# 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:** 153
**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 26, 2026, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3046 "2026-02-26T23:23:18Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Sounds like a euphemism for additional hoops women will have to go through. Absolutely. Even if there are doctors NOT required to spout right-wing talking points (or lose their licenses) as @Cervaise discusses, there will be problems of time/insurance reimbursement. Casey Means and other Regime figures can require a lengthy conversation that doctors won’t be able to afford to provide----so those doctors will just get out of the ‘prescribing contraception’ business altogether. > [@wolfpup](#): > > “The Conversation” as the lunatic nutbars see it: Sadly, not at all unlikely. ---
**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, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3047 "2026-02-26T23:32:43Z")
Given the requirement for patient confidentiality, how the hell do they propose to enforce this doctor-patient “conversation”? And exactly what is the doctor supposed to say. Is there a script? If I was a doctor in Wingnutland, I would just say “Here’s some bullshit that the lunatics in Washington insist I say to you. I recommend you put on these noise-cancelling headphones and listen to some nice but loud music while I say it.” ---
**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 26, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3048 "2026-02-26T23:36:18Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Given the requirement for patient confidentiality, how the hell do they propose to enforce this doctor-patient “conversation”? And exactly what is the doctor supposed to say. Is there a script? These are good questions, and there likely ARE answers, given the number of laws that require doctors to say certain things about abortion. (I don’t have the answers, myself.) ---
**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, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3049 "2026-02-26T23:39:23Z")
I’d guess the enforcement is the fear that some patient requesting forbidden things like contraceptives or an abortion that requires “the talk” will actually be a planted snitch. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3050 "2026-02-26T23:43:21Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Is there a script? According to a story I read, there is. In the narrative of the story, the doctor prefaced every statement that he was forced to tell the patient (who was getting an abortion, in this case) with “I am required by law to issue the next statement.” Then came the statement, then the doctor said “There is no scientific validity to what I just told you.” (The statements were something about increased risk of breast cancer, difficulty in conceiving after an abortion, and the like). And yes, anti-abortion groups periodically send in test subjects to make sure he gives the full spiel. So, yeah, they can force the doctor to say something, but they can’t force him not to say other things that invalidate it. Of course, it takes more time and is more of a pain. Probably less of a problem for doctors performing abortions, which are less prevalent, but it will make the process of prescribing birth control more time-consuming, thus less lucrative, and some doctors may just give up on it altogether, which is the desired outcome. ---
**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, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3051 "2026-02-26T23:57:01Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Of course, it takes more time and is more of a pain. Probably less of a problem for doctors performing abortions, which are less prevalent, but it will make the process of prescribing birth control more time-consuming, thus less lucrative, and some doctors may just give up on it altogether, which is the desired outcome. Indeed. Doctors are very sensitive to the amount of time they spend with each patient, some more than others. My last doctor was not rushed and took all the time necessary, but the result was that it really cut into her income and she was always running late, sometimes by as much as an hour. In our public UHC insurance system, and I’m sure it’s the same with private insurance, there are fixed fees for different types of consultations, and compensation is by type of consultation, not by time spent. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2026, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3052 "2026-02-27T08:28:42Z")
Just some information on birth control pills. The trend is toward making them over the counter. Currently there is one progestin only pill (Opill) that is available OTC nationwide in the US without a prescription. In more than half the states pharmacists can prescribe birth control pills without a doctor’s visit. Current guidelines state that only a blood pressure check is needed before prescribing birth control pills and a pelvic examination is only recommended for symptoms or for IUD placement. These new rules are specifically designed to reverse this trend. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2026, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3053 "2026-02-27T08:47:56Z")
