# 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:** 24
**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 28, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/462 "2025-01-28T02:48:15Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I don’t believe this is real. Can you confirm it? > > MAGA worships the military. I expect no cuts there. The Right loves the _idea_ of the military. The actual flesh-and-blood soldiers however are treated with contempt and abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/463 "2025-01-28T08:32:28Z")
And a start to end transgender rights starting with military: > **[Trump signs order that likely sets in motion a future ban on transgender troops](https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-tuskegee-airmen-dei-pentagon-480d932c8bcb4c6056abe78e34010982)** > > President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops. From article: In his order, Trump claimed that service by troops who identify as a gender other than their biological one “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness, requiring a revised policy to address the matter. > Blockquote ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/464 "2025-01-28T08:44:41Z")
> [@from Locrian's link](#): > > “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” Said with a straight face after Hegseth’s approval. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/465 "2025-01-28T10:21:46Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > is there one nation left on the planet that doesn’t totally despite the Orange Fuck? Outside Europe, more than you think: > **[Alone in a Trumpian world: The EU and global public opinion after the US...](https://ecfr.eu/publication/alone-in-a-trumpian-world-the-eu-and-global-public-opinion-after-the-us-elections/)** > > Citizens of global powers are upbeat about a second Trump presidency – but this is by no means universal, particularly among traditional US allies. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/466 "2025-01-28T18:39:53Z")
The poor saps probably figure that, being overseas, the leopards can’t eat _their_ faces. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/467 "2025-01-28T18:47:08Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > is there one nation left on the planet that doesn’t totally despite the Orange Fuck? > > Outside Europe, more than you think: I don’t find that very persuasive. Seven countries think Trump will be “good for America”, which only means their citizens are as poorly informed as many Americans, and none of those countries are places I’d ever want to live. And on the question of whether Trump will be good or bad for their own country, only India and Saudi Arabia saw benefits, the latter for obvious reasons. On the question of world peace, China joins the other two in feeling posirive, and no one else. Perhaps those three countries are unaware that Trump is about to go to war with some of America’s closest allies. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/468 "2025-01-28T18:55:24Z")
Who knew that not only “gender ideology,” but thinking that the U.S. Constitution might be both sexist (because, among other things, it refers to the President as “he”) and racist (because it provided for the protection of states to “import” persons through 1808), was not only “irrational” but “un-American” - and yet, it says so in the “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” executive order? ---
**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:** [January 28, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/469 "2025-01-28T19:20:41Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Outside Europe, more than you think And inside Europe, it’s not all unicorns and sunshine either. No doubt there’s a shitload of Serbians excited by Trump’s assault on the world order because it’ll free them to take another shot at Kosovo. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/470 "2025-01-28T21:00:13Z")
There are trumpists in every country in Europe. So, you cannot say there’s any nation that literally totally despised the Orange Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/471 "2025-01-29T02:38:33Z")
An email sent today, to most or all U.S. government employees, is getting a lot of publicity. Some headlines suggest it is a buyout offer, although I do not read it that way. The way I read it, it is encouraging government employees to resign, allowing them to continue work from home (something Trump falsely claims almost all government workers do) until September 30 in return. What’s clear is that: – It solicits all government employees to resign, no matter how mission-critical – The resignation terms being offered are ambiguous. Whatever the reality of how the Trump administration will interpret it, some government employees will inevitably resign with a mistaken conception of the real Trump administration resignation terms. Intent? Gut the federal workforce. Legality? I have no idea. See: > **[Fork in the Road](https://www.opm.gov/fork)** > > Welcome to opm.gov . ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/472 "2025-01-29T02:47:05Z")
I wonder if the work fast and break things approach being taken here will open holes in government computer systems for hackers to walk through: [OPM sued over privacy concerns with new government-wide email system](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5111199-federal-employees-sue-opm-email/) > [@](#): > > That includes an unusual email from OPM last Thursday reviewed by The Hill said the agency was testing “a new capability” to reach all federal employees — a departure from staffers typically being contacted directly by their agency’s human resources department. > > Also cited in the suit is an anonymous Reddit post Monday from someone purporting to be an OPM employee, saying a new server was installed at their office after a career employee refused to set up a direct line of communication to all federal employees. Would setting up an email account with millions of recipients take more than three workdays to do in a tested safe manner? As a federal software developer until I retired two years ago, I was a bit of a cowboy myself, but this may take it to a new level. Or not. I am not an expert in this technical area, so other opinions are welcome. ---
**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 29, 2025, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/473 "2025-01-29T03:35:34Z")
I wouldn’t take ANY deal from Trump unless it paid cash, in full, up front. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/474 "2025-01-29T03:58:58Z")
