# 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:** 41
**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 17, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/802 "2025-02-17T14:55:08Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > wherein he simultaneously claims that the US is “unfairly” spending huge sums to protect Canada, and that we should let them take us over so they can protect us. …and all the while we’ll be “paying less tax!”, so we’ll … actually come out ahead?!? Is this how he bankrupted so many casinos? ---
**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 17, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/803 "2025-02-17T16:08:34Z")
Good thing that Trump is protecting the US from Canadian drugs. A CBSA report shows that massive quantities of drugs and guns are pouring into Canada from the US, the largest drug and gun market in the world … [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/akpxFZnkBS0/maxresdefault.jpg "U.S. drugs and guns pouring into Canada, border data shows") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akpxFZnkBS0) ---
**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:** [February 17, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/804 "2025-02-17T16:45:32Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I eagerly await the outrage coming from organized labor in support of government workers. Shall I hold my breath? Outrage is performative, but action works. Grievances are being filed. I recently got a copy of the collective grievance letter sent on Friday from the AFGE to my employer’s Labor Employee Relations department (actually, two separate grievance letters - one regarding telework, and the other regarding full-time remote work), and we’ve been advised to also file our own individual grievance letters with our own direct supervisors. We’ve been told to expect a boilerplate grievance letter we can use, so I’m waiting for that. Since people lose access to their work computers when they get let go, probationary employees have been advised to download all of their electronic personnel files, along with any emails in which someone said something good about them, as those kinds of things can help to counter claims that they were terminated for poor performance. I’m not a probie, but I felt compelled to do the same thing for myself this weekend just in case Elon and the Muskrats decide to also go after more long-in-the-tooth employees. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/805 "2025-02-18T15:19:57Z")
[As Trump ‘Exports’ Deportees, Hundreds Are Trapped in Panama Hotel](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/world/americas/trump-migrant-deportation-panama.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x04._lMq.5bYFVjbvQYD3&smid=url-share) > [@](#): > > They arrived at the United States border from around the world, hoping to seek asylum. Instead, they were detained, shackled and flown by the U.S. military to a faraway country, Panama. > > They were stripped of their passports and most of their cellphones, they said, and then locked in a hotel, barred from seeing lawyers and told they would soon be sent to a makeshift camp near the Panamanian jungle. . . . > > On Wednesday, U.S. officials began flying hundreds of people, including people from Asian, Middle Eastern and African countries, to Panama, which is under intense pressure to appease Mr. Trump, who has threatened to take over the Panama Canal. . . . > > In one window visible from a sidewalk below the hotel, a woman clawed at a latchless glass pane in an attempt to escape. When she noticed journalists below, she held up a piece of paper that read “Afghan.” > > She made hand motions that indicated an airplane, then her head falling off. The message seemed to be clear: A flight home meant death. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/806 "2025-02-18T15:24:48Z")
I mean, to Trump voters that’s a bonus, not a problem. They’ll think _“She’s an illegal immigrant, a woman and a Muslim, so if she’s killed it’s better than she deserves.”_ ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/807 "2025-02-18T15:50:05Z")
The Onion is going to go out of business, because they can’t make up shit that’s any crazier than reality: > **[Republican bill would make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republican-bill-make-trumps-birthday-federal-holiday-rcna192443)** > > Adding to the list of similarly sycophantic efforts, a GOP congresswoman unveiled an actual bill to make Donald Trump’s birthday a federal holiday. ---
**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 18, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/808 "2025-02-18T16:02:21Z")
But we’re going to celebrate it on ~~April 20~~ July 29. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/809 "2025-02-18T16:06:28Z")
Whoa… all that sucking from the D.C. area is going to disrupt the weather more than climate change. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/810 "2025-02-18T16:53:50Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > A CBSA report shows that massive quantities of drugs and guns are pouring into Canada from the US, the largest drug and gun market in the world … Well it’s like all the guns crossing the southern border. They deviously write “made in america” on the side of them, and then make them tachyonic, so a sub-luminal observer believes the guns are travelling _into_ Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/811 "2025-02-18T17:59:37Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I mean, to Trump voters that’s a bonus, not a problem. They’ll think _“She’s an illegal immigrant, a woman and a Muslim, so if she’s killed it’s better than she deserves.”_ Some Trump voters yes, others, no. According to the New York Times article, at least nine of the imprisoned asylum seekers are Christians from a country where Islam is the state religion. We do not know the religion of the woman in question, nor anything of what evidence may or may not exist concerning her immigration status. When posting something in the “compendium of horrors,” I am thinking/hoping it would be broadly recognized as a bad feature of the current administration, not just by progressives. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/812 "2025-02-18T18:04:05Z")
Here’s a truly scary thought; I fear for the future > [@](#): > > # Poll: Majority of GOP voters would reject checks, balances to give Trump more power > > … > … > … > It’s reached the point at which Steve Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University, [told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent](https://newrepublic.com/article/191598/trump-musk-threats-darken-anger-enemies-takes-ominous-turn) that Americans should recognize the contemporary Republican Party as “an authoritarian political party. “ > > The question then becomes how much of the party’s base would mind. The latest national Pew Research Center survey included [some striking findings](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/14/most-americans-say-it-would-be-too-risky-to-give-presidents-including-trump-more-power/): > > > In contrast, a 59% majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say many of the country’s problems could be addressed more effectively if Trump didn’t need to worry so much about Congress or the courts. Republicans who say they ‘strongly’ identify with the GOP are particularly likely to say the nation’s problems could be more effectively addressed by giving Trump more power: 78% say this. > > The partisan divisions were enormous: 90% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents concluded it would be “too risky” to give Trump more power without checks and balances, but according to the Pew data, a majority of GOP voters came to the opposite conclusion. > > (The survey was conducted from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, 2025. A total of 5,086 panelists responded out of 5,699 who were sampled, for a survey-level response rate of 89%. