# 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:** 315
**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:** [July 5, 2025, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6342 "2025-07-05T07:53:34Z")
[And now the felon is trying to stop international tourism to the United States.](http://aol.com/donald-trump-orders-entry-fee-220511301.html) > [@](#): > > A [new executive order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/making-america-beautiful-again-by-improving-our-national-parks/) calls for charging non-U.S. residents higher fees for park entry and recreation passes, like the yearlong [America the Beautiful pass](https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm), which grants access to public lands across federal agencies. > > “From the awe-inspiring [Grand Canyon](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/photos-t-compare-seeing-grand-091044113.html) to the tranquility of the [Great Smoky Mountains](https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-smoky-mountains-know-america-090615661.html), America’s national parks have provided generations of American families with unforgettable memories,” Trump said in the order issued July 3. > > “It is the policy of my Administration to preserve these opportunities for American families in future generations by increasing entry fees for foreign tourists, improving affordability for United States residents, and expanding opportunities to enjoy America’s splendid national treasures,” he said. > > The order also calls for giving Americans “preferential treatment with respect to any remaining recreational access rules, including permitting or lottery rules.” This couldn’t be behind this inanity, could it? (I ask already knowing the answer.) (Same link.) > [@](#): > > The executive order also revokes a [presidential memorandum](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/presidential-memorandum-promoting-diversity-and-inclusion-our-national) signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2017 that promoted a range of diversity and inclusion efforts in the management of national parks and other public lands. > > It called for improving access for all Americans and “considering recommendations and proposals from diverse populations to protect at-risk historic, cultural, and natural sites.” > > Diversity and inclusion were also priorities for parks during the Biden administration. [Scummy Scudder gets caught in yet another lie.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-brazen-lie-leads-instant-031110886.html) > [@](#): > > President [Donald Trump](https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump) on Friday made a wild new claim about [wind power](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/wind-power) as he renewed his attacks on renewable energy. > > Trump complained that many of the components used in wind turbines are made in China, then suggested that China itself doesn’t actually use wind turbines. > > “I have never seen a wind farm in China,” Trump declared. “Why is that? Somebody check that out.” > > In reality, China is [far and away](https://www.irena.org/Data/View-data-by-topic/Capacity-and-Generation/Country-Rankings) the world’s leading producer of wind energy, with more than triple the current U.S. wind capacity. [And another.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-trump-falsely-claims-233134509.html) > [@](#): > > On Friday, [before signing](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F07%2F04%2Fpolitics%2Fseven-little-pieces-trump-agenda-bill&data=05%7C02%7Csteven.nannes%40cnn.com%7C05a30547cf20435871f708ddbb4c00e6%7C0eb48825e8714459bc72d0ecd68f1f39%7C0%7C0%7C638872657281350385%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=GkLawjSZKNv7UE7kqJvbbtQ0qyp8x%2BYjBUKuuGc0k8g%3D&reserved=0) his [massive domestic policy bill](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F07%2F01%2Fpolitics%2Fcongress-senate-bill-tax-spending-trump-gop-explainer&data=05%7C02%7Csteven.nannes%40cnn.com%7C05a30547cf20435871f708ddbb4c00e6%7C0eb48825e8714459bc72d0ecd68f1f39%7C0%7C0%7C638872657281369142%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=l1IasvwbGQmKcBEqfxAOoti5JwWcAes21b3RclaJf%2Fw%3D&reserved=0), President Donald Trump [proclaimed](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2Fatrupar%2Fstatus%2F1941249754043670663&data=05%7C02%7Csteven.nannes%40cnn.com%7C05a30547cf20435871f708ddbb4c00e6%7C0eb48825e8714459bc72d0ecd68f1f39%7C0%7C0%7C638872657281382664%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KHdeRcqRnCmyd5we45%2B4%2F3OHAzOrFRJNaetXqKf%2BGjk%3D&reserved=0) at the White House that “it’s the most popular bill ever signed in the history of our country,” adding for emphasis that “this is the single most popular bill ever signed.” > > That is an up-is-down reversal of reality. > > The bill is [wildly unpopular, poll after poll has found](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F06%2F20%2Fpolitics%2Fbig-beautiful-bill-polling-analysis&data=05%7C02%7Csteven.nannes%40cnn.com%7C05a30547cf20435871f708ddbb4c00e6%7C0eb48825e8714459bc72d0ecd68f1f39%7C0%7C0%7C638872657281397224%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=r3E97G4ueg2JxHSl1xWLMVSl6sY7R6uwOF1P4xRfRuM%3D&reserved=0). While polls can be off, this bill wouldn’t be popular – let alone the most popular US bill ever signed – even with a massive and widespread polling error. [Co-conspirator “Killer” Kennedy wants us to have another pandemic.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/rfks-proposal-let-bird-flu-180952485.html) > [@](#): > > High-ranking federal officials have suggested that bird flu virus should be left to “rip” through poultry farms across the U.S. — but experts warn that this hands-off approach could hasten the beginning of a new pandemic > > Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, and [Brooke Rollins](https://x.com/AmericaNewsroom/status/1894798813681827949), secretary of Agriculture, have floated the notion that instead of culling birds infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, farmers should let it spread through flocks. The idea is that by doing this, farmers can “identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it,” Kennedy [told Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369907937112) on March 11. > > Now, a perspective piece authored by a group of virologists, veterinarians and health security experts argues that the plan would not only be ineffective, but could also increase the risk of the virus spilling over into humans and sparking a new pandemic. The researchers published their arguments July 3 in the journal [Science](http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx8639?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D35808480360802919781961414062707582420%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1751458430). But of course KK will ignore this. After all, it’s published in something called Science. The felon is worried about undocumented migrants he’s planning on letting stay in the United States. You fool! [No, he’s worried people he likes won’t like him back for that plan.