# 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:** 163
**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:** [March 24, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3246 "2026-03-24T22:37:47Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Estimates vary, but ICE staff seems to be slightly more Latino than America as a whole. That’s not the same as saying they are more brown than America as a whole, but a lot of them do look a bit Latino, and this is likely to influence the rest of ICE. Can we assume that the ICE agents assigned to airport duty are a representative sample of ICE as a whole? I’m skeptical of that. It seems more likely to me that, knowing masks would not be allowed, the ICE honchos deliberately prioritized sending the non-white employees at their disposal. (As in, ‘_who cares what happens to **them** _?’) ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3247 "2026-03-24T22:57:48Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Can we assume that the ICE agents assigned to airport duty are a representative sample of ICE as a whole? I do not know if they are or are not. To me, speculation is not the same as a horror. This is closer to a horror, and by normal standards would be one of the greatest scandals of any administration: [Half a billion dollars bet on oil minutes before Trump climbdown](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/24/half-billion-dollars-bet-oil-minutes-before-trump-climbdown/) > [@](#): > > Half a billion dollars worth of bets on the oil market were placed 15 minutes before Donald Trump said the US had held “productive” talks with Iran and announced a [ceasefire on energy strikes](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/23/iran-war-no-end-in-sight/). > > Some 6,200 oil futures contracts – valued at a reported $580m (£433.9m) – changed hands between 6.49am and 6.50am EST (10.49am and 10.50am GMT) on Monday. > > A quarter of an hour later, the US president announced “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East” on Truth Social, which caused oil prices to tumble. Even though I do not understand how insider trading could be treason, there is a good visual presentation of this here: > **[Treason in the Futures Markets](https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/treason-in-the-futures-markets)** > > People close to Trump are trading based on national secrets ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3248 "2026-03-25T02:43:24Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > …the ICE honchos deliberately prioritized sending the non-white employees at their disposal. (As in, ‘_who cares what happens to **them** _?’) Or, brazen tokenism with “See? We’re not all white! The diversity!” ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3249 "2026-03-25T08:51:03Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > They are being sent to airports to _continue_ to carry out their mission, namely, profiling and arresting people who don’t “look like” white Christian Americans. > > > \ … ICE officers’ exact duties at airports remained unclear. Officers were seen on Monday at several airports walking in small groups through check-in areas and standing near exits, their faces mostly unmasked. Unlike T.S.A. agents, ICE personnel are being paid. > > > > **Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that ICE officers’ duties at airports would include “the immediate arrest of all illegal immigrants who have come into our Country.”** But there have so far been no reports of arrests connected to the deployment. > > My bold. I’m trying to figure out how even the broken clockwork inside his orange skull can possibly imagine how this will work. Isn’t that the job of Customs and Border Protection? Is the Orange Genius implying that CPB is incompetent? I think in a sense that’s just what he’s implying, because CPB will let in almost anyone who is eligible for entry and has all the proper paperwork, even if they’re brown or might be Muslim. ICE, which has no such legal constraints, or any legal constraints at all, really, can then arrest these undesirables as soon as they’re cleared by CPB and send them right back to where they came from. At least, I think that’s the idea rattling around in Trump’s demented brain and being cheered on by MAGA cultists. As a bonus, once word gets around it might dissuade the Wrong Kind from attempting to come to the US in the first place, and as an additional bonus, it might enable ICE to nab brown people trying to flee the country, and send them to detention camps. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3250 "2026-03-25T09:28:23Z")
It’s been said before, but with this latest deployment, I think Trump is trying to turn ICE into his own private police force. Just like the Stasi, SAVAK, the Tontons Macoutes, and other dictators’ secret police. Answerable only to Trump, of course; Congress will be denied a say in ICE’s purposes and duties. Until they get one. Although I’m looking forward to a pleasant summer, November and the midterms cannot come fast enough. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3251 "2026-03-25T12:58:04Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > At least, I think that’s the idea rattling around in Trump’s demented brain and being cheered on by MAGA cultists. I doubt you’ve got that right. I think it’s much simpler. There are big crowds of the general public at airports. Since “illegals” are a vast percentage of everyone in the USA, and are easy to spot (just use a paper bag), it’ll be easy for ICE to just grab folks wandering down the concourses and standing in lines at Starbucks. When you want to do mass arrests, go to where there are already mass groups of people. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3252 "2026-03-25T13:13:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > …it’ll be easy for ICE to just grab folks wandering down the concourses and standing in lines at Starbucks. Not to mention catching them speaking a language–or even using a word or two–besides English. And if they do try to fool everyone by using English, you can locate them by their heavy accents. They don’t have a chance. /s ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3253 "2026-03-25T19:00:24Z")
