# 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:** 152
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3026 "2026-02-25T12:57:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s kind of sad, if you think about it. I’d expect the all-powerful U.S. Department of War to have massive hidden underground data centers under its complete control. Hegseth wants the uniformed services to be all about combat lethality. War without blood and gore is left to civilians. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3027 "2026-02-25T13:07:11Z")
It’s the intel and tech geeks who win wars. You’d think a religious freak like him would know Proverbs 24:6: “ **For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counselors there is safety**.” (Incidentally, this is never translated correctly to English - in the original Hebrew, the word for “wise council” actually means “tricks, ruses or stratagems”. In other words, fight smart, not hard). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3028 "2026-02-25T15:06:49Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Also, why doesn’t the Pentagon have its own AI? Why is it subcontracting? I thought this was standard right-wing US politics: never allow the government to do anything it could buy from the private sector instead. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3029 "2026-02-25T15:26:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > (Incidentally, this is never translated correctly to English - in the original Hebrew, the word for “wise council” actually means “tricks, ruses or stratagems”. In other words, fight smart, not hard). Or “Get me Roger Stone!” ---
**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:** [February 25, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3030 "2026-02-25T15:34:32Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > (Incidentally, this is never translated correctly to English - in the original Hebrew, the word for “wise council” actually means “tricks, ruses or stratagems”. Not wise, in Jacobean England, to imply that the King should, let alone did, do anything other than wise. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3031 "2026-02-25T15:43:59Z")
Though Lord Rochester got away with it one restoration later: > Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King, > Whose word no man relies on; > He never said a foolish thing, > Nor ever did a wise one. (to which Charles II supposedly replied “Perfectly correct: for my words are my own, but my deeds are those of my ministers.”) ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3032 "2026-02-25T15:48:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s the intel and tech geeks who win wars. QFT. Also the logistics folks. Consider the Battle of Midway. On both sides, there were probably fewer than 3000 guys firing guns or dropping bombs, and most of them were firing anti-aircraft guns to precious little effect. Less than 900 were the aircrew who were really at the point of the spear. But they relied on the Joseph Rocheforts who figured out where the battle was going to take place and when, and on the shipwrights and tradesmen who worked for all they were worth to get _Yorktown_ ready for the battle, and the guys on the fleet oilers and unrep ships who kept them on the ocean, and the “black gang” down in the engine rooms who kept the ships moving and afloat, and the aircraft technicians who maintained the planes and prepped them for battle, and the recon aircraft who found the enemy fleets and broadcast sighting reports back to the planners who put the strikes together. All highly technical roles, not “warrior” stuff - but without them, the “warriors” might as well have been doing the haka dance at each other. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3033 "2026-02-25T15:55:44Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I thought this was standard right-wing US politics: never allow the government to do anything it could buy from the private sector instead There was a bit about this in the TV show _The Americans_. The Soviet sleeper agents were wondering why the US would use a private sub-contractor for critical classified research, and their handler tells them, “Even in matters of national security, they can’t help being Americans.” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3034 "2026-02-25T16:52:53Z")
> **[RFK Jr. ally Casey Means faces Senate for surgeon general confirmation hearing](https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/rfk-jr-ally-casey-means-faces-senate-for-surgeon-general-confirmation-hearing/)** > > Casey Means holds no active medical license and promotes alternative medicine. Absolutely, _horrifyingly_ unqualified for this role. Which, I know, is a prerequisite in this administration. But she sets the bar at a new level. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3035 "2026-02-25T18:18:44Z")
She has the proper ‘look’ to work in the White house. That’s all that matters. Just more Central Casting. They lost Epstein after all, what are they to do? She, like RFK Jr. is probably afraid of vax’s and needles. We need to get RFK Jr. to make more disturbing ‘rock’ videos with Kid Rock. Hey, PeeWee Herman is probably available. The Villiage People can dance around while they are all drinking milk! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3036 "2026-02-25T18:35:19Z")