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 3%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 5,086 respondents is plus or minus 1.6 percentage points.) > > Alas, there’s no reason to see the results as an outlier. The Associated Press reported last spring, for example, on a national AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey, which found that 57% of Republicans endorsed the idea of Trump “taking action on the country’s important policy issues without waiting for Congress or the courts.” > **[Poll: Majority of GOP voters would reject checks, balances to give Trump more...](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/poll-majority-gop-voters-reject-checks-balances-give-trump-power-rcna192602)** > > A majority of Republican voters believe Trump would address problems effectively if only he didn’t have to worry so much about Congress or the courts. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/813 "2025-02-18T18:38:57Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > According to the New York Times article, at least nine of the imprisoned asylum seekers are Christians from a country where Islam is the state religion. We do not know the religion of the woman in question, nor anything of what evidence may or may not exist concerning her immigration status. That’s not how it works. She’s from an Islamic country, therefore she’s Islamic and an enemy of humanity. And she’s not from America so she’s an illegal" and therefore an enemy of the US. And she’s a woman and therefore an enemy of God. The _actual_ facts are beside the point in Trumpland. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/814 "2025-02-19T00:44:53Z")
Trump has just signed an Executive Order declaring that the [Supreme Court is irrelevant](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/18/trump-signs-executive-order-allowing-attorney-gene/). Only the president or the attorney general can interpret the law. The mind just boggles. From the article: “President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order declaring that only the attorney general or the president, instead of federal regulators or bureaucrats, can speak for the U.S. when interpreting the meaning of laws carried out by the executive branch.” I know, he can write an Executive Order declaring the sky is green and that doesn’t automatically make it so, but if you haven’t figured out by now that this is a coup and the endgame is to bury the Constitution, you are worse than a fool. Now let’s see if Roberts and Co. have anything to say about this, because we know that Congress won’t. And if Roberts does deliver a strongly worded objection, will it make any difference? ---
**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:** [February 19, 2025, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/815 "2025-02-19T00:49:32Z")
I would more or less consider that a strong bellwether moment. If the Supremes go wrong on this - that’s it. Toast. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/816 "2025-02-19T01:11:24Z")
It would seem that the exclusive club of tin-pot backwater banana republic one party states has expanded it’s membership … and this one is nuclear armed and spoiling for a fight. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/817 "2025-02-19T01:49:39Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Now let’s see if Roberts and Co. have anything to say about this, because we know that Congress won’t. And if Roberts does deliver a strongly worded objection, will it make any difference? I read the executive order “fact sheet” and do not agree with your interpretation. It says that independent agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission are now under the thumb of the President. I am going by this link: > **[Trump’s Executive Order Aims to Illegally Undermine Federal Independent...](https://www.citizen.org/news/trump-eo-illegally-limits-independent-agencies-power/)** > > Americans should understand exactly what this is: A giant gift to the corporate class and a Trumpian power grab... Or is there something in the executive order that Public Citizen missed? If by some miracle the Supreme Court seriously stands up to Trump, stopping DJT from ruling by decree on the basis of phony emergencies, legal compliance will become a dramatic issue. So you are correct to be alert for that. As for Roberts, last month he swore Trump in fully knowing that DJT is unqualified for office by the original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that Donald had campaigned on the idea of being a day one dictator. Also, the whole Supreme Court apparently believes their job is just to rule on cases, and maybe teach a law school summer class, rather than to, per their oath of office, “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” While I agree that the Supreme Court should, in face of Trump’s threats to the constitutional order, do more to defend the Constitution than just decide cases, when I suggested that before the election, the legal professionals on this board were not on my side.: I think that if Roberts had gone on TV and said that Trump could not run because he had violated his first term oath of office, that would have been better accepted by the country than if, after he was elected, the Supreme Court stops Trump from carrying out campaign promises. I hope I am wrong, but I think their chance to support and defend the Constitution ended about fourteen months ago. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/818 "2025-02-19T01:55:19Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > that only the attorney general or the president, instead of federal regulators or bureaucrats, can speak for the U.S. when interpreting the meaning of laws carried out by the executive branch.” IANA lawyer, American, or constitutional expert, so does “federal regulators or bureaucrats” incorporate and include the Supreme Court? ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/819 "2025-02-19T02:03:35Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > IANA lawyer, American, or constitutional expert, so does “federal regulators or bureaucrats” incorporate and include the Supreme Court? No, and this is not an attempt to sideline the Supreme Court. The idea here is to centralize executive branch legal interpretations in the White House or the Justice Department, rather than in the different departments. The effect will be to have legal interpretation under the thumb of political appointees rather than subject-matter expert lawyers in the various agencies. Which is bad enough in itself and certainly a move towards “unitary executive”-style tyranny, but it’s not “an executive order that can erase the Supreme Court” like @Toxgoddess 's post seemed to be saying. ---
**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 19, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/820 "2025-02-19T02:07:43Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > As for Roberts, last month he swore Trump in fully knowing that DJT is unqualified for office by the original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that Donald had campaigned on the idea of being a day one dictator. The swearing-in was of course purely ceremonial. Roberts had no power to stop Trump from becoming president. But he heads an institution that does have the power to limit Trump’s abuses and whether the Supreme Court does so or not in the weeks ahead is vitally important to the future of the country. Specifically, whether they will support or overturn lower court injunctions against some of Trump’s illegal actions. As I said elsewhere, the press failed in its obligation to prevent the tyranny of the executive branch under Trump, Congress is totally under his control, so the Supreme Court is the last and only hope of any kind of check on his otherwise unlimited power. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/821 "2025-02-19T02:10:05Z")
Ok thanks for that. But it does look bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=40) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=42)