But it turns out ICE isn’t even doing that. They’re just standing around, doing nothing useful, and collecting a paycheck to boot, [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6zuLyPghhKk/maxresdefault.jpg "i feel so safe") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zuLyPghhKk) ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3254 "2026-03-25T22:07:13Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Or, brazen tokenism with “See? We’re not all white! The diversity!” Well, anything’s possible, though I wouldn’t think anyone put in leadership by the Regime would think it useful to promote diversity. I still suspect that the less-white ICE people are considered the Most Expendable. Meanwhile we have Steve Bannon weighing in on the Why of it all: > **[Bannon: Trump’s ICE airport deployment is ‘test run’ for ICE at polls](https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/bannon-trump-ice-airport-deployment-test-run-2026-midterm-elections/)** > > “We can use this as a test run, as a test case, to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterms." ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3255 "2026-03-25T22:12:20Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Meanwhile we have Steve Bannon weighing in on the Why of it all: Which is one of my biggest worries of the mid-terms - ICE goons strolling up and down voters line-ups. No idea how that be counter-acted. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3256 "2026-03-25T23:33:56Z")
I feel ashamed of my Spanish/Latino roots whenever an ICE thug name is revealed to be “Gutierrez”, “Perez”, etc. Have they no fucking pride? Manga de lamebotas. (bunch of bootlickers) ---
**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:** [March 26, 2026, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3257 "2026-03-26T00:01:59Z")
Oh, but _I’m_ Colombian; _those people_ I want to deport are Venezuelan. The more RW one is, the smaller their circle of “us”, and the more the entire rest of humanity is “them”. A real raging fascist who’s e.g. ethnic Colombian would happily deport people from one village over from where his Mom still lives. Why? Because they are impure “them”, not pure “us”. Note I’m _not_ trying to pick on Colombians specifically. It’s just a convenient nationality to put a concrete example name for rhetorical purposes into my generalized rant. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2026, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3258 "2026-03-26T00:25:24Z")
The entire purpose of this is to instill fear. I’m a big white dude. Born in Chicago. And these thugs kinda scare me. They have free range to kill anyone they want to. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2026, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3259 "2026-03-26T01:08:14Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I feel ashamed of my Spanish/Latino roots whenever an ICE thug name is revealed to be “Gutierrez”, “Perez”, etc. > Have they no fucking pride? Manga de lamebotas. (bunch of bootlickers) First of all, I suspect Latinos are underrepresented among recent hires. Second, realistic alternative jobs, like being a small town police officer, pay a lot less. It can be hard to support your family on those salaries. Third, the United States isn’t the only country in the Americas with questionable law enforcement priorities. Do not some other countries in the Americas also have questionable police organizations with officers named “Gutierrez”, “Perez”, etc.? Fourth, most of them deliberately avoid being as cruel as Kristi Noem and company would like. If they were grabbing brown skin people at random in airport crowds, we would have heard about it – and they are not. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2026, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3260 "2026-03-26T01:11:03Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Third, the United States isn’t the only country in the Americas with questionable law enforcement priorities. Do not some other countries in the Americas also have questionable police organizations with officers named “Gutierrez”, “Perez”, etc.? Of course! I was born and live in one of them!, but at least they are not actively cooperating in blatant racism against their own ethnicity. (Though it’s true that the grade of internalized racism among the police here is pathological) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2026, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3261 "2026-03-26T01:45:34Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > The entire purpose of this is to instill fear. I’m a big white dude. Born in Chicago. And these thugs kinda scare me. They have free range to kill anyone they want to. I was born overseas while my father was in the United States Army. Throughout the vast majority of my life, I’ve never hesitated to answer where I was born. If someone asked me now, especially someone in law enforcement, I wouldn’t answer. It’s unlikely to happen because I look like your fairly typical MAGA type, but this if the first time in my life I’ve had to consider how I’d answer a basic question. ---
**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:** [March 26, 2026, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3262 "2026-03-26T02:24:16Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > at least they are not actively cooperating in blatant racism against their own ethnicity. They certainly do in Mexico and Brazil, depending on how you define “ethnicity.” As in America, where “white” and “Latino” are catch-all categories for a wide variety of ethnicities and heritage ethnicities. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2026, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3263 "2026-03-26T02:28:31Z")
I think you are right, In Argentina too. Not sure why it bothers me more when the bigoted-against-their-own are immigrants in the U.S., it’s the same kind of people really. ---
**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:** [March 26, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3264 "2026-03-26T03:38:08Z")
Who is “we”, shit stain? Is Trump even still talking to this filthy dolt? I honestly don’t see ICE hanging around voting centers. Supervisors know it’s illegal and (I assume) would call the police immediately. I’m sure they’ve thought about it - probably more than we - and have established protocols. If the thugs actually show up, armed and ready to scare people away, then we’re way past voter suppression and the civil war will have begun. ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2026, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/3265 "2026-03-26T12:37:39Z")
Not intelligent but there is a trend. He does things that allow him to show power. Like suing universities. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=162) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=164)