# 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:** 129
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2566 "2025-11-10T20:58:25Z")
Donald Trump today reiterated that we are going to get $2,000 each and added a new giveaway: [For those Air Traffic Controllers who were GREAT PATRIOTS, and didn’t take ANY TIME OFF for the “Democrat Shutdown Hoax,” I will be recommending a BONUS of $10,000 per person for distinguished service to our Country.](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115526123205979749) Reminds me of [Huey Long](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long_(biography)): > [@](#): > > I can outpromise him, and he knows it. People will believe me and they won’t believe him. His mother’s watchin’ him, and she won’t let him go too far, but I ain’t got no mother left and, if I had, she’d think anything I said was all right. ---
**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 10, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2567 "2025-11-10T22:06:45Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I wonder at what point TPTB will have to call in the IMF……? I doubt even Ethan Hunt could fix Trump’s mess ---
**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:** [November 10, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2568 "2025-11-10T22:57:15Z")
Well, _I_ recommend that they be given $50,000…_and a puppy!_ ---
**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:** [November 10, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2569 "2025-11-10T23:50:39Z")
$10,000 _on top of_ the $2,000 _and_ the $5,000 DOGE payout? ---
**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 11, 2025, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2570 "2025-11-11T02:23:52Z")
Converting the surviving federal workforce into well-paid pro-trump workers and voters is the goal. In many countries this works great; the entire bureaucracy backs the tyrant. In some countries the bureaucracy refuses to stay bought and needs frequent refresher payments. Hard to say which outcome we’ll have here. It’s unsurprising, but sorta disappointing, how much the Project 2025 playbook is just using all the totalitarian takeover tricks that have worked so well in 40 other countries since e.g. 1900. They’re not even a little bit original in thought or uniquely American in their outlook, but they are diligent students of the Dark Side of history. ---
**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 11, 2025, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2571 "2025-11-11T08:06:27Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Reminds me of [Huey Long](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long_(biography)) I’ve been making that same comparison. It would have been so easy for to fund SNAP and be the glorious leader but Trump is such a fuck-up that he can’t even get populist fascism right. ---
**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 11, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2572 "2025-11-11T14:47:04Z")
It’s real hard to be a populist when your primary instinct is simply to steal all the money for yourself and almost no other idea intrudes for long into his shark-like one track predatory brain. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2573 "2025-11-11T15:11:03Z")
Not to mention that the word “populist” implies concern for, or at the very least, _attention to_ other people. Nope, not here, not happenin’. ---
**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 11, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2574 "2025-11-11T15:48:31Z")
Yup. Most populists conduct a clandestine smash-and-grab on their country’s treasury and large businesses while distracting the public with populist rhetoric and token gestures. Our rum lot is conducting the smash and grab in plain sight while crowing about it. And much of our public is loving every bit of what they see/hear. So no need for the smasher/grabbers to think of the proles. Which is handy, since they never could / would think of them. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2575 "2025-11-11T20:10:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s real hard to be a populist when your primary instinct is simply to steal all the money for yourself and almost no other idea intrudes for long into his shark-like one track predatory brain Yep. I said elsewhere that Trump’s biggest problem with trying to buy loyalty is that he places more value on _his money_ than he does _your loyalty_. I’m pretty sure this will be the cause of his eventual downfall, if he doesn’t die first. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2576 "2025-11-12T00:03:51Z")
> **[The UK Has Stopped Sharing Some Intelligence Over Fears of U.S. Illegal Killings](https://olgalautman.substack.com/p/the-uk-has-stopped-sharing-some-intelligence)** > > Something extraordinary was just reported, and it should send shockwaves through the United States. > [@](#): > > Britain halted the sharing of intelligence about suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean after concluding that information shared with U.S. agencies was being used to select targets for lethal military strikes — strikes that have already killed at least 76 people since September, that were previously handled through Coast Guard interdictions and arrests, and that the UK sees as a violation of international law. British officials, deeply aware of their obligations under the Law of Armed Conflict, quietly stopped sharing information more than a month ago, fearful that continuing to do so would make them complicit in what the UN’s top human-rights official, Volker Türk, has called extrajudicial killings. ---