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-worries-going-upset-radical-115256064.html) > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump is worried that he is going to upset his “serious radical right” voters by allowing some migrants to stay in the U.S. to work on farms, despite their “illegal” status. > > Last month, Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [to stop raids on farms and in the service sector](https://www.yahoo.com/news/taco-trump-caves-own-immigration-050409248.html). Trump returned to the issue while speaking to supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, in a [campaign-style speech on Thursday](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-kicks-off-celebration-america-094531028.html). > > “We’re working on legislation right now where farmers, look, they know better. They work with them for years,” Trump said, referring to migrant workers. & > [@](#): > > “Now, serious radical right people, who I also happen to like a lot, they may not be quite as happy but they’ll understand. Won’t they? Do you think so?” He sounds like a toddler. For my entire life, whenever a president, of either party, has signed a major bill into law, the speechifying that goes along with it, even if I don’t really believe it, is to bolster the image of the new law as helpful to the people of the United States. But we are no longer living in normal times, are we? [The felon’s response to questions after he signed the Large Lousy Law is rather damning.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-takes-victory-lap-megabill-000432747.html) > [@](#): > > “I think I have more power now,” Let me give you more of the article, not that it’ll change the facts. > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump is all fired up after Republicans fell in line to pass his megabill. > > Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, Trump was asked to assess his hold over the GOP now compared to his first term following a marathon session where House Republicans narrowly passed his so-called “Big, Beautiful” domestic policy bill. > > “I think I have more power now,” he said. “I could say, ‘Oh, gee, I don’t know.’ I think I probably do, because we’ve had a great record of success.” > > “My first term was very, very successful,” he added. “I think we’re going to blow it away this year, but we’ve proven certain things and, yeah, I think probably it’s got more gravitas, more power.” The dumbfuck. [Are you wondering what Papa Putin has to say about the little child lately?](https://www.yahoo.com/news/kremlin-trolls-trump-nagging-putin-174323076.html) > [@](#): > > Russia has [taunted](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-03/kremlin-signals-putin-trump-call-made-little-progress-on-ukraine?embedded-checkout=true) President Donald Trump for repeatedly trying to force through a ceasefire in the Ukraine War. > > Kremlin foreign policy spokesperson Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. president “once again raised the question of an early cessation of hostilities.” > > It was the sixth time the leaders had spoken since Trump’s return to the White House in January. > > But Russia indicated little progress was made during the hour-long phone call. > > Ushakov insisted that Moscow “will not back down” from its goals, according to Bloomberg News. You do know one of those goals is to take over the entire country of Ukraine, right? [You remenber how careful the felon is with secrets.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/military-leaders-aghast-meta-founder-155700810.html) > [@](#): > > So a Facebook founder walks into an Oval Office meeting … > > No, it’s not the start of a bad joke, just the latest reminder that In Donald Trump’s White House, the easiest way to avoid being surprised is to remember that anything can happen. > > Air Force leaders learned that lesson earlier this year when they arrived for a top-secret briefing [with Trump in the Oval Office](https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeff-bezos-attempting-fill-elon-104845431.html), which [according to NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fox-news-maga-hats-cookies-trump-west-wing-rcna214754) was scheduled for them to discuss plans for America’s sixth-generation fighter aircraft, [dubbed the F-47 in a nod to Trump’s status](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-boeing-build-f-155400892.html) as the 47th President of the United States. > > As the generals were going over the details of the super-stealthy plane, which Trump has called the most advanced, capable and lethal combat aircraft platform ever built, they were startled by the appearance of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg popping into the Oval Office. > > According to NBC, White House officials became concerned that Zuckerberg, one of the wealthiest men in the world, lacked the security clearance required to be present for talks about such a sensitive national security matter. > > With that in mind, Zuckerberg was politely asked to step out of the Oval while the conversation continued, though other Trump aides wandered in and out to show the president information on computer screens while his mobile phone rang intermittently. > > The incident, which one administration official said was an example of the “bizarro world” atmosphere in the Trump White House, reportedly rattled the generals in attendance, who were “mystified and a bit unnerved” by the lack of privacy in the Oval Office — so much so that they “quietly discussed among themselves whether the visitors and calls might have compromised sensitive information” afterwards. Might have? _Might have?_ _ **Might have?** _ He did. He always does. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2025, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6343 "2025-07-05T09:00:39Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > He sounds like a toddler. He always has. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6344 "2025-07-06T01:02:13Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > [Deadly storms in New Jersey](https://www.aol.com/deadly-storm-leaves-path-chaos-153115294.html), [13 dead in Texas flooding](https://www.aol.com/least-13-fatalities-reported-texas-210230078.html), and [huge wildfire in California](https://www.aol.com/madre-fire-grows-over-50-164254918.html). > > I wonder which one is going to get federal assistance. I did not have to wonder long. [The felon is sending Cruella de Vile to the Lone Brain Cell state.](https://www.aol.com/trump-texas-secretary-homeland-security-195833506.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON – [President Donald Trump](https://thehill.com/people/donald-trump/)said July 5 that his administration is working with Texas state and local officials in response to [the fatal flash flooding](https://www.yahoo.com/news/least-24-dead-texas-flooding-120010613.html) that has killed at least 27 people in the state, with potentially dozens of young campers and others still missing. > > “Our Secretary of Homeland Security, [Kristi Noem,](https://thehill.com/people/kristi-noem/) will be there shortly,” Trump said in a [post on his Truth Social platform](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114801213969191305) Saturday. “Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy.” [Prepare yourself for some felony level midnight messaging meltdown! The former _de facto_ president and co-conspirator, Musk, just formerd a political party.](https://www.aol.com/news/musk-says-america-party-formed-195737504.html) > [@](#): > > (Reuters) -A day after asking his followers on X whether a new U.S. political party should be created, Elon Musk said on Saturday that the “America Party is formed.” > > “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he said in a post on X. > > “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.” Give us back our freedom? Is he talking about the freedom he helped the felon take away? [And it seems I’m not the only one who sees the Second Felonial Era that way.