# 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:** 85
**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:** [May 30, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1682 "2025-05-30T12:52:21Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And honestly, that’s what surprises and depresses me the most. That there are so many Americans in positions if responsibility who were chafing at the bit to abuse people. This is what flabbergasted me back in the first TRump administration - when they ordered family separation, there were already people in place ready and willing o do so. Yet Trump’s victory came as something of a surprise – they hadn’t had time to stack the deck. Yet there was already a force that had no problem with this. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1683 "2025-05-30T14:23:06Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And honestly, that’s what surprises and depresses me the most. That there are so many Americans in positions if responsibility who were chafing at the bit to abuse people. This is true in _all_ countries to some extent. As I said a month ago: > [@Surprises coming for voters for the Leopards-Eating-Faces Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprises-coming-for-voters-for-the-leopards-eating-faces-party/1010166/3040): > > I just got back from a two week holiday in Albania. Fascinating place, if complicated and problematic on many levels. But the relevant bit is that they are quite open and forthright about their troubled history during the years of Communist dictatorship. > > They had their own version of East Germany’s infamous Stasi, called the Sigurimi (**[link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigurimi)**). Their historical museums include details on their operations, which included wide recruitment of ordinary citizens as informers. They had mockups of some actual operations, including a microphone hidden in a cleaning lady’s broom and a pinhole camera drilled into the wall of a “controlled person,” to be operated by a neighbor. > > The money piece, for me, was a contemporary quote from an Albanian priest, who expressed sad astonishment that the population could be revealed to hold so many willing thugs. I stood in front of that display, reading the quote over and over, my skin prickling unpleasantly. The only difference between countries is how effectively or ineffectively they keep a lid on this impulse. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1684 "2025-05-30T14:29:50Z")
I try not to say it, because it sounds so pathetic, but why are so many people just _mean_? ---
**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:** [May 30, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1685 "2025-05-30T17:06:50Z")
Because average human nature is to be mean. A small outlier fraction of us are not. Just like average human nature is to be incurious and unthinking and mostly stupid. A small outlier fraction of us are not. For a long time the curious smart folks ran the economy to their advantage. And to some deree ran politics to their advantage. Which means their greater influence disguised their lesser numbers. When the mean and stupid people get in power, we see how a world made in their image, not your or my image, works. It works badly and violently and thuggishly. And those folks are very comfortable in that milieu while being very uncomfortable in ours. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1686 "2025-05-30T18:52:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Just like average human nature is to be incurious and unthinking and mostly stupid. Ahhh… I have noticed this. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > A small outlier fraction of us are not. And I’ve noticed this, too. * * * > [@LSLGuy](#): > > When the mean and stupid people get in power… …then the incurious, unthinking, and mostly stupid people (see above) are easy prey. Especially to a cult of personality. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1687 "2025-05-31T00:50:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > When the mean and stupid people get in power, we see how a world made in their image, not your or my image, works. It works badly and violently and thuggishly. And those folks are very comfortable in that milieu while being very uncomfortable in ours. > Earlier this year, as President Donald Trump was beginning to reshape the American government, Michael, an emergency room doctor who was born, raised, and trained in the United States, packed up his family and got out. > > Michael now works in a small-town hospital in Canada. KFF Health News and NPR granted him anonymity because of fears he might face reprisal from the Trump administration if he returns to the U.S. He said he feels some guilt that he did not stay to resist the Trump agenda but is assured in his decision to leave. Too much of America has simply grown too comfortable with violence and cruelty, he said. > > “Part of being a physician is being kind to people who are in their weakest place,” Michael said. “And I feel like our country is devolving to really step on people who are weak and vulnerable.” > > Michael is among a new wave of doctors who are leaving the United States to escape the Trump administration. In the months since Trump was reelected and returned to the White House, American doctors have shown skyrocketing interest in becoming licensed in Canada, where dozens more than normal have already been cleared to practice, according to Canadian licensing officials and recruiting businesses. > **[American Doctors Are Moving to Canada To Escape the Trump Administration -...](https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/american-doctors-moving-canada-escape-trump-administration-manitoba/)** > > Canada has seen a surge of American doctors seeking to move north in the months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1688 "2025-05-31T01:19:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Because average human nature is to be mean. A small outlier fraction of us are not. > > Just like average human nature is to be incurious and unthinking and mostly stupid. A small outlier fraction of us are not. I know this isn’t the thread for the discussion, but I strongly disagree. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1689 "2025-05-31T03:43:29Z")
No tyranny has ever failed because it couldn’t find enough people willing to be brutal and tyrannical. There’s enough of them that the only limit is how many the government can afford to employ, not how many there are in the population. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1690 "2025-06-02T01:20:21Z")
