# 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:** 72
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1422 "2025-04-24T17:43:35Z")
Well, we just got our first post-tariff shipment from the factory today. 10% on all the stuff we brought in, but of course they had to screw something up. Two different products with the same HTS, one was hit for 10% and the other 15.3% Go figure. We supply the pharma industry but do not sell final product. We’re going to have to add those costs to the invoices. The problem is, in some cases we have contracts that make no provision for this. So we are at the mercy of the customers’ understanding. And if they play hardball, this could really harm the business. We have some pretty tight margins. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1423 "2025-04-24T17:59:04Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > And if they play hardball, this could really harm the business. Can your customers actually go elsewhere? If the product comes from, for instance, China, won’t all American importers who supply this product have to pay the tariff? IOW there’s no way around the tariffs for any American company, is there? (Am I way off base?) ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1424 "2025-04-24T18:01:49Z")
It doesn’t come from China. We have competitors who are all in the same boat as us, but some of our really large customers (Fortune 50 companies) have absolutely ruthless purchasing departments. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1425 "2025-04-24T18:14:14Z")
(I just meant China as an example.) I figured you and your competitors were in the same boat. I guess the “ruthless purchasing depts” expect suppliers to lose money on these products just to keep their business? How long can that go on? ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1426 "2025-04-24T18:22:10Z")
Interesting article on CNN about the upcoming federal election in Canada. I regret that I didn’t vote in the advance polls and got it over with as I sometimes do, but I am absolutely for sure voting on election day. I think it will be a landslide victory for banker and economist Mark Carney, who’s already established a good relationship with Trump while being strong on Canada’s economic interests and sovereignty, while Conservative Pierre Poilievre is best known for being a fucking moron, who’s promised things like tax cuts that will be partially paid for by cutting funding to the CBC, our beloved national broadcaster. By promising to do all the wrong things, Poilievre is basically Trump Lite. > **[Trump’s surprising unifying effect ahead of the Canadian election | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/24/world/video/donald-trump-effect-canada-election-voters-john-king-aotm-digvid)** > > Donald Trump is unifying national voters from all parties….just not in the US. Canada’s voters say their upcoming national election will be a turning point in their relationship with America as tariffs and insults have resulted in a surge of... ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1427 "2025-04-24T18:35:15Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Conservative Pierre Poilievre is best known for being a fucking moron That has seemed to work well here in the country just south of you. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1428 "2025-04-24T19:12:35Z")
This surely fits the thread title: [Vox Today: The US has quietly gotten into another war in the Middle East](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-us-has-quietly-gotten-into-another-war-in-the-middle-east/ar-AA1DwZuk) > [@](#): > > On March 15, the US began a campaign of airstrikes, known as “[Operation Rough Rider](https://www.vox.com/politics/406123/houthis-yemen-trump-bombing),” against the Houthis, the Iran-backed militant group that controls much of Yemen and has been firing at commercial ships and military vessels in the Red Sea since the beginning of the war in Gaza in 2023. > > The Biden administration, as well as Israel’s military, also carried out a number of strikes against the Houthis, but the ongoing US campaign is far more extensive. There have been at least 250 reported airstrikes so far . . . This is the well-planned war, secret discussion of which Jeffrey Goldberg, from the Atlantic, was accidentally invited into. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1429 "2025-04-24T21:48:06Z")
> **[Feds accidentally publish secret plan to kill NYC congestion pricing](https://gothamist.com/news/feds-accidentally-publish-secret-plan-to-kill-nyc-congestion-pricing)** > > Lawyers for the federal government briefly uploaded a letter laying out a longshot argument to revoke approval for the MTA's congestion pricing tolls. > [@](#): > > Lawyers for the federal government briefly published internal correspondence on Wednesday evening detailing a laundry list of flaws in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s legal strategy to shut down the MTA’s congestion pricing tolls. > > The document, dated April 11, was mistakenly posted on the docket of the MTA’s federal lawsuit challenging U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s effort to kill the tolls by revoking federal approval. The internal 11-page letter, sent from attorneys in the Southern District of New York to a lawyer for the federal transportation department, was taken down less than an hour after it was erroneously put online. By Thursday afternoon, the attorneys were taken off the case while a transportation department spokesperson speculated they published the document as an act of sabatoge [sic]. What’s colloquially known in the administration as “Pulling a Hegseth” or “Hegsething.” Cool move! ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1430 "2025-04-24T22:31:27Z")
If it was deliberate sabotage, good, and I hope we see lots more of it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1431 "2025-04-24T22:35:45Z")
And from Slate - TL : DR - attorneys being involved in immigration cases, even nominally, are facing intimidation from unknown authorities. Among other things, they’re having their wi-fi disabled to turn off their Ring cameras if someone shows up. > **[The Courage to Be Decent](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/trump-administration-authoritarianism-fear-deportations-threats.html)** > > The goal isn’t to police all behavior at all times. It’s to make us fearful to the point that we police our own behavior. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1432 "2025-04-24T22:53:01Z")