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/thats-incredible-picture-most-americans-182321331.html) > [@](#): > > Recently, France unveiled a mural called “The Statue of Liberty’s Silent Protest,” designed to illustrate the [“shame”](https://www.yahoo.com/news/maga-blast-french-over-lady-184822088.html) surrounding the recent immigration policies of the Trump administration. The [now-viral painting, seen by over 16 million people](https://x.com/USATODAY/status/1940969039024488750), features Lady Liberty covering her face with her hands, with her torch lying on her chest. [Alligator Auschwitz is off limits to ~~the International Committee of the Red Cross~~ Florida legislators](https://www.yahoo.com/news/group-lawmakers-attempt-visit-alligator-190945200.html) > [@](#): > > Florida lawmakers worried about “humanitarian concerns” were denied entry into the new detention center dubbed [“Alligator Alcatraz”](https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/01/us/what-is-alligator-alcatraz-florida?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo) Thursday, just hours after the arrival of its first group of detainees. > > “They stopped us pretty immediately,” said Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, one of the five Democratic state lawmakers who attempted to visit the facility and inspect its grounds following reports of flooding and other issues. > > The lawmakers were stopped by law enforcement officers from multiple Florida agencies and later, a general counsel from the Florida Division of Emergency Management cited a “safety concern” for the denial without offering specific details, Eskamani said. > > “If it’s unsafe for us, how is it safe for the detainees?” Eskamani said she asked the attorney. > > The group’s request to see the outer perimeter of the tent facility was also denied, Eskamani said. > > The lawmakers said in a joint statement that Florida law allows state legislators to “have full access to inspect any state-operated facility.” They referenced two Florida statutes: [one](https://www.flhouse.gov/Statutes/2025/0944.23/#:~:text=Persons%20authorized%20to%20visit%20state,79%2D3.) gives members of the legislature authority to visit all state correctional institutions “at their pleasure” and [another](https://www.flhouse.gov/Statutes/2025/0951.225/) allows them to visit county and municipal detention facilities. > > “This is a blatant abuse of power and an attempt to conceal human rights violations from the public eye,” the group said. [Somehow I missed this tidbit of stupidity in the Large Lousy Law.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-signing-one-big-beautiful-220755343.html) > [@](#): > > On July 4, 2006, NASA’s space shuttle Discovery launched on a “return to flight” mission that paved the way for it and its sister ships to fly for another five years. Now, a sprawling budget enacted on Independence Day will seemingly lead to Discovery lifting off again — though this time not into space, but rather from its place in the national collection. > > [President Donald Trump](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-proposes-slashing-nasa-163956173.html) signed into law the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” today (July 4), a day after the legislation was narrowly passed out of Congress with only Republican support. Deep within the 900-page bill is a [provision added by Texas’ senators](https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-senators-move-space-shuttle-120000086.html) to transfer a “space vehicle” to a NASA center “involved in the administration of the Commercial Crew Program” and “placed on public exhibition at an entity within the Metropolitan Statistical Area where such center is located.” & > [@](#): > > The bill allocates $85 million to move Discovery from the its display home of the past 13 years, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, to Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for NASA’s [Johnson Space Center](https://www.space.com/17216-nasa-johnson-space-center.html) in Texas. “No less than $5 million” is earmarked for the transportation of the winged orbiter, with the remainder going towards the “construction of a facility to house the space vehicle.” $85 million dollars in \<1984 Newspeak\>savings\! [Co-conspirator “Killer” Kennedy has achieved a new record.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/measles-cases-surge-record-high-144903936.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > Falling childhood vaccine coverage and a large, smoldering outbreak that was kindled in an undervaccinated pocket of West Texas have driven the United States to a troubling new milestone: **There have been more measles cases in the US this year than any other since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter-century ago**. > > There have been at least 1,277 confirmed cases of measles reported in the US in 2025, according to [data](https://cori.centerforhealthsecurity.org/resources/measles-outbreak-response) from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation. Just halfway through the year, the case tally has already surpassed the last record from 2019, when there were a total of 1,274 cases. > > **Experts say this year’s cases are likely to be severely undercounted because many are going unreported.** Three people have died from measles this year – two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico, all of whom were unvaccinated – matching the total number of US measles deaths from the previous two and a half decades. That’s quite the witches’ brew, isn’t it? Kennedy as HHS Secretary, plenty of anti-vaxxers, and neglect in reporting all add up to, as mentioned above, potential for a pandemic. [Felonheit 451!](https://www.yahoo.com/news/washington-post-slams-tulsi-gabbard-034104010.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > _The Washington Post_ rejected an “unfounded” claim by Tulsi Gabbard that one of the paper’s reporters was “harassing” the Director of National Intelligence’s staffers. > > Gabbard had posted earlier Thursday on X that national security reporter Ellen Nakashima “appears to be actively harassing ODNI staff.” Gabbard added: ”Instead of reaching out to my press office, she is calling high-level Intelligence Officers from a burner phone, refusing to identify herself, lying about the fact that she works for the _Washington Post_, and then demanding they share sensitive information." > > Gabbard insisted that what was happening was “a clear political op by the same outlet and the same reporter who harassed and stalked my family in Hawaii.” > > The _Post_ ’s executive editor, Matt Murray, dismissed Gabbard’s allegations. > > **“Reaching out to potential sources rather than relying solely on official government press statements regarding matters of public interest is neither nefarious nor is it harassment. It is basic journalism,” Murray explained.** > > “DNI Gabbard’s unfounded personal attack reflects a fundamental misunderstanding about the role of journalists to report on government officials and hold power to account, without fear or favor and regardless of party,” he continued. “The _Post_ remains committed to that vital and constitutionally protected work.” [I get the feeling this next bit was an illegal action. It seems the felon used the Social Security Administration itself to send out a mass mailing touting the Big Bullshit Bill before he signed it into the Large Lousy Law. We definitely know the mailing’s content was not accurate.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/social-security-administration-sends-misleading-234431796.