# 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:** 87
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1722 "2025-06-05T15:25:49Z")
Or “live-action Boss Baby.” > **[The ‘Dreamworks Face’ Must Be Stopped](https://filmschoolrejects.com/the-dreamworks-face-must-be-stopped-2fcd4e80d6a6/?amp=1)** > > Animated arched eyebrows are a plague on creativity. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1723 "2025-06-05T15:30:18Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Who bought that kid a suit and tie? He’s not a kid. He’s a grown-ass adult, and a college graduate. 22-year-olds are, in fact, expected to be adults and hold jobs. The issue isn’t that he’s young, the issue is that he’s unqualified by traditional competence- and experience-based qualifications: I’m sure he’s very qualified by race, gender, and the two asses (-holery and -kissing). ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1724 "2025-06-05T16:37:13Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > He’s not a kid. He’s a grown-ass adult, and a college graduate. 22-year-olds are, in fact, expected to be adults and hold jobs. Expected is the key word there. Sure, now they can go into the world. How many of us had business suits at 22 years old. I only started to buy suits when funerals became more and more common. ---
**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 5, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1725 "2025-06-05T16:49:16Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > How many of us had business suits at 22 years old. _raises hand_ Business major. It was absolutely the norm for anyone getting a business degree in the 1980s, to have at least one suit (for job interviews). Once you graduated, had a job, and were working every day in an office, you needed a rotation of several suits. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1726 "2025-06-05T16:51:50Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I wonder if he is any relation to Obama-era FEMA head Craig Fugate? Or the **[Blue Fugates](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Fugates)** of Kentucky? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1727 "2025-06-05T16:57:14Z")
Programmer here. Colorado. Wearing a suit would have gotten you the hairy eyeball. Shorts and hiking boots and your good to go. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1728 "2025-06-05T17:07:58Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > A billionaire asshole is being nominated to lead the National Forest, an agency that he has repeatedly battled with and ignored their rules. Of course he is also a big donor to the MAGA party. > > Gift link to NY Times article of rich people doing whatever the fuck they want with no consequences. > [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/climate/michael-boren-agriculture-nominee-idaho-airstrip.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.MU8.vt79.hHRgGmAoPTd9&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/climate/michael-boren-agriculture-nominee-idaho-airstrip.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MU8.vt79.hHRgGmAoPTd9&smid=url-share) Especially because our youngest son works for the Forest Service, I was hoping that just maybe, angering your neighbors by illegally building an airstrip (it’s [technically accurate to call it an airport](https://skyvector.com/airport/ID39/Hell-Roaring-Ranch-Airport)), in a Forest-Service-managed National Recreation Area, would create the possibility of the nomination failing. But it looks like the Democrats aren’t making it the issue it deserves: [Idahoan tapped to oversee U.S. Forest Service gets smooth confirmation hearing](https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/government/2025-06-04/idahoan-tapped-to-oversee-u-s-forest-service-gets-smooth-confirmation-hearing) > [@](#): > > Just five of the Senate committee’s 23 members attended the hearing. I’m not saying the Democrats needed to be there every minute, but you’d think they would want to use their allotted question time. P.S. Michael Boren’s [local Forest Service](https://idahocapitalsun.com/2025/05/23/amid-federal-cuts-u-s-forest-service-cuts-office-hours-at-sawtooth-field-offices-in-idaho/) ranger office is closed due to the Trump staff cutbacks. What more does this guy want? Is this such a desirable job if you are a software billionaire? ---
**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 5, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1729 "2025-06-05T17:08:06Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > > [@enipla](#): > > > > Who bought that kid a suit and tie? > > He’s not a kid. He’s a grown-ass adult, and a college graduate. 22-year-olds are, in fact, expected to be adults and hold jobs. The issue isn’t that he’s young, the issue is that he’s unqualified by traditional competence- and experience-based qualifications: I’m sure he’s very qualified by race, gender, and the two asses (-holery and -kissing). Partly true, but even if this kid happened to be exceptionally bright, 22 is just too young to have been able to gain very much relevant real-world experience, and in this case, the kid gained exactly **zero** relevant experience by mowing lawns and pulling weeds. I hire a 12-year-old to do those things. Furthermore, the fact that he worked on the Trump campaign – obviously the key to this appointment – is solid evidence, good enough for any court of law, that the kid is dumb as a brick. The fact that Trump or his key sycophants like him is also evidence that he’s demonstrated the required allegiance to King Trump and is too stupid to be a threat to anyone, including, unfortunately, potential terrorists. Yes, US national security is in great hands! Professional agents working in the field must be despondent and thoroughly demoralized. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1730 "2025-06-05T17:18:00Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > P.S. Michael Boren’s [local Forest Service](https://idahocapitalsun.com/2025/05/23/amid-federal-cuts-u-s-forest-service-cuts-office-hours-at-sawtooth-field-offices-in-idaho/) ranger office is closed due to the Trump staff cutbacks. Others in Idaho are closing as well. Expect this trend to continue. We are fucked. > **[‘Deferred resignations’ prompt Idaho national forest to close ranger stations](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/jun/03/deferred-resignations-prompt-idaho-national-forest/)** > > An Idaho national forest announced Tuesday that it will temporarily shutter some of its district ranger stations due to short-staffing, the second forest to do so in recent weeks after deep cuts to the U.S. Forest Service earlier this year. Officials... ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1731 "2025-06-05T17:20:04Z")
The rhetoric bothers me a lot. The same thing went around when Elon Musk had a bunch of 20-somethings doing his dirty work. I don’t think adults should be infantilized. In this case, he happens to have mowed lawns and pulled weeds, but he ALSO happens to have done a internship with the Heritage Foundation. Both of those will have provided him with genuine work experience, but the Heritage Foundation is obviously how he actually got the job. I’m sure he isn’t qualified for it. So yeah, critique his qualifications and his experience all you want. Use his age to justify that if you need to. By all means talk about the problem with hiring incompetent sycophants. Just don’t call him a “kid,” and don’t treat 22-year-olds like people who can’t do significant jobs. ---