Mostly agree. It’s not Trump’s money. He hardly ever pays income tax. So he won’t be upset if the payments go out. However, I can always dream that courts will rule against spending unappropriated funds. Years ago, the government sometimes gave $25,000 buyouts to encourage retirements. Trump’s eight month payments, if paid, will often come to far more money, even counting inflation. Suppose you are a VA surgeon making $300,000 annually (many make more). According to the email, you can go home and make $200,000, for the next eight months, without picking up a scalpel. It’s unclear from the email if you can take another job during the eight months, but let’s say you can. If you operate at a private hospital, with most of your revenue coming from medicare and Medicaid, you will be legally double-dipping. Trump is likely fine with that. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/475 "2025-01-29T08:45:43Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Legality? I have no idea. I read this morning (maybe another thread here) that there is no federal authority for the multi-month severance buyout being offered; the maximum period for a nonworking administrative leave is ten days. So, yeah. Legality = squat. Not that this bothers these cackling goblins. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/476 "2025-01-29T12:06:52Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > The way I read it, it is encouraging government employees to resign, allowing them to continue work from home (something Trump falsely claims almost all government workers do) until September 30 in return. What’s clear is that: It doesn’t even require them to work from home: > This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6. If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits **regardless of your daily workload** and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason). Bolding mine. Also, near the bottom of the email: > I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition during my remaining time at my employing agency. Accordingly, I will assist my employing agency with completing reasonable and customary tasks and processes to facilitate my departure. The way I read it, you’ll be sent home and nothing will be asked of you anymore, except maybe for the occasional (former) coworker contacting you ask where you left the files for the ??? project, or who to contact about some esoteric thing, and your obligation to respond to those requests will end on September 30… ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/477 "2025-01-29T13:20:13Z")
Just to be clear, and not because I’m concerned about any monitoring and possible retribution, but I definitely AM NOT A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE. And if I were, I would be stationed in - Florida - that’s it! But I don’t believe his purging of [the NLRB and EEOC](https://www.npr.org/2025/01/28/nx-s1-5277103/nlrb-trump-wilcox-abruzzo-democrats-labor) have been mentioned yet (at least in this thread. They really are trying to cover all their bases here. An impressive attempt. Will have to see how it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/478 "2025-01-29T13:33:31Z")
This showed up on the Daily Kos yesterday about the “buyout”: > [@](#): > > # [Trump has NOT offered Feds a buyout!](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/28/2299851/-Trump-has-not-offered-Feds-a-buyout) > > by Zombie Reagan > > Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.) > > Tuesday, January 28, 2025 at 6:44:24p EST > > * * * > > The front page AP story is wrong. > > Trump has offered feds the opportunity to continue working remotely or telework through the end of September if they quit after. > > That is not a buyout or severance in any way shape or form. > > It is an attempt to force compliance in advance, before the actual orders ending telework or remote work (do not call it return to office, feds working remotely work in an office every day) are articulated or challenged. > > When the rubber hits the road of actually implementing orders ending remote work, there will be lawsuits, exemptions, delays and a whole bunch of other things that may not make it as severe as it seems based on these executive orders that were seemingly written by children. > > Stop calling them buyouts or early retirement offers. > > They know these orders will be challenged in court. > > They know these orders violate CBAs. > > They want to trick people into thinking they are being magnanimous and not fascist. > Don’t believe the hype. > Resist this illegal billionaire cabal. > **[Trump has NOT offered Feds a buyout!](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/28/2299851/-Trump-has-not-offered-Feds-a-buyout?utm_campaign=trending)** > > The front page AP story is wrong. Trump has offered feds the opportunity to continue working remotely or telework through the end of September if they quit after. That is not a buyout or severance in any way shape or form. It is an attempt to... ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/479 "2025-01-29T13:59:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > When the rubber hits the road of actually implementing orders ending remote work, there will be lawsuits, exemptions, delays Yeah - but my concern is that when the federal unions file in court, they will be told that their only recourse is the NLRB (or MSPB - Merit Systems Protection Board IIRC). And if he guts those entities, what recourse is there? I wonder how many fed employees work 100% remotely and live more than - say - 50 miles from their work station. Those are the first folk likely to have to make tough decisions. Our office is underutilized, but has approx 8 years left on a VERY favorable lease. Will he consolidate us with another office and eat the rent? Or just break leases with landlords? ---
**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:** [January 29, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/480 "2025-01-29T13:59:56Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > It’s not Trump’s money. He hardly ever pays income tax. So he won’t be upset if the payments go out. IMHO, it isn’t quite this simple. Trump’s actions can have no end of knock-on economic consequences which can help or hurt things like the equity market and the Fed Funds rate. There’s a point where “deficits don’t matter,” and there’s a point where they start to inflict quantifiable pain on the people with whom he actually communicates. The less money in the Federal coffers, the harder it becomes for Trump to enrich himself, his family, and the people with whom he shares the top tier income/net worth stage. The Trump Org. is/was famously built on debt. It would be easy to say that – since it wasn’t _his_ money – he didn’t care how much went out. But he did. Famously. I think Trump views every dollar in the US GDP as either _his_ or one of which he needs to figure out how to get a piece. I think many in his orbit see it exactly the same way. I think it’s been a while … _“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them."_ – Turkish Proverb ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/481 "2025-01-29T14:33:43Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > It’s not Trump’s money. He hardly ever pays income tax. So he won’t be upset if the payments go out. > > IMHO, it isn’t quite this simple. I certainly agree with that. Tim Kaine said: [“If you accept that offer and resign, he’ll stiff you. He doesn’t have any authority to do this. Do not be fooled by this guy.”](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/29/us/trump-federal-freeze-funding-news#trump-buyouts-federal-workers) (sorry, out of gift links). I recall from back when I was a fed that there was a union contract clause saying that conditions of employment could not be changed just by an email. This protected employees getting too many emails to read them all, but management could use a provision like that to say, whoops, we hoped we could pay severance, but we can’t. > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > There’s a point where “deficits don’t matter,” and there’s a point where they start to inflict quantifiable pain on the people with whom he actually communicates. > > . . … > > – Turkish Proverb Trump’s policies are inflationary, but when the inflation will hit is unpredictable. Talking Turkish, Erdoğan took power in 2003, but it took almost twenty years for inflation to spike much above what was normal for Turkey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=25)