This post concerns the [new hire loyalty pledges](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/05/governmentwide-hiring-plan-calls-on-agencies-to-recruit-patriotic-americans-into-federal-workforce/) for GS-5 (starts at $40,322 per year) and above. Candidates must answer the following questions, in writing, without using detectable AI: All the required essays have issues, but focus on number 3: > [@](#): > > 1. “How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the Federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic, or personal experience.” > 2. “In this role, how would you use your skills and experience to improve government efficiency and effectiveness? Provide specific examples where you improved processes, reduced costs, or improved outcomes.” > 3. “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.” > 4. “How has a strong work ethic contributed to your professional, academic or personal achievements? Provide one or two specific examples, and explain how those qualities would enable you to serve effectively in this position.” This is part of the authoritarian playbook. First you get rid of as many of the existing employees as you can. This was the DOGE remit. Then, maybe next year, you hire new regime loyalists to replace them. Many of these jobs involve manual labor, such as firefighting. I question whether ideal candidates can write plausible answers to these questions, even if they want to. Maybe volunteers, at places like public libraries, will essentially write the answers for them. This could reduce the damage, a little, by having a smattering of normie applicants survive the process. As for jobs that do require an ability to write well, the question becomes whether you can acceptably write answers without selling your soul. By parsing Trump’s executive orders, I suspect I could usually come up with something, job relevant, I agreed with, despite it sounding superficially Trumpy. But it would be tricky and take me a long time. Most non-Trumper applicants will be deterred. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1691 "2025-06-02T01:25:33Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I question whether ideal candidates can write plausible answers to these questions, even if they want to. Hell, I question whether Trump, or many of his advisors and supporters in Congress, could. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2025, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1692 "2025-06-02T01:48:06Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Most non-Trumper applicants will be deterred. Even a trump loyalist would be hard -pressed to compose coherent answers to those questions. “Trump’s executive orders”? Are you fucking kidding me? **What** orders on **what** day of the week? Better just to fall back on general suck-up stuff like, _“All of Dear Leader’s orders and ideas are brilliant! I couldn’t possibly single out one. I love and worship all of them. Just as I love and worship him and would consider it a privilege to be allowed to lie down in a puddle so he may step on me to avoid getting his shoes wet. If they do get wet, I would happily lick the mud off of them.”_ Now **that** will get you hired. Hell, probably get you a cabinet post or a federal judgeship. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1693 "2025-06-02T02:18:15Z")
Maybe I’m a little thin-skinned about this, but I have a bit of an issue with you categorizing people like firefighters as to whether they “can write plausible answers to these questions, even if they want to.” Because, to _me_, that sounds dismissive, bordering on condescending. My father was a firefighter. My grandfather was a firefighter. My fiancée is currently preparing to start the fire academy, and she’ll be a firefighter in the same city as my dad and grandfather. While I wouldn’t categorize my dad or grandfather as eloquent (the fiancée is another matter), they were both well-versed enough in bullshit to pass what I perceive the Trump loyalty test to be. Again, maybe I’m too close to the topic, but it sounded a little insulting to my perspective. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1694 "2025-06-02T02:40:02Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Maybe I’m a little thin-skinned about this, but I have a bit of an issue with you categorizing people like firefighters as to whether they “can write plausible answers to these questions, even if they want to.” Fair enough. It is not much of an excuse, but when I wrote the post, I was unsure whether firefighter was a good example. I am ignorant concerning firefighting. It might be that the volume of difficult to read technical knowledge, that has to be integrated, is such that they are more likely to be able to write the essays than the average applicant. I’m tempted to suggest an alternative occupation as an example, but I might be wrong about that also. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1695 "2025-06-02T02:44:05Z")
Nothing worth fighting over, guys. English composition and anilingus (much less actual job skills) only get a person so far. Cold hard cash under the table will be the ultimate job guarantee ---
**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:** [June 2, 2025, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1696 "2025-06-02T09:03:53Z")
An encouraging opinion piece: > **[Signs the tide is turning on Trump](https://www.alternet.org/signs-the-tide-is-turning-on-trump/)** > > It’s easy to be depressed, discouraged, dumbfounded by the cruelty and brainlessness of Trump and the people around him. But today I want to celebrate what may be a turn in the Trump tide. Elon Musk had to exit Trump world not because he couldn’t... ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1697 "2025-06-02T09:24:02Z")
Encouraging indeed. Thanks for 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:** [June 2, 2025, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1698 "2025-06-02T09:52:39Z")
To whatever extent this perspective is accurate — and I’m skeptical, because the last few years have demonstrated that reality skews more toward pessimism than optimism, but I don’t want to harsh anyone’s hopefulness — it is happening due to relentless pressure and resistance. If progress is being achieved, this does not grant permission to relax; indeed, it is, rather, a signal to push even harder on obstruction and vehement protest. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1699 "2025-06-02T11:13:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > An encouraging opinion piece: Jay Kuo wrote a similar message from different angles this past Friday: > **[Cracks in the GOP Coalition](https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/cracks-in-the-gop-coalition)** > > Trump is picking fights with the religious conservatives and the corporate CEOs who helped elect him. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1700 "2025-06-02T11:28:22Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Jay Kuo wrote a similar message from different angles this past Friday: I’d like to think these were true, but I fear they are wishful thinking. I question, when in private with a ballot, how many folk who voted for Trump will choose the Dem candidate? ---
**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:** [June 2, 2025, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1701 "2025-06-02T12:10:08Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > when in private with a ballot, how many folk who voted for Trump will choose the Dem candidate? This is the wrong perspective and the wrong question, as I and many others have repeatedly pointed out. The political atmosphere in the US has become so polarized and venomously partisan that the mythical swing voter has effectively ceased to exist. Elections are won not by peeling supporters from the other side to yours; they’re won by convincing the other side’s supporters to stay home (or throw away their vote on some alternative protest candidate). Trump won 2024 in large part because Dems didn’t show up for Harris the way they did for Biden, and the hopes for Dems going forward lie not in getting lukewarm Trumpers to mark the D box but in convincing them Trump and the Rs aren’t delivering what they said they would, thereby depressing R voter turnout (while simultaneously offering something positive to keep up D voter participation). It’s a waste of time to imagine R voters going D at anything beyond fractional levels. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=84) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=86)