# 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:** 93
**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 20, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1842 "2025-06-20T22:40:37Z")
If we keep going the way things are going, that official investigation’s report will probably be published in October of 2026, conveniently ahead of the Beautiful and Fair US Election (not like Biden’s Rigged and Corrupt Election)™! ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1843 "2025-06-21T01:17:56Z")
I could possibly be convinced that this is less a horror and more just what classic political corruption looks like. But it should be grounds for removal from office regardless: [A Florida state judge was lobbying for a seat on the federal bench. After he sided with the president in a defamation case, Donald Trump gave him one.](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/20/ed-artau-trump-judge-nomination-florida-00415408) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1844 "2025-06-21T14:48:01Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > The thing Trump wants more than anything in the world is to have an “official” investigation declare that he did in fact win the 2020 election. It’s what he lives for. But is it? I’m never sure if Trump believes the things he says or is just solidifying his base. He can’t really believe he won. If so he would have provided proof by now. The fact that he made calls to try to convince officials to change the outcome seems to corroborate the fact he knows he lost. An official investigation would confirm once and for all that lost. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1845 "2025-06-21T15:05:21Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > An official investigation would confirm once and for all that lost. Correction: an _accurate impartial_ investigation would confirm once and for all that [trump] lost. An investigation that is rigged from the git-go will find what it was told to find. Much like RFK announced that the cause for autism will be definitively proven by his special committee by September. Hint: it’ll be vaccines. Of course in a post-truth world, the people who want to believe faked investigations will believe them unquestioningly. And historians 200 years later will be very hard pressed to find any evidence to contradict those fake results. The ability to retroactively airbrush history is growing by the day. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1846 "2025-06-21T17:18:42Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > An official investigation would confirm once and for all that lost. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Correction: an _accurate impartial_ investigation would confirm once and for all that [trump] lost. Hahaahaha. Nobody has to convince the people that have known for years that he lost. And you won’t convince MAGATs. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1847 "2025-06-21T17:34:10Z")
I fully agree w your point. But confirm and convince are two different things. Especially in a post-truth world. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1848 "2025-06-21T18:15:55Z")
The “advantage” of the Unitary Executive and completely blurred lines of control over the Justice Department…is that anything the President wants the DOJ to do, he can have done. So if it’s so goddam essential that we have an investigation into the 2020 election why hasn’t it happened already? ---
**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:** [June 21, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1849 "2025-06-21T18:34:18Z")
Perhaps they have not yet finished firing everyone who’s not a trumpist flunky. Once that prereq is done, they’ll be ready to launch their whitewash. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1850 "2025-06-21T19:06:06Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > > [@aurora\_maire](#): > > > > The thing Trump wants more than anything in the world is to have an “official” investigation declare that he did in fact win the 2020 election. It’s what he lives for. > > But is it? I’m never sure if Trump believes the things he says or is just solidifying his base. > > He can’t really believe he won. If so he would have provided proof by now. Of course he believes it. Trump is 100% a paranoid narcissist. His world is based on four ideas: 1. Trump is the smartest person that ever lived. 2. _everyone_ recognizes his intelligence and respects him. He is the most popular and respected president ever. 3. There is a great big international conspiracy of people trying to destroy him. 4. Even his enemies respect him, really. They want to destroy America and he is standing in their way. He wants to build a wall. People tell him it’s a bad idea. They are part of the conspiracy. He claims there was a crime wave under Biden. People provide figures showing that crime went down. They are part of the conspiracy. He thinks he had the greatest economy in history. Economists disagree. They are part of the conspiracy. Show him polls that say he is unpopular. The polls are fake. He is loved by all. The pollsters are part of the conspiracy. He loses an election. This is impossible because he is so popular. It MUST have been rigged. Everyone who says otherwise is part of the conspiracy. He tried numerous lawsuits saying that all the mail-in votes should be cancelled. They all failed. The judges were all wrong. They _should_ have ruled in his favour and he would have won the election. The judges are all part of the conspiracy and are all criminals. He has demanded an investigation into the voting machines. They must have been rigged. He is loved by everyone, it is not possible that people voted against him. Investigators tell him there is no evidence. The investigators are part of the conspiracy. He believes it. It would destroy his world if he stopped believing it. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1851 "2025-06-21T19:32:27Z")
Opinions vary. I say Trump lies because he is a liar who can’t say “I lost.” ---
**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 21, 2025, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1852 "2025-06-21T19:39:12Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I say Trump lies because he is a liar who can’t say “I lost.” It’s the mantra that he learned from his mentor Roy Cohn – deny, deny, deny, attack everyone who opposes you, and never, ever back down. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1853 "2025-06-21T19:43:42Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > He believes it. It would destroy his world if he stopped believing it. And it doesn’t matter to him if a “judgement” that he won the election doesn’t change anything. He can’t undo Biden being president. But he can be praised for _being right_ that it was rigged against him. It’s all about perception. It’s like when he wanted Zelensky to say he was investigating Biden. Trump told him that he didn’t have to actually do it, just _say_ he was going to do it. Having the world _say_ he won is what he wants. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1854 "2025-06-21T19:50:36Z")
I once worked with a machinist who fucked up the part he was working on, then pretended that the part got lost somehow, rather than admit that he fucked it up. He spent the afternoon pretending to look for the part. Nobody believed him, he knew it wasn’t lost, yet he kept up the search all afternoon. It was childish and pathetic. That’s all Trump is doing. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1855 "2025-06-21T20:15:27Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > He can’t really believe he won. If so he would have provided proof by now. That’s not the way Trump’s brain works. He’s looking back at all of the adulation he was getting during his rally’s so it is literally impossible that Biden got more popular votes, never mind more EC votes. The fact that no one has found any evidence is simply proof how clever the Deep State is in covering up its tracks. Edit: What Peter Morris said. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1856 "2025-06-21T20:39:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > An investigation that is rigged from the git-go will find what it was told to find. Much like RFK announced that the cause for autism will be definitively proven by his special committee by September. Hint: it’ll be vaccines. That was my first thought when I heard about his special counsel. For Trump, if reality isn’t what he thinks it should be, then it’s reality that needs to be changed, not his interpretation of it. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1857 "2025-06-22T04:20:28Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It’s the mantra that he learned from his mentor Roy Cohn – deny, deny, deny, attack everyone who opposes you, and never, ever back down. I believe this. Trump had made up his mind to announce he had won, if he lost, before the election was over. I think he knows he lost and is lying. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1858 "2025-06-22T13:28:46Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Trump had made up his mind to announce he had won, if he lost, before the election was over. Hell, he announced weeks before the election that the only way he would lose is if it was rigged. He announced his win very early in his campaign. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1859 "2025-06-22T14:10:05Z")
Premise 1: Unless the election is rigged Trump will win the election. Premise 2: Trump did not win the election Conclusion: The election was rigged. It’s a bigly sound and vapid sillygism! And typing it brought tears to my eyes… ---
**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 22, 2025, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1860 "2025-06-22T14:12:37Z")
It’s hard typing while kneeling, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774/1861 "2025-06-22T14:26:21Z")
And… He’s brought us into a shooting war with Iran. I guess if we succeed without killing too many people maybe that won’t belong in this thread. But i anticipate a less rosy outcome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=92) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-current-second-trump-administration-a-compendium-of-horrors/1009774.md?page=94)