# 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:** 52
**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 10, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1022 "2025-03-10T17:39:07Z")
Fascism 101: Whatever the Big Bad likes is “legal”. Whatever the Big Bad doesn’t like is “illegal”. Those are the _only_ operating definitions of those two words. ---
**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 10, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1023 "2025-03-10T19:29:44Z")
We got there. Trump IS the government. Not the other parts or “the people.” Supporting Ukraine now a treason: > **['Traitor?' Mark Kelly fires back after Elon Musk accuses him of treason](https://www.rawstory.com/traitor-mark-kelly-fires-back-after-elon-musk-accuses-him-of-treason/)** > > Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) responded Monday after billionaire Elon Musk accused him of being a "traitor."On Sunday, Kelly shared details of his trip to Ukraine in a post on the X social media platform."Just left Ukraine," he wrote. "What I saw proved to... ---
**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 10, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1024 "2025-03-10T19:33:33Z")
“And Elon: When you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship yourself, give me a call.” That should leave a mark… ---
**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 10, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1025 "2025-03-10T19:36:07Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Green cards can be revoked, I know. Can someone explain how this is illegal? It _sounds_ illegal (I would think there would be notification and due process), but I don’t actually know. I know border guards have broad discretion. Border guards (CPB) have broad discretion but ICE has no authority to revoke green cards. This came from the State Department which in turn gets it marching orders from Trump, who previously threatened exactly this kind of action. The cited article suggests that the government retaliating in this way against someone they just don’t like is probably illegal: > The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. But the detention of a legal permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime marked an extraordinary move with an uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts. > > “This has the appearance of a retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > The pregnancy and citizenship of his wife is emotive but irrelevant. I was to know how fascist this arrest was on a scale of 1 to 10. This one seems to be even more clear-cut. ICE has no jurisdiction over an American citizen. This whole thing is reminiscent of Gestapo raids in Nazi Germany. Also of note, Columbia University is being strangely silent on questions like whether the ICE agents had the warrant they required to arrest Khalil on Columbia property, or making any effort to defend him or other protestors. The reason, presumably, is that Trump also threatened to cut federal funding to universities that weren’t fully cooperative with him. ---
**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 10, 2025, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1026 "2025-03-10T19:42:28Z")
From the stories I read, I don’t think ICE did anything to the American citizen wife other than illegally disappear her husband. Which, I think, ranks pretty high on my fascism scale: if ICE is just all of a sudden detaining American citizens without a formal arrest and access to due process (something I warned about when we did the same to the 9-11 attackers at Guantanamo), that’s terrifying. ---
**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 10, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1027 "2025-03-10T19:45:10Z")
Note also my added edit to say the Columbia University appears to have been intimidated into silence for fear of losing federal funding. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1028 "2025-03-10T20:08:35Z")
I’d like to formally coin the term “Swift Yachting” for what Musk did here. Thank you. ---
**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 10, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1029 "2025-03-10T21:48:47Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Note also my added edit to say the Columbia University appears to have been intimidated into silence for fear of losing federal funding. I see that the Orange Tyrant cut a good chunk of it anyway just a couple of days ago, presumably out of spite for some perceived offense or just a general disdain for universities … > **[White House cuts $400M in grants to Columbia University, claims campus...](https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/education/trump-administration-cuts-off-400-million-in-grants-to-columbia-university-over-campus-unrest)** > > The Department of Education said it has canceled $400 million worth of federal grants to Columbia University over “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” ---
**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 10, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1030 "2025-03-10T22:57:34Z")
Spite & leverage, with a bonus of weakening the potential opposition. (Not that univ admins are great and standing up for what’s right.) ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1031 "2025-03-10T23:31:34Z")
Robert Heinlein: > I hear that there are things no whore will do for money but I have yet to find _anything_ that a university chancellor faced with a deficit will boggle at. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2025, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1032 "2025-03-11T01:12:48Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian national who studied at Columbia and helped lead protests against Israel, was arrested by ICE agents Saturday night. When informed by his attorney that Khalil was legally in this country with a green card, an agent said that they were revoking it. > > [Immigration agents arrest Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests](https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/ice-arrests-palestinian-activist-who-helped-lead-columbia-university-protests-his-lawyer-says/ar-AA1AyXJU?ocid=BingNewsSerp) > > > As ICE agents arrived at Khalil’s Manhattan residence Saturday night, they also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant [The NYT reports a federal judge has intervened:](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/trump-rubio-khalil-columbia-student-protests.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3E4.Pfmm.-pCvTODk7tfQ&smid=url-share) (gift link) > On Monday, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered the government not to remove Mr. Khalil from the United States while the judge reviewed a petition challenging the legality of his detention. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers also filed a motion on Monday asking the judge to compel the federal government to transfer him back to New York. ---