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration has sent a misleading email to beneficiaries stating that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts and spending law eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits for most recipients. > > “The bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits, providing meaningful and immediate relief to seniors who have spent a lifetime contributing to our nation’s economy,” said the email, which multiple beneficiaries shared with NBC News. > > “The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples,” it said. > > An identical note was posted to the [SSA’s website](https://blog.ssa.gov/social-security-applauds-passage-of-legislation-providing-historic-tax-relief-for-seniors/) on Thursday, the same day multiple beneficiaries told NBC News they received the email. > > The emails came before Trump prepared [to sign his massive tax cuts and spending package](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-signs-big-tax-cut-spending-bill-law-july-fourth-ceremony-rcna216753), what he’s called the “big, beautiful bill,” into law in a July Fourth ceremony at the White House. > > The Trump domestic policy package, which Congress sent to his desk on Thursday, extends the president’s expiring tax cuts he enacted in 2017, and also creates a temporary tax deduction for earnings from tips and overtime. > > But it does not eliminate federal taxes on Social Security. Budget reconciliation, the arcane process Senate Republicans used to pass the bill while avoiding a Democratic filibuster, does not allow changes to be made to Social Security. [A federal appeals court says Texas cannot be a proxy for the felon’s so-called government.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/divided-us-appeals-court-blocks-154729014.html) > [@](#): > > (Reuters) -Texas authorities may not enforce a Republican-backed state law that would let them arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a divided federal appeals court ruled late on Thursday. > > A 2-1 panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that blocked enforcement of the disputed law, which former Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration had gone to court to challenge. > > Republican [President Donald Trump](https://www.yahoo.com/people/donald-trump/)’s administration dropped the federal government’s case, but the Texas law known as SB4 had continued to be challenged by, among others, the immigrant rights group Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which argued federal law preempted the state’s. > > The law, which Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed in December 2023, would make it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and would empower state judges to order that violators leave the United States, with prison sentences up to 20 years for those who refuse to comply. > > U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman, writing for the New Orleans-based court’s majority, said that for nearly 150 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control [immigration](https://www.yahoo.com/issues/immigration/) was exclusively a federal power. Let’s hope this isn’t merely a speed bump as the felon’s so-called government appeals it further. Wow. The felon really does have some superpowers. First he’s managed to get the Québécois proud to be Canadian. [Now he has me feeling sorry for some people in the Kremlin.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/kremlin-says-pays-close-attention-100331681.html) > [@](#): > > MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia closely follows all of [Donald Trump](https://www.yahoo.com/people/donald-trump/)’s statements after the U.S. president said he was “very disappointed” with his latest conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine. > > Trump, who had confidently stated last week that Putin was “looking to settle” the conflict, said after Thursday’s phone call that he did not think the Russian leader was looking to stop it. > > Asked about the comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Of course, we are paying very close attention to all of President Trump’s statements.” [And how is the relationship between the dictator and his mini-me wannabe going?](https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-humiliates-trump-unprecedented-attack-102403917.html) > [@](#): > > Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s heaviest bombardment yet of Ukraine only hours after leaving President Donald Trump “disappointed” by a phone call over the prospect of peace negotiations. > > “I didn’t make any progress with him at all,” [Trump admitted](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-spills-phone-call-putin-031815280.html) to reporters on Thursday, before a barrage of missiles and drones that left much of the Ukrainian capital in flames. > > The attack on Kyiv was the largest aerial bombardment since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The seven-hour onslaught lasted from Thursday into Friday and injured 23 people. Buildings were wrecked and rail infrastructure was affected, too. The mini-me/wannabe’s reaction is, let’s use the correct word, _feeble_. (Same link.) > [@](#): > > “I’m just saying I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad,” he added, managing to squeeze in a shot at his predecessor. “This is Biden’s war. It wouldn’t have happened if I were president.” You, felon! You supposedly are president now. This is happening now. That means you admit it’s your fault Ukranians are dying now. [Hey, let’s talk tariffs.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-admits-tariff-tactic-too-085308612.html) > [@](#): > > Trump Admits His Tariff Tactic Is Too Complex, Says He’ll Do Something ‘Much Easier’ Instead > > President Donald Trump on Thursday declared that he sees no reason to spend time negotiating “complicated” trade deals with every country, announcing that his administration will be following a different strategy going forward. > > As Trump’s 90-day tariff pause is set to expire on July 9, the president announced he secured a trade agreement with Vietnam on Thursday. > > Asked if Americans can expect more such deals ahead of next week’s deadline, Trump told reporters: “We have a couple of other deals, but you know, my inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariffs they’re going to be paying. It’s just much easier.” LAZIEST ONE, INDIVIDUAL ALIVE! [Speaking of tariffs…](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-admin-insider-blows-lid-185800867.html) > [@](#): > > A source deeply embedded in the Trump administration’s ongoing trade talks accused the Republican president of waging a tariff war for TV ratings. > > “[Donald] Trump knows the most interesting part of his presidency is the tariff conversation,” the White House insider, who chose to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal, [told Politico](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/04/he-likes-the-game-too-much-why-trump-isnt-sweating-his-lack-of-trade-deals-00439700). “It’s all fake. There’s no deadline. It’s a self-imposed landmark in this theatrical show, and that’s where we are.” Nah, the most interesting part of his presidency will be if he leaves this mortal coil before January 20, 2029. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6345 "2025-07-06T02:20:02Z")
Would like to note that a _seven hour_ attack which _injured_ slightly more than 3 people per hour would likely be grounds for dismissal in any competently led army. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6346 "2025-07-06T02:46:58Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Felonheit 451! This made me laugh, though I am pretty sure Ray Bradbury is rolling in his grave. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2025, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6347 "2025-07-06T02:58:19Z")