**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 13, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2577 "2025-11-13T21:03:41Z")
The federal government is [suing California over its redistricting plan](https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/13/politics/california-trump-redistricting-lawsuit), claiming it’s racially motivated. (Crossposted to a Pit thread as well) ---
**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 13, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2578 "2025-11-13T22:14:38Z")
At the same time that Trump is urging red states to begin redistricting. Jaysus holy crap Republicans are something else. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2579 "2025-11-13T23:02:18Z")
I hope that there are lawsuits against Texas and the other gerrymandering red states. I could see a situation where California gets held up by the Supreme Court through the 2026 election, while Texas redistricts successfully. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2580 "2025-11-14T04:02:06Z")
For the pleasure of those who like to parse half-truths and lies: > **[Americans Are Paying Less This Thanksgiving 🦃](https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/11/americans-are-paying-less-this-thanksgiving/)** > > President Donald J. Trump promised to crush inflation and lower prices — and he’s delivering this Thanksgiving, with the classic holiday feast about 3% Discussed here: > **[Trump Is Falling Into the Same Trap That Ensnared Biden](https://www.thebulwark.com/p/affordability-prices-trump-republicans-repeating-biden-mistakes)** > > Republicans learned nothing from how badly Dems bungled inflation. I sort-of liked this one: > [@](#): > > - **Schnucks is selling frozen turkeys at the** [**lowest price in over 15 years**](https://www.firstalert4.com/2025/11/05/schnucks-announces-lowest-frozen-thanksgiving-turkey-prices-over-15-years/) **.** The retailer is one of the largest privately held supermarket chains in the nation. My wife and I never heard of Schnucks, so I checked and found they have around 100 or America’s 46,000 or so supermarkets. But, hey, they are one of the largest “privately held.” As if going to a supermarket that isn’t listed on the stock exchange is some kind of good-eating plus. Meanwhile, aren’t fewer and fewer supermarkets giving their turkeys away on loss leader promotions? ---
**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:** [November 14, 2025, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2581 "2025-11-14T04:23:54Z")
Schmuck’s? Yeah, Walmart reduced their prices by 25%… but they reduced the items in their Thanksgiving Dinner by 25% _and_ switched to store brands instead of name brands. An analogy: A store sells four quarters for $1. They reduce the number of quarters to three, and reduce the price to 75¢. ‘It cost 25% less! See! The economy is booming!’ Only what you get is the same price, because you’re paying 75¢ for 75¢. Same price. Only… They’re replacing the quarters with nickels. So you’re paying 75¢ for three nickels. Your Thanksgiving Dinner is actually costing you _more_ for what you get. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2582 "2025-11-14T13:16:55Z")
The focus on the Thanksgiving Day meal – setting aside what bullshit the Trump administration is selling – reminds me of the recent release of 20,000 documents from the Epstein Estate tranche. The analogy I use is: you’re accused of murder, and your attorney swears to High Heaven that you have cooperated _fully_ with the police because you let them search every square inch of your house (except for that locked room in the basement). As always, the Administration’s well-founded belief that this bullshit will work … is the ultimate in cynicism, and highlights what a silly, irrational, partisan, credulous tribal bunch so many of us (see: red hats) truly are. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2583 "2025-11-14T13:57:35Z")
"The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood—and we will protect it.” Well, that’s not at all concerning… [https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5605091-joint-task-force-southern-spear/](https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5605091-joint-task-force-southern-spear/) ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2584 "2025-11-14T15:42:48Z")
Not sure what the response will be if we actually start a war with Venezuela to cover up Epstein. The evil of that is beyond comprehension. ---
**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 14, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/2585 "2025-11-14T15:59:05Z")
Likely response is a bump to Trump’s popularity. Which is why it’s going to happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=128) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=130)