# 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:** 46
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/902 "2025-02-27T15:25:46Z")
I’ve never understood these disease parties. Seems to me like pushing a kid in front of a car in order to show them that they should be careful when crossing the road. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/903 "2025-02-27T15:30:59Z")
It was to get an inevitable but mostly harmless disease out of the way, at a not-inconvenient time…ie, preventing your kid from coming down with chicken pox right as you’re leaving on vacation. ---
**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 27, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/904 "2025-02-27T16:07:50Z")
Why not just get the G.D. vaccination?!? That only takes a minute. ---
**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 27, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/905 "2025-02-27T16:16:46Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Why not just get the G.D. vaccination?!? Because they are True Believers. They actually believe all the anti-vaxx nonsense out there, that folks like us have tried to hard to refute, for so long. They don’t get the vaccination because we lost the argument. They heard the charlatans and madmen, and decided they were more credible. It’s as simple as that. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/906 "2025-02-27T16:20:05Z")
The scenario I gave was from my youth in the days before the vaccine. Nowadays…you’re right. No reason not to get the shot. Well, no sane and rational reason. ---
**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 27, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/907 "2025-02-27T16:50:27Z")
Also, measles is a very dangerous disease. It doesn’t just make you sick, it damages the immune system creating a sort of “[immune amnesia](https://asm.org/articles/2019/may/measles-and-immune-amnesia)” that blunts its ability to recognize threats. Measles outbreaks tend to be followed by victims suffering from a wave of more lethal diseases. > Examination of child mortality rates in the U.S., U.K., and Denmark in the decades before and after the introduction of the measles vaccine revealed that nearly half of all childhood deaths from infectious disease could be related to MV infection when the disease was prevalent. That means infections other than measles resulted in death, due to the MV effect on the immune system. > > Furthermore, it was determined that it takes approximately 2-3 years post-measles infection for protective immune memory to be restored. ---
**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 27, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/908 "2025-02-27T16:59:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Also, measles is a very dangerous disease. It doesn’t just make you sick, it damages the immune system creating a sort of “[immune amnesia](https://asm.org/articles/2019/may/measles-and-immune-amnesia)” that blunts its ability to recognize threats. Measles outbreaks tend to be followed by victims suffering from a wave of more lethal diseases. Was not aware of this, thanks. I wonder how many anti-vax parents don’t know about this. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/909 "2025-02-27T17:21:55Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I wonder how many anti-vax parents don’t know about this. All of them? (If they’ve heard of it, they don’t believe it.) ---
**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 27, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/910 "2025-02-27T20:11:34Z")
The Orange Genius, plotting tariffs against Canada and Mexico, asks what idiot would ever have signed the existing US-Canada-Mexico trade agreement. Turns out, he did, in 2020, calling it “the best agreement we’ve ever made”. It strikes me that the difference between Trump 1.0 and 2.0 is that in the first one, he lied and exaggerated on a daily basis, but Trump 2.0 plumbs new depths of depravity: it’s just completely disconnected from reality. Facts simply don’t matter at all. The only thing preventing people from pointing out the consequent blatant contradictions is that he’s made clear that retribution for such disloyalty would be swift and severe. > **[Trump Accidentally Insults Himself: ‘Who Would Ever Sign A Thing Like This?’](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-usmca-nafta-tariffs-canada-mexico_n_67bda523e4b0f4e8df29f534)** > > The president recently rebuked a 2020 trade deal known as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement even though he signed it. ---
**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 27, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/911 "2025-02-27T20:16:04Z")
In, nearly, identical news, President Trump on Calling Ukrainian President Zelenskyy a Dictator: “Did I say that?” > **[President Trump on Calling Ukrainian President Zelenskyy a Dictator: "Did I...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOd_SfbgA-4%2F1)** > > Q: Do you still think that Mr. Zelenskyy is a dictator?"President Trump: "Did I say that? I can't believe I said that."Full video here: https://www.c-span.or... But remember it was Biden that was senile! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/912 "2025-02-27T21:20:06Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Trump 2.0 plumbs new depths of depravity: it’s just completely disconnected from reality. Facts simply don’t matter at all. Yeah - he has completely checked out, and makes no effort to disguise it. Hard to imagine any setting - business or whatever - where he would be viewed as anything other than a mentally lazy, dishonest bully. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/913 "2025-02-27T22:56:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > _Also, measles is a very dangerous disease. It doesn’t just make you sick, it damages the immune system._ When I was a teenager back in the 1960s, I had a friend who was blind because his mother caught the measles during pregnancy. Actress Gene Tierney had a deaf and mentally disabled daughter as a result of Tierney catching German measles (Rubella) from a fan at some sort of event. Have these anti-vaxxers even considered those possibilities? I suppose not. During my childhood, before the vaccine, everyone got the measles. I had German measles one year and Rubiola the next. I remember coming to school and half my classmates were home sick. The next day, I was home sick. Having the measles was one childhood disease I remember vividly. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/914 "2025-02-27T23:24:35Z")
Not sure which thread this belongs in as it could live in a few. Amidst today’s parade of floating turds, I found this: Kash Patel trying to solve a problem the FBI doesn’t have. > **[FBI Director Kash Patel wants to bring the UFC to the FBI, sources say](https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-director-kash-patel-wants-182850169.html)** > > Newly-installed FBI Director Kash Patel has proposed enhancing the FBI with help from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, say sources who were told of the proposal. (in case the article doesn’t display properly, the headline is “FBI Director Kash Patel wants to bring the UFC to the FBI, sources say”.) So is this how Patel thinks the FBI works? When they want to arrest you they engage you in single combat? And I guess the problem is the current FBI agents are too fat and lazy (because of all the DEI classes they take instead of rasslin’ classes) so they end up losing? Who needs a 9mm when you can armbar someone instead? I’m sure they’ll love that. Criminals will cower in fear now! ---
**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 27, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/915 "2025-02-27T23:25:09Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Have these anti-vaxxers even considered those possibilities? Virtually everything they’ve done so far across the whole spectrum of government action can be described like this: First they discern the kind of rational, evidence-based constructive action that would be appropriate. Then they see that this is just what “liberals” would want. So they do the exact opposite. Because “slash-n-burn” is the objective. There is no other objective, and in Trump 2.0, consequences are irrelevant. Is it any surprise that absolutely everything they do is wrong? It’s like a bizarro world, but there it is. The whole international order is being upended, militarily and economically, innocents are being persecuted, America is loathed across the world, and ignorant MAGAts are rejoicing in the chaos. ---
**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, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/916 "2025-02-28T00:02:46Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > FBI Director Kash Patel wants to bring the UFC to the FBI, sources say Shouldn’t they take their agents to the YMCA? ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/917 "2025-02-28T00:12:05Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > _It’s like a bizarro world, but there it is._ You are absolutely right, wolfpup. I’ve (jokingly) said that all of humanity, including those of us who are sane and rational, have somehow fallen into an alternate universe, an “Upside Down” so to speak, in which everything we’ve known and respected our entire lifetimes has been flipped to the Dark Side. We’re only now just realizing how extensive it is, but the MAGAts and others aren’t seeing it at all. I just hope we can mentally survive long enough to find a way out. ---
**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 28, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/918 "2025-02-28T00:35:41Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Actress Gene Tierney had a deaf and mentally disabled daughter as a result of Tierney catching German measles (Rubella) from a fan at some sort of event. Aside: this is a major plot point in the Agatha Christie novel, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. /Aside ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/919 "2025-02-28T04:34:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Why not just get the G.D. vaccination?!? That only takes a minute. If you mean the chicken pox vaccine it could be that it wasn’t licensed for use in the US until 1995. I was born in 1962 and remember having chicken pox when I was very young. I also remember parents exposing their kids to other kids since it was assumed it would happen eventually. ---
**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, 2025, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/920 "2025-02-28T04:36:55Z")
FWIW, I had chicken pox when I was five. I was not exposed intentionally. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/921 "2025-02-28T04:39:44Z")
I don’t think I was either. Probably got it at nursery school. I do distinctly remember when my younger sister got it a neighbor brought their kid over to play with her specifically to expose the kid. This you have been circa 1972. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=47)