**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 11, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1033 "2025-03-11T05:45:43Z")
Remember the revolt about the high price of eggs? One of the things that helped to get Trump elected, because he was gonna deal with that right on Day One? How’s that working out? It’s working out like this. Egg prices are higher than ever, and Trump has imposed massive tariffs that are guaranteed to spur inflation and drive up the price of **everything**! As for the price of those eggs, Trump’s advice to the faithful is to just shut up about it. > **[Trump shared article to ‘shut up’ about egg prices after vowing to bring them...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-egg-prices-shut-up-b2712527.html)** > > ‘The egg prices out of control. And we are working hard to get it back down,’ Trump said last week ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1034 "2025-03-11T11:56:04Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I see that the Orange Tyrant cut a good chunk of it anyway just a couple of days ago, presumably out of spite for some perceived offense or just a general disdain for universities … Cuts (and damage) everywhere: [https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/03/07/iowa-state-university-rescinds-some-admission-offers-for-graduate-students/](https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/03/07/iowa-state-university-rescinds-some-admission-offers-for-graduate-students/) > [@](#): > > Iowa State University graduate school programs have started rescinding offers to prospective students as departments scramble to respond to funding uncertainties. > > Someone who identified themselves as an international, prospective Ph.D. student posted a letter [online](https://www.reddit.com/r/gradadmissions/comments/1j4cf41/offer_withdrawal_what_the_actual_hell_is_this/?q=aady2001&type=comments&cId=ace86dc1-5420-4203-976c-6a22eb0abc42&iId=d9f85df6-8539-494f-9d56-3e2ccb66adf9) they received from ISU on March 5 stating an offer the student had previously received from the university’s department of chemistry was being withdrawn “due to current uncertainties with federal research funding that supports most work done by graduate students at research universities.” > > According to the letter, even if the student was able to accept the offer, the university couldn’t guarantee it would be able to provide a graduate assistantship to them. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1035 "2025-03-11T17:07:28Z")
Trump made me agree with Ann fucking Coulter. Excuse me while I throw up a bit. [https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5187164-ann-coulter-arrest-columbia-protester-free-speech/](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5187164-ann-coulter-arrest-columbia-protester-free-speech/) ---
**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:** [March 11, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1036 "2025-03-11T17:17:17Z")
> **[Pitt institutes hiring freeze at least through June in response to funding...](https://www.utimes.pitt.edu/news/pitt-institutes-hiring)** > > By SUSAN JONES > > Pitt announced today that it will institute a faculty and staff hiring freeze, in response to the uncertainty surrounding federal funding of research grants under the Trump administration. > > The freeze will remain in place through... My Alma Mater is currently implementing a temporary hiring freeze. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1037 "2025-03-11T22:54:14Z")
Trump posted a link to an article with a Nazi symbol: > **[Yes, Trump posted link that included Nazi symbol for gay men in concentration...](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-pink-triangle-nazis-gay/)** > > Social media users shared screenshots of a post from the president's Truth Social account in March 2025. ---
**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 12, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1038 "2025-03-12T00:05:59Z")
The article does mention that the symbol has been reclaimed by the gay community for 50 years, but they say that the direction of the triangle is all-important. I don’t know whether that’s true; I’ve seen the triangle used in the community, but I’ve never paid attention to the direction it faced, as I didn’t know that part of the symbol’s history. ---
**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 12, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1039 "2025-03-12T00:15:11Z")
Trump’s reference to the symbol raises the perennial question: was it ignorance, was it malice, or was it both? I don’t think it much matters; if it was ignorance, I maintain that if he had known the history of the symbol, he would have used it anyway. The point, in any case, is that Trump is waging war against the LGBTQ community everywhere and in every way he can. Why? For the same reason the Nazis did – it’s a cult that is intrinsically hateful against anybody who isn’t them – other races, other creeds, other countries, other _anything_. ---
**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 12, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1040 "2025-03-12T00:48:31Z")
Yeah. Trump would be happy to see me in a death camp. I’m not as interested in how he got there as I am in how to stop him. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1041 "2025-03-12T14:59:03Z")
[USDA cuts $1 Billion in school lunch and food bank funding](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/usda-school-lunch-food-bank-cuts_n_67d067b6e4b09796c902a672) USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins explains her rationale in the below interview (sorry, I can’t find the original, only this response video, but she starts speaking at about 0:42) Basically, the crazy left spent _so much_ money on trans issues. Now…she concedes this funding has nothing to do with trans…but that’s the rationale anyway. > **[This Caused Me To Melt Down - Trump And Musk Cuts Food Bank Support!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFF_5aJWkVo%2F)** > > In many parts of the world, a weak social safety net forces people to depend on food banks. Instead of providing direct support to citizens, some governments... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=53)