# The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 11, 2024, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068 "2024-11-11T06:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 250
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5042 "2025-05-22T19:16:15Z")
I would expect Harvard to challenge this ASAP. And I expect they will win. ---
**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 22, 2025, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5043 "2025-05-22T19:21:59Z")
I do, too. So does the Maddowblog. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5044 "2025-05-22T19:53:36Z")
I am not as sanguine about this. “Winning” means not only that Harvard is in the right, but also that the people in charge of granting the visas will actually grant the visas. Canada reduced the number of students visas across the board a couple of years ago, and while the universities were unhappy about it, there was really nothing to be done. That wasn’t targeting a single, private institution, so it’s not the same, but it was a reminder that the federal government has to do its part in order to allow foreign students to attend. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5045 "2025-05-22T20:15:31Z")
I want Hahvahd to win not because I care about how many foreign students they get, because I don’t, but because the fucking orange menace regime is blocking them because dear leader is a weak piss baby, and this is all about punishing his enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5046 "2025-05-22T20:29:53Z")
There’s an article in the Guardian about Russian troop increases on the Finnish border. I guess Putin wants to fight the Winter War but in Summer this time. Yet there is a quote from Fatass; > Responding to Russia’s changing activities, Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday he was “not worried about it at all”, adding that Finland and Norway were “going to be very safe”. So Finland (and who told him of the small border with Norway?) are thus fucked. ---
**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 22, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5047 "2025-05-22T20:32:07Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Because that might take some, you know, actual work? > > In the sad state of today’s “journalism,” they type until they reach the required word count, get their clicks, and move on to the next lazy story. As I understand it, to a large degree modern “journalism” consists of just repeating the public relations release of whomever they are “investigating”. It’s cheaper that way. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5048 "2025-05-22T20:41:17Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I wonder how those statemen manage to remain polite and not to shout back or at least call him a liar to his face. I don’t understand what benefit they see in a visit to the Oval with Trump and Vance ready to tag-team all of them, including Starmer who never would have even made it through law school if he had Trump’s intelligence _or_ accent. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5049 "2025-05-23T00:07:51Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Trump bans Harvard from enrolling international students. Wow. He really doesn’t like fucking foreigners. Except, oddly enough, when he’s fucking foreigners.\* \*Cribbed from a line in, IIRC, _Crucifer of Blood_. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5050 "2025-05-23T01:20:39Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > The great journalists of the past are gone. I shall not see their like again. Not in the corporate media, for sure. I caught part of a conversation with Chuck Todd on the radio today. He was saying reporters are running scared, being warned off stories that Trump wouldn’t like, and that capitulation and self-censorship are widespread in news organizations. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5051 "2025-05-23T01:21:24Z")
He thinks that because he believes everything that Putin tells him. And they just had a long phone conversation. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5052 "2025-05-23T02:22:24Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > What happens if Harvard just ignores it? I’d love for Harvard to say “Do your worst. We’ll just wait 4 years for when a sane president repeals everything you’ve done. We’ve got enough billions in the bank to tide us over.” ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5053 "2025-05-23T04:44:25Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > reporters are running scared, being warned off stories that Trump wouldn’t like, and that capitulation and self-censorship are widespread in news organizations. From the Fifth Estate to the Fifth Column. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5054 "2025-05-23T04:46:36Z")