Thank you for the last post. The article was paywalled for me but is free at Substack: > **[The courage to be decent](https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-courage-to-be-decent)** > > The Trump administration wants to make us too afraid to look out for one another. Don't let them. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2025, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1433 "2025-04-25T10:55:31Z")
They’re planning to go after the science journals next. > **[Federal Prosecutor Fires Off Letter To Medical Journals Asking About Their...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/24/federal-prosecutor-fires-off-letter-to-medical-journals-asking-about-their-policies-on-competing-viewpoints/)** > > Another day, another new bit of ugliness from the Trump Administration. What was first reported by MedPage Today appears to be the initial wave of attacks on medical journals for preferring scienti… Based on who’s being targeted, my suspicion is that they want to silence criticism and pushback on the insanity that’s about to start pouring out of RFKjr’s health ministries. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1434 "2025-04-25T15:02:43Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Based on who’s being targeted, my suspicion is that they want to silence criticism and pushback on the insanity that’s about to start pouring out of RFKjr’s health ministries. Yes. That’s also how the _[New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/health/trump-martin-us-attorney-medical-journals.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CU8.FJjp.aMjKBUwQqhri&smid=url-share)_ interpreted it: > Mr. Kennedy had been nursing grievances about scientific journals for years. Medical and science publishers have long rejected article submissions that purport to show a link between vaccines and autism. (Dozens of studies have failed to establish such a link.) > > He said in a podcast interview last year that he would seek to prosecute medical journals under the federal anti-corruption statute. > > “I’m going to litigate against you under the racketeering laws, under the general tort laws,” he said. “I’m going to find a way to sue you unless you come up with a plan right now to show how you’re going to start publishing real science and stop retracting the real science and publishing the fake pharmaceutical science by these phony industry mercenaries.” Been wondering how the journals can best handle this. I’d like to see the editors just ignore the letter and any follow-ups for as long as they possibly can. Right now, it’s a fishing expedition, and engaging with the goons in any way will just encourage them. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1435 "2025-04-25T23:16:16Z")
And the same guy is also going after Wikipedia. > **[Trump DOJ goon threatens Wikipedia](https://www.theverge.com/news/656720/ed-martin-dc-attorney-wikipedia-nonprofit-threat)** > > Wikipedia is facing another threat. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1436 "2025-04-26T01:25:50Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > And the same guy is also going after Wikipedia. I noticed this sentence: > [@](#): > > The Wikimedia Foundation, Martin said, is [directed by a board](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/200049703/202431349349306233/full) “that is composed primarily of foreign nationals” Isn’t this also true of [Tesla Motors](https://advisorycloud.com/blog/meet-teslas-board-of-directors)? Robyn M. Denholm, their chairman, is Australian. CEO Elon Musk owes allegiance to three countries, which means to me that he is at least 66 percent foreign national. And one of the three countries is a current U.S. adversary, Canada. Hiromichi Mizuno is not only purely Japanese, but is an official of the United Nations. MAGA folks should agree that you can’t get much more foreign than that. P.S. I’m wrote this too much like a bad joke. If Trump totally turns on his biggest oligarch – as Putin did – maybe Elon will be charged with mixed loyalty ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1437 "2025-04-26T06:02:07Z")
> **[ICE Can Now Enter Your Home Without a Warrant to Look for Migrants, DOJ Memo...](https://dailyboulder.com/ice-can-now-enter-your-home-without-a-warrant-to-find-migrants-doj-memo-says/)** > > A new memo from the Trump administration reveals something shocking: ICE agents have been told they can enter homes without a warrant to arrest migrants, based on little more than suspicion. Isn’t _that_ just lovely. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1438 "2025-04-26T06:10:02Z")
ICE Agent: Are there any Jews… I mean migrants in your attic? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1439 "2025-04-26T06:17:22Z")
First they came for the Venezuelans… ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1440 "2025-04-26T10:27:19Z")
Is entering homes without warrants legal? I keep reading about EOs and memos from department heads stating that agents can do this or other parties must do that but aren’t there, ya know, laws about this kind of thing?If ICE agents show up at my door and say “Pam Bondi says I can enter, now move aside”, I think I’m within my rights to say “Pam Bondi’s babblings aren’t law and the law says you need a warrant so get lost.” If warrants were optional, surely law enforcement would have jumped on that opportunity long ago and defense attorneys would have had no success in having evidence seized without a warrant excluded. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1441 "2025-04-26T13:06:51Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Is entering homes without warrants legal? Of course not. But this is Trump we’re talking about, a convicted felon currently defying a direct order from the Supreme Court. So the practical question is, what are you gonna do about it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=71) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=73)