prosecutors proved he deceived investors with a viral video showing a prototype truck appearing to drive under its own power. The truck was actually rolling downhill after being towed to the top. The jury deliberated for hours after a two-month trial. Federal prosecutors sought $695.2 million in restitution from Milton, including $680 million to Nikola shareholders and $15.2 million to wire fraud victim Peter Hicks. Many investors lost retirement savings during the COVID-19 pandemic and waited for repayment. > > In October 2024, Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to Trump’s reelection campaign. Milton personally contributed $920,000 to the Trump 47 Committee and $284,000 to the RNC. The combined total represented one of the largest individual contributions to Trump that cycle. > > Five months later, on March 27, 2025, Trump personally called Milton to inform him of his pardon. Trump granted it the next day. The pardon eliminated both Milton’s four-year prison sentence and the $695.2 million restitution obligation. Investors will never be repaid. > > The return on investment: 37,400 percent. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2552 "2025-11-09T16:34:13Z")
Remember when Hunter Biden’s pardon was the most outrageous pardon that ever happened? ---
**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:** [November 9, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2553 "2025-11-09T16:52:32Z")
Are any of these blatant bribes and other ridiculous pardons getting any mainstream media coverage in the US? I’m in the UK so what we hear is understandably not as comprehensive, but the only way I see these scandals (well, they should be scandals) seems to be on the Dope. Is there widespread outrage in the US or is it limited to places like this message board? While I’m here… I watched _All The President’s Men_ for the first time in perhaps 20 years last night (was shown recently in tribute to Redford and recorded it) and it almost seemed quaint given the pretty much daily doses of insanity I read about on here. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2554 "2025-11-09T17:03:30Z")
Republicans can bleat on about Christian values all they want. It’s clear what these guys actually believe, bring about, foster, and defend. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2555 "2025-11-09T17:28:43Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > Is there widespread outrage in the US or is it limited to places like this message board? It seems to me that the current administration has complete control of the media thus we are all in our own silos of information. Unless that changes I have no idea how we can turn any of this around. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2556 "2025-11-09T17:47:35Z")
> [@Ellecram](#): > > It seems to me that the current administration has complete control of the media thus we are all in our own silos of information. I’d take a somewhat different view of this. In the U.S., there is no longer _any_ news media outlet which is widely read/viewed – and trusted – by most Americans. To make matters worse: - Many of the traditional “major” news outlets – the major broadcast TV networks, the big newspapers – have bent the corporate knee to Trump, to a greater or lesser degree, over the past nine months, which is likely having the ongoing effect of causing them to minimize or softball, stories which depict the rampant corruption and self-dealing. - Trump’s supporters simply do not trust, at all, any news that doesn’t come from conservative outlets (Fox News, Newsmax, OANN, etc.), and those outlets certainly aren’t going to be carrying such stories. - Independent, non-conservative news outlets, which do feature such stories, tend to not be widely read. (And, it probably doesn’t help that the more overtly liberal ones seem to often be sensationalistic in their coverage, making it difficult for some of us to trust what they show.) - A whole lot of people are low-involvement, low-knowledge about the news now, political news in particular. And, thus, even if stories about the corruption _were_ carried, they wouldn’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2557 "2025-11-09T20:46:01Z")
> [@Truth Social](#): > > People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! … > … will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion. … > … A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone What a wonderfully socialist proposal! Put an inflationary, discretionary tax on imported consumables and then rebate it to taxpayers so they can buy domestic essentials like food and medical services. Trump’s imposed tariffs [will raise USD2.4 trillion in revenue](https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/trump-tariffs-trade-war/) gross **over the next decade**. Net revenue, say USD1.8 trillion. Per decade. So the repayment of USD37 trillion will take a while, especially if a windfall USD 200 billion gets rebated to taxpayers annually, (do the non-taxpayers who are doing their bit towards the tariff collections get their 2k too?) and there’s that bailout of US Big Ag to fund. And that tax cut in the Big Beautiful Bill. And if it all needs to get paid back, that might get a tad ugly. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2558 "2025-11-09T21:38:57Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Trump’s imposed tariffs [will raise USD2.4 trillion in revenue](https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/trump-tariffs-trade-war/) gross **over the next decade**. Net revenue, say USD1.8 trillion. Per decade. > > So the repayment of USD37 trillion will take a while, especially if a windfall USD 200 billion gets rebated to taxpayers annually, I’ll take your owrd on the numbers, but let’s put these in consistent units. 1.8T per decade = 180B per year. The rebates are supposed to be 200B per year. So the rebates alone are already larger than the tariff revenue. In other words there are negative dollars available to pay down the debt. IOW, there will be increasing debt. And that’s before the Ag bailout or OBBB tax cuts you mention are considered. The “plan” is pure BS from end to end. How surprising. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2559 "2025-11-09T22:39:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The “plan” is pure BS from end to end A fair bit of the effect of the imposed (rather than merely announced) tariffs not flowing into increased prices and inflation comes from US companies wearing the cost impact. 'Cause putting up prices 30-45% only for 45/47 to reverse him negotiation strategy (TACO) isn’t a good patriotic look. But if business see their squeezed margins from tariffs getting rebated back to consumers, won’t they be inclined to say that they want their margins restored? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2560 "2025-11-09T22:44:53Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > A fair bit of the effect of the imposed (rather than merely announced) tariffs not flowing into increased prices and inflation comes from US companies wearing the cost impact. > 'Cause putting up prices 30-45% only for 45/47 to reverse him negotiation strategy (TACO) isn’t a good patriotic look. Plus, Trump has threatened U.S. companies about raising prices to consumers under the excuse of the tariffs. The reality is that the tariffs are likely causing many American companies to suffer reduced profits (barring passing the increased costs on to end consumers), but raising prices would be at odds with Trump’s BS narrative that the tariffs will make things _less_ expensive for Americans, not more. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2561 "2025-11-09T23:08:46Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Trump has threatened U.S. companies about raising prices Price controls … yet another application of socialist principles by this administration. Bernie and 45/47 have a lot more philosophical common ground than you might think. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2562 "2025-11-09T23:16:31Z")
The difference is trump’s plans ultimately are about enriching first and foremost himself, and then the ruling class, not Joe Schmoe. Bernie’s ideas, with which I do not completely agree, had the opposite motivation. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2563 "2025-11-10T02:26:44Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The “plan” is pure BS from end to end. How surprising. Well it was cobbled together in a hurry. They were spending their main effort coming up with a replacement for ACA, don’t 'cha know. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2564 "2025-11-10T02:36:09Z")
Ready in two weeks, I hear. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2565 "2025-11-10T18:32:21Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IOW, there will be increasing debt I wonder at what point TPTB will have to call in the IMF……? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=127) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=129)