[The felon’s big beautiful bill will cancel almost one million jobs.](https://www.aol.com/jobs-tax-credits-could-disappear-150509341.html) > [@](#): > > House Republicans gutted energy savings and clean energy tax credits in [President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill](https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-president-news-05-21-25?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo) — taking aim at funds that are creating thousands of jobs in GOP states and saving homeowners money on their bills. > > It’s all on the chopping block. The House GOP passed Trump’s tax package on a narrow vote Thursday morning. The bill now heads to the Senate. > > The bill would end tax credits that helped lower the cost of electric vehicles, energy efficient appliances, rooftop solar and insulation. In last-minute changes to the bill, Republicans sped up the timelines for phasing out key clean energy tax credits. > > They also put in a new restrictions for energy companies building solar, wind, battery or geothermal to generate electricity. The only carve-out was for nuclear energy. Even though nuclear doesn’t generate planet-warming pollution, it is much more expensive and time-intensive to build than solar and wind. Under the bill, nuclear companies can claim a tax break if they start construction on their projects by 2028. > > The bill could cost the US more than 830,000 jobs that would otherwise be created in the coming years, the think tank Energy Innovation found. The impacted jobs are mostly in construction and manufacturing, building factories and components for EVs, wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and other clean energy products — [the vast majority](https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/11/climate/republican-budget-clean-energy-jobs?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo) of which are in GOP states and districts. And check out that last sentence. Leopards, do your thing! [Here’s a fun read about the big beautiful bullshit and Trump’s reneging on yet another promise.](https://www.aol.com/why-theres-no-tax-break-202213630.html) > [@](#): > > Republican-backed legislation approved Thursday morning by House lawmakers includes a number of [tax breaks](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tax-cuts-overtime-social-security-senior-deduction/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17) promised by President Trump during the campaign, such as eliminating taxes on worker tips and overtime pay. One tax break that isn’t in the bill: Mr. Trump’s [suggestion](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/112881452914352595?ftag=YHF4eb9d17) last year that seniors shouldn’t have to pay income taxes on Social Security benefits. > > “Seniors should not pay taxes on Social Security and they won’t,” Mr. Trump [said](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-social-security-income-tax-cut-here-is-the-impact-on-benefits/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17) while during an August campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. > > A provision to eliminate taxes on Social Security isn’t included in President Trump’s domestic policy bill that [passed early Thursday](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-vote-trump-tax-bill/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17) following a dramatic all-night session. > > The bill will now go to the Senate, where some Republicans have already [voiced](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5312796-thune-may-fight-medicaid-cuts/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17) some opposition. The proposed legislation, which spans more than 1,000 pages and includes a 42-page amendment with last-minute changes, would make Mr. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent while also adding a host of other temporary reductions. > > The reason for the Social Security exclusion boils down to a prohibition on making changes to the retirement program through the so-called reconciliation process, a legislative procedure Republicans are relying on to pass the bill, said Maria Freese, the senior legislative representative at the The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. That process represents a fast-track option that obviates the 60-vote threshold typically required to advance a bill in the Senate, she said. Of course I was aware of the felon’s inane promise regarding tip income, but somehow I missed the bit about overtime pay. Making overtime pay exempt from income tax is right down there in the stupidity bucket with not taxing tip income. The staggered pay tier (time, time and a half, double time) exist so employers face a cost when forcing employees to work overtime (and let’s not pretend all overtime work is voluntary). Removing the income tax on overtime pay also creates new problems, such as in recording and reporting the income. Another fun fact is this inane bill is federal. That means state income taxes will still apply if the filer is resident in a state which does have income taxes (that’s the vast majority of the country). And, of course, the state deduction for tax paid to the feds will be lower. [The felon confuses an entire country for another, but hey, it’s Africa, so all the countries look alike, right?](https://www.aol.com/news/trumps-image-dead-white-farmers-195418103.html) > [@](#): > > JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump showed a screenshot of Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans. > > “These are all white farmers that are being buried,” said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. > > In fact, the video, published by Reuters on February 3 and subsequently verified by the news agency’s fact check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. And how do you think the person who took the video felt about the felon waving it around like a perv in a teen beauty pageant dressign room? > [@](#): > > The footage from which the picture was taken shows a mass burial following an M23 assault on Goma, filmed by Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty. > > “That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in … I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film,” Al Katanty said. “Only Reuters has video.” > > Al Katanty said seeing Trump holding the article with the screengrab of his video came as a shock. > > “In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by Black people,” Al Katanty said. When will this absurdity end? ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5055 "2025-05-23T06:21:35Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > There’s an article in the Guardian about Russian troop increases on the Finnish border. I guess Putin wants to fight the Winter War but in Summer this time. > > Yet there is a quote from Fatass; > > > Responding to Russia’s changing activities, Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday he was “not worried about it at all”, adding that Finland and Norway were “going to be very safe”. > > So Finland (and who told him of the small border with Norway?) are thus fucked. Luckily, some very wise men once sung the [praises of Finland,](https://youtu.be/baHsoEAAMZU?si=1XUHtNST1rDDH1Hx) along with some concerns, around 50 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5056 "2025-05-23T06:48:39Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > So Finland (and who told him of the small border with Norway?) Does anybody know the nere-do-well from the Biden administration who left the White House taking the Sit. Room’s atlas? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5057 "2025-05-23T08:18:51Z")
The Sit Room’s Atlas? That’s the tacky gold leaf statue holding up the felon’s toilet, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5058 "2025-05-23T09:46:48Z")
On the change in the law to stop taxing overtime… What’s to stop employers renegotiating workers’ contracts so they are all on zero hours, or say a token one hour a week if zero hours isn’t a thing in the US (I’ve no idea), with all other work being classed as overtime? Pay them less gross (because no tax), so the employer saves money, and the workers take home everything (maybe less one hour) tax free? Perhaps at a new hourly rate that slightly favours them in terms of their take home pay, so they are happy to sign the new contract. Everyone’s a winner. Except the US tax office. Am I missing something? That seems very stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5059 "2025-05-23T12:11:40Z")
Not American, I see. Yes, you are missing a lot. Assuming other laws hold, which I guess we should do for now, though that seems a bit naive… While many US employees are on explicit contracts, many do not have an explicit employee contract in the manner you assume. The idea of “signing a new contract” would be bizarre to the average employee of a Wal-Mart or a fast food restaurant. Actually, I have a pretty good professional job and don’t have one in that sense, though my counterparts in our offices overseas absolutely do. More than that, not every employee is even eligible for overtime in the first place, i.e. if you make too much (which is not that big a number, to be honest) you don’t have to be paid overtime at all or for any extra hours at all, i.e. the idea of getting paid extra for working more than 40 hours a week would be laughable to just about every American on a salary rather than paid hourly. Overtime itself is defined in a particular way in US employment law, so an employer can’t just redefine that. Generally if you work less than 40 hours a week (and many employers prefer to have more “part time” employees than “full time”), you don’t qualify for overtime at all. And overtime pay is 1.5x base pay. So, it costs employers more money to have employees work overtime at no benefit to themselves (there’s a LOT of overtime abuse where employees are essentially made to work undeclared hours without the 1.5x pay). And that’s just off the top of my head. The more I consider it, the more wrong your post seems. That’s not meant to be a knock on your intelligence at all, but at the same time, it’s very clear you are almost entirely unfamiliar with how employment works in the US, either in theory or in practice, which can be very different from each other. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5060 "2025-05-23T12:28:39Z")
Ahhh, if the tax is only eliminated for the _bonus_ pay, the extra 50%, then it would be pretty hard to game. If on the other hand any hours at all over 40 aren’t taxed, even if you don’t get time and a half, it would be easier to game, at least on the margins. You could cluster one or two days on the margins of each week to make a longer, overtime, week, bumping up against two smaller weeks. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5061 "2025-05-23T12:43:16Z")
He’s putting out some crazy Truths this morning. And with the EV sales credit going away, the expensive annual federal fee for EVs and hybrids, and his dream of doing away with wind energy and drill, baby, drill, the right is truly trying to watch the earth burn. I decided to not link to his three deranged Truths. The first says the EU is big, meanie poopieheads so they get 25% tariffs. 2nd says Tim Apple better build his iphones in the US but if they come from India, 25% tariff. The third says he loves UK but they need to get rid of their windmills and start drilling for oil [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=249) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=251)