**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 5, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1732 "2025-06-05T17:51:58Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > In this case, he happens to have mowed lawns and pulled weeds, but he ALSO happens to have done a internship with the Heritage Foundation. Yikes! A sure sign of brain damage! Maybe he was dropped on his head as a baby. If I had to come up with a single word to describe the Heritage Foundation, it would be “counterfactual”, or, in more colloquial terms, a bunch of shameless liars with extreme partisan agendas. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > So yeah, critique his qualifications and his experience all you want. Use his age to justify that if you need to. By all means talk about the problem with hiring incompetent sycophants. Just don’t call him a “kid,” and don’t treat 22-year-olds like people who can’t do significant jobs. 22-year-olds absolutely can do **some** significant jobs, but definitely not all. And in particular, not those requiring deep knowledge borne of experience, maturity, and emotional restraint. I base some of my comments on having once worked under a manager who was maybe something like 8 or 10 years younger than I was. And no, this is not going where you may think it is. We got along extremely well and became great friends. He was a very smart guy and particularly skilled in the psychology of management and understanding basic human nature. But I had more project management experience than he did, and I was also more experienced with the potential pitfalls of software development projects. The point is that there were big gaps in his technical project management skills due to his inexperience, but we were both smart enough to recognize each others’ strengths and weaknesses and somehow able to combine them in both a mutually beneficial synergistic working relationship and an enduring friendship. But this 22-year-old kid appears to be just grossly unqualified and comically lacking in any meaningful experience whatsoever, nor old enough to have gained any such experience even if he had worked in counter-terrorism from infancy. This is genuinely dangerous for America. I’m sure the terrorists are watching this tragic American disaster unfold. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1733 "2025-06-05T18:00:51Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > What more does this guy want? Is this such a desirable job if you are a software billionaire? If what you want most is revenge on the people who stood in your way, and to seal in law the changes you want to make to the national forests around your property, why then it is a very desirable job; especially since you won’t have to divest yourself of your holdings or worry about conflicts of interest. And hey, with evidence of your holdings of the Donald Trump shitcoin, you’ll be able to get yourself an out-the-door pardon in 2029! ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1734 "2025-06-05T18:08:10Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > this 22-year-old kid I agree with your overall assessment of this individual, but why insist on calling him a “kid”? Why not call him a “man”? I think that using inaccurate terms weakens the impact of the otherwise accurate assessment. Okay: this horse is truly dead now, and I think I can stop flogging it. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1735 "2025-06-05T18:32:53Z")
A reasoned flog, nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1736 "2025-06-05T21:51:54Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Programmer here. Colorado. Wearing a suit would have gotten you the hairy eyeball. I wore a suit once to work. 2015, international [suit up day](https://www.internationaldays.co/event-kids/international-suit-up-day/r/recAjlAStTNhiFleL). Otherwise I turn up in t-shirt & shorts, probably no shoes. No one cares what a programmer looks like. OTOH, this prissy little shit no doubt hired his suit, whereas I own about 5, I think, including a custom made silk-lined 3-piece. I wear them for a) silly dates, b) Afrika Burn and c) randomly at bars. Never seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1737 "2025-06-05T22:29:02Z")
While he is of course grossly unqualified for the job, I’m uncomfortable with people mocking him for working while in college. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with bagging groceries (or any other honest work) when you’re 20 years old. Most recent college graduates have never worked in their lives - how is that any better? > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I agree with your overall assessment of this individual, but why insist on calling him a “kid”? Why not call him a “man”? I think that using inaccurate terms weakens the impact of the otherwise accurate assessment. As far as I’m concerned, anyone under 30 is a kid, and anyone between 30 and 40 is a probationary adult. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1738 "2025-06-05T22:31:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > As far as I’m concerned, anyone under 30 is a kid, and anyone between 30 and 40 is a probationary adult. Yeah; this board skews older, and older people often call people decades younger than them “kids”. The only reason nobody calls _us_ kids is because people don’t live to be 150. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1739 "2025-06-05T23:07:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > There’s absolutely nothing wrong with bagging groceries (or any other honest work) when you’re 20 years old. Most recent college graduates have never worked in their lives - how is that any better There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is, he’s apparently still got these jobs listed on his linkedin page. If you’re still hyping your high-school job on your resume, you’re clearly not qualified for a major position like this. The fact that he doesn’t have enough, better experience to be confident enough to drop those jobs is telling. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1740 "2025-06-06T10:32:47Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Partly true, but even if this kid happened to be exceptionally bright, 22 is just too young to have been able to gain very much relevant real-world experience, and in this case, the kid gained exactly **zero** relevant experience by mowing lawns and pulling weeds. I hire a 12-year-old to do those things. Exactomondo. EVERY job requires feet on the ground experience. Sometimes it’s face on the ground. That’s the real experience. And I will call this person a kid, because that’s exactly what he is. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2025, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1741 "2025-06-06T11:23:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The only reason nobody calls _us_ kids is because people don’t live to be 150. Having just spent two weeks with my parents and their octogenarian and nonagenarian friends, I’ve been called a “little boy” and “young person” a lot recently despite rapidly nearing 60 myself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=86) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=88)