🔥 📚 🔥 🙇 ---
**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:** [July 6, 2025, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6348 "2025-07-06T05:30:42Z")
I just posted [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/1002) over in [The argument that Trump will do whatever he wants and no one can stop him is really fucking boring](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527) thread. > [@The argument that Trump will do whatever he wants and no one can stop him is really fucking boring](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/1002): > > > [@The argument that Trump will do whatever he wants and no one can stop him is really fucking boring](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-argument-that-trump-will-do-whatever-he-wants-and-no-one-can-stop-him-is-really-fucking-boring/1011527/1001): > > > > The camp is _built_. Trump went there to brag last week. He wants more. > > Honestly, I’m surprised nobody’s suggested the following to him. > > Take the undocumented migrants, put them in camps next to golf courses (but make sure they’re not visible from the course). Have the migrants work the course. > > Of course, not all of the undocumented people can be thus employed, so there will have to be some kind of list to declare who is lucky enough to stay in the US and work the golf courses. > > Let’s call it _Swindler’s List_. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6349 "2025-07-06T11:52:01Z")
[Now I’m wondering if the felon is going to help out the Lone Brain Cell state.](https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-officials-slam-donald-trumps-national-weather-service-for-bad-forecast/) > [@](#): > > Officials in Texas are casting blame on the National Weather Service (NWS) for failing to forecast catastrophic flooding that has killed at least 27 people. > > NWS was among the government agencies targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency in its effort to gut the federal bureaucracy, [losing](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/weather/nws-job-cuts-weather-service-hiring.html) approximately 600 staffers. > > After the cuts, the agency—which was already understaffed—began to prepare to offer “degraded” forecasting services, facing “severe shortages” of meteorologists, [according](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/climate/national-weather-service-forecast-doge-trump.html) to an internal document obtained by _The New York Times_ in April. > > “The original forecast that we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches in the Hill Country,” [said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRnGIzf4A-g) Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd at a press conference Friday. “The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.” > > Sudden thunderstorms [dumped](https://apnews.com/article/thunderstorms-texas-deaths-camp-mystic-trees-hail-e8a4c85c77f714c9a974e50f3cd1fca1) more than 10 inches of rain on the area, causing heavy flooding from the Guadalupe River. > > Dalton Rice, the city manager for Kerrville, Texas—who also spoke at the press conference—said that the catastrophic flash flooding happened because the skies “dumped more rain than what was forecasted” on two of the river’s forks. > > The flooding [has killed](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/07/05/texas-flooding-updates-guadalupe-river-camp-mystic/84477734007/) at least 43 people so far, including 15 children. More than 25 young girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp that sits near the river, are still missing. & (The _bolding_ below is mine.) > [@](#): > > In May, all five living directors of the NWS issued a [letter](https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2025/05/06/national-weather-service-directors-letter-noaa-trump-budget-forecasting-hurricanes-tornadoes/) warning that Trump’s cuts “leave the nation’s official weather forecasting entity at a significant deficit… just as we head into the busiest time for severe storm predictions like tornadoes and hurricanes,” the directors wrote. **“Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life.”** Y’all remember he’s tacoing all the time. Here’s a rather damning bit of information in that report. (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > A spokesperson told the _Times_ that the **126 staffers it planned to add—about a fifth of the number cut** —were intended to “stabilize” the agency. So here’s the trifecta. 1. Over 600 staffers cut from NWS. 2. Planning on adding 126 replacesments for those 600, but haven’t hired them yet. 3. Lots of people just died in a weather-related incident. As Reginal Dyer was asked about his actions in Jallianwala Bagh… _ **Does that about sum it up?** _ ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6350 "2025-07-06T15:07:54Z")
I hope that the Dems aren’t too high minded to politicize this tragedy. We need to hit them every way we can. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6351 "2025-07-06T15:09:24Z")
Sadly, Liberals are too good at empathy and lousy at trench-fighting. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2025, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6352 "2025-07-07T03:02:42Z")
In a real test off the “goldfish memory” they’ve tried to introduce to their base, the DOJ now says that Epstein never had a client list, even though Pam Bondi specifically mentioned it. But I’m sure it’s Biden’s fault somehow. > **['Total disgrace': MAGA lashes out at Trump DOJ for controversial Epstein finding](https://www.rawstory.com/amp/total-disgrace-trump-doj-maga-2672837493)** > > Donald Trump's administration took some heat on Sunday after it found that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein did not, in fact, have a client list.The DOJ and the FBI have reportedly found there was no Epstein blackmail scheme, and that he died by... ---
**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:** [July 7, 2025, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6353 "2025-07-07T07:05:16Z")
[Kentucky’s governor is not happy with who the state voted for.](https://www.aol.com/attack-rural-america-kentucky-governor-154255939.html) > [@](#): > > [Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/15/kentucky-governor-andy-beshear-president-run-2028/83583334007/) argued the Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax policy bill will have a “devastating” impact on rural communities. > > “It’s the single worst piece of legislation I’ve seen in my lifetime, and it is a congressional Republican and presidential attack on rural America,” the Democrat told CNN’s Dana Bash in a July 6 interview on “State of the Union.” > > He said around 200,000 people in Kentucky are [could lose their healthcare](https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/how-might-federal-medicaid-cuts-in-the-senate-passed-reconciliation-bill-affect-rural-areas/) under the bill, which implements new work requirements for Medicaid and a raft of other restrictions that healthcare experts argue will [trigger hospital closures](https://apnews.com/article/medicaid-tax-cuts-rural-hospitals-nebraska-kentucky-cf6bb787fc6a4d387c55d90051ff2f1f) in rural areas. > > Lawmakers included a $50 billion fund in the legislation to prop up these hospitals, but experts say it [won’t be enough](https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/how-might-federal-medicaid-cuts-in-the-senate-passed-reconciliation-bill-affect-rural-areas/) to make up for the $155 billion expected decline in federal Medicaid spending in rural areas. (a) This is what they voted for…(b) This is what they wanted…(c) This is what they got… (a) for others (b) for others. (c) for themselves. [The felon’s numbers are in!](https://www.aol.com/news/where-trump-approval-ratings-stand-100000042.html) > [@](#): > > Here’s what voters think of Trump’s job performance and moves on major issues heading into the July 4 holiday weekend: > > ## **Overall job approval** > > Trump started his second term with some of his highest approval numbers but crossed into net-negative territory this spring amid blowback over his whiplash moves on tariffs. > > After hitting a disapproval high in April, his numbers started to recover slightly in May and early June, according to [averages from DDHQ](https://polls.decisiondeskhq.com/averages/presidential-approval/donald-trump-150479/national/lv-rv-adults). Last month, though, his numbers sank again, with a roughly 45 percent approval and 51 percent disapproval rating. > > At the same time, DDHQ’s tracker has seen some improvement for Trump, as last week his net approval reached minus-8 points. & > [@](#): > > ## **Economy** > > In a positive sign for the president, his economic numbers appear to be in recovery mode after his aggressive trade moves earlier this year dealt a blow to his approval. > > [A tracker](https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin) from pollster Nate Silver shows Trump’s approval rating on the economy has appeared to even out after a significant downturn in March and April, now sitting at a minus-12 net rating. > > Trump had a 43 percent approval rating on jobs and the economy in the latest Economist/YouGov numbers, on par with the 42 percent logged at the end of last month — though he fell on inflation and prices from a negative 15 points to a minus-24 net score. ## **Immigration** Immigration, another issue that bolstered Trump through both of his presidential campaigns, continues to be one of his strong suits in his second term, but some new polls suggest support for his hard-line stances are slacking. “He’s lost ground,” Tranter said. “Some polls show he is underwater, and some are back and forth. So I think the consensus is: We can argue whether or not he still has a net positive support on immigration or not, but we can say that it’s gone down.” The Economist/YouGov poll had Trump’s approval on immigration at a positive net 7 points at the end of May, before it flipped to a net negative 3 points at the end of June. [/quote] & > [@](#): > > ## **Foreign policy** > > Trump sent shock waves through the political world in late June [when he announced](https://thehill.com/homenews/5362296-trump-us-bombs-iran/) that the U.S. had bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, inserting the U.S. into a tense conflict between Israel and Iran in the Middle East. > > The president then [brokered a fragile ceasefire](https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5377929-trump-iran-nuclear-talks-ceasefire/) that ended the 12-day conflict, and he has touted that the U.S. strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear threat, even as some have called that claim into question. > > “He’s riding high after Iran,” Tranter said of Trump, calling it “a clear win” for the commander in chief as he pointed to Trump’s approval uptick over the past week. > > But Americans in the PBS News polling were divided about the U.S. strikes, with a 50-50 split on agreement with the military action. More than 8 in 10 surveyed Republicans supported the strikes, compared with 45 percent of independents and 23 percent of Democrats. Three in 4 Americans also worried that Iran could retaliate after the U.S. strikes. > > Americans in [CNN polling](https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/politics/trump-iran-strikes-poll-cnn-ssrs) were even more disapproving, with 56 percent of those surveyed against and 44 percent for the strikes, and 6 in 10 worried that the strikes could increase the Iranian threat to the U.S. [The felon has selective Deafness.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-pretends-not-hear-difficult-010750055.html) > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump was hearing reporters just fine until one of them asked him about federal cuts in the aftermath of the devastating floods in Texas. > > Trump spoke to reporters in New Jersey on Sunday after flash floods wreaked havoc in central Texas over the weekend, killing at least 80 people and sending over 40 others missing. Critics were quick to blame the calamitous toll on the administration’s overhaul of the federal government, which included staff cuts at the National Weather Service. > > “Democrats are blaming your federal cuts for the deaths over in Texas,” one reporter, who could be heard audibly projecting their voice, asked Trump. > > Though the president leaned in to hear better, he decided to wave off the question. > > “I can’t hear you,” he said, as he moved on to another reporter. And take a wild guess whom he blames for the deaths in Texas. I get you already know before you read this. I’ll give you three guesses. One, two, three. Did you guess right? (Same link) > [@](#): > > Asked later on if he had plans to look into whether the cuts at the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency left key positions vacant, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick shook their heads. > > “They didn’t,” Trump said. “I’ll tell you: You look at that water situation, that was really the Biden setup. That was not our setup. But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either; I would just say this is a hundred-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch.” What the fuck? He just blamed Biden and then immediately exonerated Biden! [Co-conspirator and Director of the National Economic Council just told you to get off your lazy butt.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/hassett-healthcare-coverage-cuts-best-174614815.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the best way for people to get health insurance is to get a job while discussing the massive tax cut legislation, which dramatically upends health care, signed into law by President Trump. > > During an appearance on CBS News’s “Face The Nation,” Hasset was asked about Americans’ concerns that about 12 million Americans could lose Medicaid coverage, [according to a report](https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-tax-bill-mean-11-192918588.html) by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). > > However, Hasset said that the CBO made a similar claim when the Trump administration [aimed to add work requirement](https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/an-overview-of-medicaid-work-requirements-what-happened-under-the-trump-and-biden-administrations/)waivers to Obamacare in 2017, stating that the number of insured people increased instead. > > **“The bottom line is, the best way to get insurance is to get a job,” he said. “And we’ve got a ‘big, beautiful bill’ that’s going to create a lot of job creation and a lot of insurance, and the CBO is just not accounting for that.”** [And what does the felon think is important at the moment?](https://sports.yahoo.com/article/trump-commanders-name-change-winning-021951981.html) > [@](#): > > President Trump said on Sunday he would support changing the Washington Commanders’ name back to the Redskins but suggested that, should the team started winning more, he could get on board with the current name. > > In a gaggle with reporters, Trump was asked whether he thinks the team should change the name back to Redskins, the controversial name that was dropped in the wake of the racial-justice protests in 2020. > > “You want me to make a controversial statement? I would,” Trump said to the reporter. > > “I wouldn’t have changed the name,” he continued. “It just doesn’t have the same, it doesn’t have the same ring to me.” > > “But, you know, winning can make everything sound good. So if they win, all of a sudden the Commanders sounds good, but I wouldn’t have changed the name,” the president added. [The Second Felonial Era is busy, busy, busy! They’re busy trying to cover up the disast that is the Large Lousy Law.