The current nominee for surgeon general has written a book with the theory that inflammation, caused by “bad foods” is the root of all diseases and that “bad foods” cause metabolic dysfunction and disease. She has run a “functional medicine” practice and made money by peddling supplements. She voluntarily allowed her medical license to lapse; an action that makes no sense to anyone who wants to attract patients unless she is afraid of Board of Medicine oversight. She also is clearly intelligent, graduated from Stanford Medical School and matched into a highly selective ENT residency. She left the residency after completing 4.5/5 years. Now many people change specialties after 1-2 years of training but if you are 6 months away from finishing you rarely drop out. Even if you want to change, new residencies all start the same time so you might as well finish the first one and get double boarded. Of course it is pure speculation but residencies usually give problem physicians many chances to improve and only “request that they resign” ( because being fired from a residency makes it difficult to get another) if they have exhausted all resources and do not want the physician in question to graduate as a representative of their program. Now I have no proof of any of this and she could have just done 4 1/2 years of ENT and suddenly realized she didn’t want to practice conventional medicine but that’s a lot of wasted time. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2026, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3054 "2026-02-27T09:29:31Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Thanks for the linked article, infuriating as it is. John Oliver actually [covered this kind of tactic several years ago](https://youtu.be/4NNpkv3Us1I?si=CYGbOZ2FaTpdY0Gl) on _Last Week Tonight._ The episode ran in 2018, but those tactics are still being used. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3055 "2026-02-27T16:32:51Z")
The rationale, from another POV: > [@](#): > > Dr. Paul Flint, a former chair of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at Oregon Health and Science University, said Means resigned from the residency because of anxiety. > > After four years of training, Means came to him and Dr. Mark Wax, the residency program director, and said she wasn’t sure it was the right job for her. > > “She wasn’t even sure she wanted to be in medicine,” Flint said. “She wanted to do something different. She wanted to resign.” > > Flint and Wax urged Means to think about it more and offered her three months paid time off. [**SOURCE (Yahoo carrying an LA Times article)**](https://www.yahoo.com/news/meet-l-holistic-doctor-wellness-110000664.html) ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2026, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3056 "2026-02-27T23:24:04Z")
From last link: > [@](#): > > “During my training as a surgeon, I saw how broken and exploitative the healthcare system is and left to focus on how to keep people out of the operating room,” she says on her [website](https://www.caseymeans.com/about). So she went from a distinguished non-profit research university ([ranked #19 in her specialty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Health_%26_Science_University_Hospital)) and switched over to a pure fee for service practice where she sells combination vitamins that could be gotten a lot cheaper at WalMart. But the place where she exploited patients the most was in the operating room at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. I know they don’t have time to ask Trump nominees every gotcha question, but I would like to know what operations she did that were more exploitative than what she now sells. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2026, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3057 "2026-02-28T01:19:44Z")
[https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5759419-kennedy-suggests-cheap-cuts/](https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5759419-kennedy-suggests-cheap-cuts/) > “If you buy, you know, a porterhouse steak, it’s going to, it is going to take you back. You can buy liver or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very, very affordable,” he added. So they _ **admit** _ that grocery prices are higher! (FWIW, I like liver.) ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3058 "2026-02-28T01:27:25Z")
> [@](#): > > > “If you buy, you know, a porterhouse steak, it’s going to, it is going to take you back. You can buy liver or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very, very affordable,” he added. That’s a keeper. My English comp prof said to never use the word “very.” As for the phrase “very, very” . . . ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3059 "2026-02-28T02:56:34Z")
I like liver, too, but I couldn’t eat it every day. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2026, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3060 "2026-02-28T03:08:39Z")
And you could eat steak every day? ---
**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:** [February 28, 2026, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3061 "2026-02-28T03:25:03Z")
> [@](#): > > the cheaper cuts of steak that are very, very affordable Another way to say ‘I’ve never even seen a grocery store.’ ---
**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 28, 2026, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3062 "2026-02-28T03:39:37Z")
Just [don’t buy the liverwurst.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqTDecGoMdo) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3063 "2026-02-28T04:46:07Z")
I expect there will be a run on chitterlings and gizzards as well. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3064 "2026-02-28T05:45:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5759419-kennedy-suggests-cheap-cuts/](https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5759419-kennedy-suggests-cheap-cuts/) > > > “If you buy, you know, a porterhouse steak, it’s going to, it is going to take you back. You can buy liver or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very, very affordable,” he added. > > So they _ **admit** _ that grocery prices are higher! > … Roadkill is even cheaper. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3065 "2026-02-28T15:31:32Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Roadkill is even cheaper. I believe that ent(r)ails competing with RFK, Jr., though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=152) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=154)