I don’t even know what the point of a confirmation hearing is any more in this madhouse. These are the same troglodytes that confirmed all the present boot-licking incompetent Cabinet members, and also previously thought a rapist would make a fine Supreme Court justice. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3037 "2026-02-25T18:55:05Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Hey, PeeWee Herman is probably available. He’s been dead for three years. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3038 "2026-02-25T18:57:41Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > He’s been dead for three years. Right. Book 'em. And then sue his estate when he doesn’t show. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3039 "2026-02-25T19:03:36Z")
Pee-Wee will never die! Only the actors who play him! ---
**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:** [February 25, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3040 "2026-02-25T23:02:27Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > She has the proper ‘look’ to work in the White house. That’s all that matters. Just more Central Casting. She’s also likely to cooperate with right-wing plans to make birth control virtually impossible to get. (They won’t outright ban it—just make it inaccessible, requiring a doctor to talk to a woman for a full two hours before prescribing, etc.). (The looks definitely matter most to Donald, but he knows he needs to keep the right-wingers happy with things like getting rid of birth control.) > [@](#): > > … “I believe especially when it comes to oral contraceptives we need to have patients having a conversation with their doctor about risks and benefits,” she said during the hearing. … [https://www.npr.org/2026/02/25/nx-s1-5725399/surgeon-general-casey-means-vaccines-birth-control](https://www.npr.org/2026/02/25/nx-s1-5725399/surgeon-general-casey-means-vaccines-birth-control) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3041 "2026-02-26T03:33:22Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > “I believe especially when it comes to oral contraceptives we need to have patients having a conversation with their doctor about risks and benefits,” she said during the hearing. … Is this nutbar implying that women are getting bc pills from somewhere other than a doctor? Over my 30 or so years of being on the pill, the doctor always explained the possible side effects , risks, yada yada yada before handing over a prescription. Sounds like a euphemism for additional hoops women will have to go through. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3042 "2026-02-26T05:49:37Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > > [@Sherrerd](#): > > > > “I believe especially when it comes to oral contraceptives we need to have patients having a conversation with their doctor about risks and benefits,” she said during the hearing. … > > Is this nutbar implying that women are getting bc pills from somewhere other than a doctor? No, but you’re overlooking something. When a right-wing nutbar says anything about “having a conversation with their doctor,” the part they’re leaving out is that their ideological allies will mandate what the doctor must say in that so-called conversation. This has come up over the last decade or so, as anti-abortion activists sneaked past free-speech rights by exploiting the requirement for patients to make choices based on “informed consent.” Right-wing culture warriors discovered that this was a loophole in the doctor-patient relationship, because the legislature could define what information the doctor had to deliver in order to achieve said consent from the patient. The battle is still ongoing, but there are many states where the doctor is not allowed to share certain information with the patient on the subject of abortion, or in some cases is required to deliver _outright falsehoods_ like “abortion is statistically associated with significantly increased likelihood of many cancers” and other bullshit. > **[Physician Free Speech and the Doctor-Patient Relationship Post-Dobbs -...](https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/05/25/physician-free-speech-and-the-doctor-patient-relationship-post-dobbs/)** > > In the abortion context, gag laws impact patient access to critical medical services and the physician-patient relationship. So when Casey Means says something innocuous like “the patient should have a conversation with her doctor about the effects of contraceptives,” she’s leaving unspoken the part about how the doctor will be legally obligated to tell the patient that when a woman goes on the pill, it will cause her husband to be unfaithful, and the devil will make her tits fall off. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3043 "2026-02-26T05:59:44Z")
Thanks for the linked article, infuriating as it is. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2026, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3044 "2026-02-26T06:31:02Z")
I’m sure rich, white, married (MAGA) men will have no problem obtaining the pills for their girlfriends ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3045 "2026-02-26T06:31:44Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > … “I believe especially when it comes to oral contraceptives we need to have patients having a conversation with their doctor about risks and benefits,” she said during the hearing. … “The Conversation” as the lunatic nutbars see it: Patient: What are the benefits of oral contraceptives? Doctor: There aren’t any. Patient: What are the risks? Doctor: The risk that after dying a horrible death from the side effects, you’ll spend eternity in hell as an unrepentant sinner. Patient: But what if I get pregnant and need an abortion? Doctor: Never again speak such blasphemy in my presence! Begone, harlot! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=151) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=153)