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-officials-doing-everything-obscure-012358934.html) > [@](#): > > In interviews on Sunday, Trump officials did everything they could to downplay the Medicaid cuts in his massive tax bill, [given the electoral backlash](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/06/republican-medicaid-cuts-midterms-big-beautiful-bill-00440023) Republicans could face. > > [During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryyvAW52JhU) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that Democrats were trying to “infantilize the poor” by raising concerns that new work requirements for Medicaid would be burdensome and result in people losing their benefits. [And during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYqznoHFLcQ)denied that many people would lose health coverage at all. > > “There are no change in benefits. There’s a change in requirements to get the benefit,” said Bessent. “The idea that it’s going to cause a massive hemorrhaging of insurance doesn’t make a lot of sense to us,” said Hassett. No need to quote more from that article. They’re not yanking benefits; they’re just making it harder to get benefits. Nice of them to admit it. I wonder if we can get this same candor about ravaging the voter rolls. I mentioned in a previous post in this thread the Social Security Administration had published some of the felon’s propaganda. [There’s more to the story!](https://www.yahoo.com/news/put-name-everything-why-social-140000585.html) > [@](#): > > However, the bizarre email is just one small part of a [sprawling, government-wide project](https://www.yahoo.com/news/inside-billion-dollar-effort-trump-130000753.html) that is already costing American taxpayers well upwards of a billion dollars, as Trump officials prioritize the mass distribution of MAGA propaganda in ways that would likely make many veterans of Trump’s first term blush. > > According to a current administration official and another Trump adviser, various offices at different federal departments and agencies spend inordinate amounts of time finding ways to sell even small developments as massive, earth-shaking Trump accomplishments. “Put his name on everything,” is how the administration official characterized the ongoing trend across the federal government, the national Republican Party, and elsewhere. > > The other Trump adviser, who has spoken to the president about this topic, tells _Rolling Stone_ that Trump and his appointees’ drive to do this — at the Social Security Administration and beyond — was influenced by the propaganda success that Trump saw during his first administration, when he demanded his name be printed on the Covid-19 stimulus checks sent out at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Actually, there’s not all that much more to the story. I can sum it up in one word: _vanity_. [One might think the felon’s using a Ouija to determine tariffs.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-team-moves-goalposts-tariffs-155400402.html) > [@](#): > > Tariffs will revert back to their April 2 rates on Aug. 1 for countries that fail to nail down new trade deals with the United States, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, just three days before the Trump administration’s initial July 9 deadline for tariffs to return. > > Bessent told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Trump administration would be sending out letters to 100 smaller countries “saying that if you don’t move things along, then on August 1st, you will boomerang back to your April 2nd tariff level.” > > The announcement effectively pushes back the tariffs that were originally set in April but had been suspended until July 9, a window the Trump administration used to pursue an ambitious round of dealmaking with other countries aimed at reaching deals to stave off the return of tariffs of between 10 and 50 percent on dozens of countries. It comes as Trump administration officials increasingly hint at difficulties in nailing down deals. And that’s the roundup for today! ---
**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:** [July 7, 2025, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6354 "2025-07-07T13:25:11Z")
[[Arte Johnson Voice] Very interesting![/AJV]](https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-donald-trump-receives-golf-054852144.html) > [@](#): > > President Trump received a golf “warning” from the American people on social media over the weekend. & > [@](#): > > American people on X, formerly known as Twitter, are warning President Trump to stop golfing, while a tragedy is taking place like the one in Texas. > > 'Trump is on his golf course today, playing thru tears for all the lives lost. He will occasional post some self-aggrandizing propaganda videos of him dancing like a lunatic. Thx MAGA," one critic wrote. > > “While 79 people have died in the Texas floods, President Trump is doing his best. He just won another championship at his golf club in Bedminster,” another critic joked. > > “Children are dead in Texas due to flooding and Trump is at a high end golf course in NJ… if this were Biden the GOP would be going crazy,” one added. > > “I heard Trump was so heartbroken about the tragedy in Texas that he had to play a round of golf to cheer himself up,” another added. > > “20 Children in the United States got washed away by a horrific flash flood in Texas today. And what did Donald Trump do? Of course, he went to play Golf,” one critic added. I just had to post one more newsbite about the felon before I go to bed. Call it a mulligan, if you must. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6355 "2025-07-07T17:12:36Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > “While 79 people have died in the Texas floods, President Trump is doing his best. He just won another championship at his golf club in Bedminster,” another critic joked. I would expect him to say, “79? That’s what I scored today! From the championship tees, no less!” (For those non-golfers, 79 is a very good score, the likes of which Trump never honestly shot in his life. And the championship tees means playing a course at its longest/most difficult - again, something a golfer of Trump’s caliber has no business doing.) ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6356 "2025-07-07T18:01:24Z")
DHS “We have nothing to do with Alligator Alcatraz” [https://newrepublic.com/post/197593/donald-trump-homeland-security-weird-180-alligator-alcatraz](https://newrepublic.com/post/197593/donald-trump-homeland-security-weird-180-alligator-alcatraz) ---
