# 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:** 23
**Author:** ![survinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@survinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survinga)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/442 "2025-01-27T01:12:20Z")
I don’t see any internal coup. He already skated Scot-free from J6. I think he has correctly judged that no one is going to do anything to him. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/443 "2025-01-27T01:12:29Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > I’m not convinced that the US military removing the head of government/state because of couple of decisions they deem unacceptable is a particularly good idea. It’s an absolutely, astoundingly horrible idea. However, at some point, it might actually be better than the alternatives. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/444 "2025-01-27T01:13:44Z")
It’s starting to look pretty good actually./s ---
**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:** [January 27, 2025, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/445 "2025-01-27T01:18:58Z")
> [@Ellecram](#): > > to look pretty good actually./s No /shit ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/446 "2025-01-27T02:18:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Trump is ovviously insane. He has no idea what he’s doing and the decisions he’s making are going to actively harm his supporters, the economy, and the country as a whole. Stupid isn’t insane. It’s just stupid. The dangerous part is that he has more support from below now - the Trumpipsts fully own the party - and he’s being openly manipulated by Musk and a few other oligarchs. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/447 "2025-01-27T02:19:54Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I don’t think it’s a good idea. > > I think it might become inevitable if Trump keeps acting the way he has for the last week. Who would do this? The armed services have zero interest in a coup and are disproportionately Trumpist. The cabinet is Trumpist. Congress is majority Trumpist. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2025, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/448 "2025-01-27T03:08:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The armed services… An albeit soon-to-be increasingly hungry bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/449 "2025-01-27T03:40:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The armed services have zero interest in a coup The armed services also have no interest in letting their families go hungry, their children uneducated (the above plan also includes shutting down the DOD school system), or getting their heads blown off by Quebecois partisans. The tipping point is probably going to be when he tries to order a bombing campaign against an ally, upon which it will be “suggested” that he relocate to Mar-a-Lago to DJ at weddings and cheat at golf while Acting President Vance takes care of the boring work of running the country for him. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/450 "2025-01-27T04:17:34Z")
> [@betonbill](#): > > Beginning to look like the Heritage Society and Project 2025 is really running the country. Since Trump hates to read or think about anything he is doing, he is already preconditioned to let somebody else do all the work. That’s likely why so much is getting done so fast. The real powers behind the golden toilet have been setting up their strategies and tactics to remold the government into the form they want for years, and are smoothly swinging into action now. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/451 "2025-01-27T04:23:49Z")
This hideous lie may be a new low for my vice-president. [JD Vance](https://nypost.com/2025/01/26/us-news/jd-vance-hits-conference-of-catholic-bishops-over-ice-raids-in-churches-criticism/): > [@](#): > > I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line? [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) response](https://www.usccb.org/news/2025/usccb-statement-its-work-us-refugee-admissions-program): > [@](#): > > Congress created the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Every person resettled through USRAP is vetted and approved for the program by the federal government while outside of the United States. In our agreements with the government, the USCCB receives funds to do this work; however, these funds are not sufficient to cover the entire cost of these programs. Nonetheless, this remains a [work of mercy](https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/jubilee-of-mercy/the-corporal-works-of-mercy) and ministry of the Church. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/452 "2025-01-27T04:36:40Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > At this point I expect some sort of internal coup before too long. I just don’t know if it’s going to be the Vance/Musk/Thiel faction, or the military. Neither possibility is good. > > Before the inauguration, I would have put 50-50 odds on Trump not completing his term due to being removed from office due to some extreme malfeasance that not even his sycophants in Congress could support. But as I feared might happen in Trump 2.0, because he has nothing left to lose, he’s gone completely nuts, and I now think the odds are considerably higher. This is just the first week. Where will the world be a year or two years from now? My prediction: The coup will come no later than halfway through his term, from the Vance/Thiel cabal (an open question where Musk will be by this time), but not by an overt operation. Rather, Trump will become ill and either lapse into an irrecoverable coma or outright die in short order. There’s more than one way to deliberately produce that medical outcome and make it look plausible. So much neater to do it that way, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/453 "2025-01-27T04:58:41Z")
If they can swing it, it will happen after the midway point of Trump’s term. That way, Vance could serve for 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/454 "2025-01-27T05:02:46Z")
Ah, good point, unless 45/47 is doing so much damage they need to take him out sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/455 "2025-01-27T07:55:08Z")
The Republicans have shown basically no willingness to stand up to Trump, to the point of personal humiliation. People have been saying that “surely _this_ is too far for even the Republicans” about various things ever since 2016, but it never is. I don’t think they’ll do _anything_ but cave in short of him doing something like walking into a session of Congress and shooting random Republicans (they’d be fine with murdering Democrats). Attacking an ally? That wouldn’t even be close to “too far”. Republicans don’t _believe_ in allies, just victims and pawns. Unless the ally in question has nuclear weapons; that at least might give them pause. Not the morality of it, just the fact that a nuclear armed nation can retaliate in a way that might actually kill _them,_ personally. But Canada doesn’t have nukes; so Trump could carpet bomb it into burning rubble and kill every last Canadian, and the Republicans wouldn’t care at all. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/456 "2025-01-27T12:20:29Z")
I don’t believe this is real. Can you confirm it? MAGA worships the military. I expect no cuts there. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/457 "2025-01-27T12:49:45Z")
Even if it were real, I would suspect at least a strong possibility that the result would be for more military to opt out when their tour ends, and to make recruitment more difficult. (Though I was surprised with a quick Google, to see that actual commitments tended longer than I had thought.) ---
**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:** [January 27, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/458 "2025-01-27T14:38:05Z")
All they would have to do is encourage the old man to follow his appetites for food and (lack of) exercise. Inexorable time is on their side. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/459 "2025-01-27T17:26:03Z")
Nah, it’s too uncertain just to wait it out. I gather from watching true crime shows that there are drugs like succinylcholine that are a lot faster, more effective, and often nearly untraceable. Oh, and mods, if this is too explicit, go ahead and deep-six it. I’m not advocating this, just speculating on what certain parties might attempt if their loose cannon is doing too much damage. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/460 "2025-01-27T17:44:26Z")
I think you’re right, though. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from medieval history, it’s that when authority is vested in the person of the king, and that king has a lot of power, that those next in line are not always above hasting his demise. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/461 "2025-01-27T19:59:52Z")
The source is a paper by Austin Dahmer, the new Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities. Here’s the full document; > **[FINAL\_Resourcing-the-Strategy-of-Denial\_Dahmer.pdf](https://themarathoninitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FINAL_Resourcing-the-Strategy-of-Denial_Dahmer.pdf)** > > 624.30 KB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=24)