**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:** [July 8, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6357 "2025-07-08T01:50:58Z")
[“I want my vote back!”](https://www.yahoo.com/news/want-vote-back-trump-voting-090035578.html) (The **bolding** is mine; the LEF isn’t.) > [@](#): > > The family of a Canadian national who supported [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/trump-administration)’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants say they are feeling betrayed after federal agents recently detained the woman in [California](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/california) while she interviewed for permanent US residency – and began working to expel her from the country. > > “We feel totally blindsided,” Cynthia Olivera’s husband – US citizen and self-identified Trump voter Francisco Olivera – [told](https://www.10news.com/news/team-10/i-am-so-desperate-canadian-arrested-by-ice-at-green-card-interview-for-being-in-the-u-s-illegally?fbclid=IwY2xjawLWNK1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFtYVFsUkFUZlZTSHRSRDZtAR6b7-Mv95K9ByjGVGIRpGUxFRJcpnb7av4qab5wi1ok6n63zjfQWelJoPr7jg_aem_9endKyOydWg9-FyvHrqXjw) the California news station KGTV. “I want my vote back.” > > **Cynthia Olivera, a 45-year-old mother of three US-born children, thus joined a growing list of examples contradicting the Trump administration’s claims that the [immigration](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/usimmigration) crackdown it has spearheaded since the president’s return to the Oval Office in January has prioritized targeting dangerous criminals.** I must quote myself here. > [@Monty](#): > > (a) This is what they voted for…(b) This is what they wanted…(c) This is what they got… > > (a) for others > > (b) for others. > > (c) for themselves. [I guess we should call it the Trail of Fears.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-gloats-turbocharged-ice-signing-185922241.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump boasted about the newly turbocharged Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the “Big Beautiful” bill funded his immigration crackdown to the tune of $170 billion. > > “One of the most exciting parts of the ‘ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT’ is that it includes ALL of the Funding and Resources that ICE needs to carry out the Largest Mass Deportation Operation in History,” Trump [wrote](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114801653749329102) on Truth Social Saturday. > > “Our Brave ICE Officers, who are under daily violent assault, will finally have the tools and support that they need,” the president added. **“We will not let America become a Third World Country filled with Crime, failing Schools, collapsing Hospitals, and total Social Dysfunction.”** No, you felon. You’re not _letting_ it happen. You’re _causing_ it to happen. [Yo, felon! You might want to discuss a thing or two with co-conspirator Hegseth.](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-says-us-will-send-more-weapons-ukraine-2025-07-08/) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States would be sending more weapons to Ukraine to help the war-torn country defend itself against Russian attacks. > > Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said Ukraine was getting hit very hard by Russia and needed to be able to defend itself. The United States would be sending primarily defensive weapons, he said. Check out Post #6335 in this thread to see more about Hegseth and weapons to Ukraine. [The war on education has ramped up thanks to the Large Lousy Law.](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/college-soon-fork-over-millions-184702518.html) > [@](#): > > President [Donald Trump](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/donald-trump)’s [“big, beautiful bill” has passed](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/washington-dc-trump-big-beautiful-bill-b2782071.html)and is causing panic for the heads of America’s top universities. > > The bill — which was unanimously opposed by Democrats in the House and the Senate — was[sold by Trump as a method for providing tax relief and expanding American wealth](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-big-beautiful-bill-latest-news-b2779367.html). > > Among its various provisions, the bill levies a tiered tax on [university endowments](https://www.yahoo.com/news/harvard-refuses-comply-trump-administration-205059916.html), which previously were not taxable. The new tax is justified by the Trump administration as a way to prevent universities from “[abusing] generous benefits provided through the tax code”. > > The taxes range from 1.4 percent to 8 percent at the wealthiest institutions. > > Universities rely on their endowments to fund essential operations and to provide services to their students. Soon, a US diploma won’t be worth anything more than the US dollar will be. [The felon is crowing about his “side deal”.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-claims-struck-side-deal-165425553.html) > [@](#): > > [Donald Trump](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/donald-trump) all but confirmed a report that he struck a “side deal” with the soon-to-be owners of Paramount over[the _60 Minutes_ lawsuit](https://www.yahoo.com/news/paramount-agrees-pay-trump-16-045641139.html), claiming that Skydance Media’s supposed promise to run public service ads in support of the president would place the settlement amount at roughly $35 million. > > In a [long-expected but still heavily denounced capitulation](https://www.yahoo.com/news/paramount-agrees-pay-trump-16-045641139.html) to the president, Paramount – which is finalizing an $8 billion mega-merger with Skydance that needs the Trump administration’s approval – agreed to pay Trump’s future presidential library $16 million (minus legal fees) to settle his lawsuit against CBS News that the network’s own lawyers called [“meritless.”](https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cbsreply2_Redacted.pdf) > > While Paramount specified that the settlement didn’t include any apology for the interview with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris at the center of the “frivolous” complaint, nor was any money paid directly to the president, Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino [soon reported](https://nypost.com/2025/07/02/media/how-secret-side-deal-helped-seal-paramounts-16m-settlement-with-trump/) that Skydance owner David Ellison – son of Trump-backing billionaire Larry Ellison – added a secret sweetener to the agreement. > > According to Gasparino, the younger Ellison – who now expects to take over Paramount and CBS within the next few weeks – agreed to “run between $15 million and $20 million of public service ads to promote causes supported by the president” once the merger is complete. > > “Paramount knows nothing about the alleged side deal between Trump\Ellison, had absolutely nothing to do with it, nor was it a part of what the board approved, and the mediator sanctioned,” a spokesperson for Paramount said about the reportedly clandestine pact. Isn’t this illegal? (I’m referring to just the side deal. Yeah, the whole thing’s likely unconstitutional grifting for the felon.) Oh, and doesn’t the felon’s claim negate the deal? [Wow. The felon has even gotten the folks from Fox fighting.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-jessica-tarlov-calls-235509348.html) > [@](#): > > Jessica Tarlov is not letting Jesse Watters’ hypocrisy surrounding the Texas floods and 2024’s Hurricane Helene go unnoticed. > > Tarlov went after her “The Five” co-host for not holding President Trump to the same standard regarding the Texas flood that he did when Hurricane Helene made landfall under the Biden administration. Particularly when it came to the lies Trump was peddling about FEMA in the aftermath of the September 2024 storm. > > “I don’t think that talking about preparedness or what might have helped qualifies as impugning the memory of those that have been lost or detracting from the thoughtful conversation that needs to take place because this river has been flooding for a very long time,” Tarlov said. “We were here around the table when hurricane Helene struck. I did not hear Jesse Watters saying that Donald Trump should stop spreading lies about the Biden administration and the FEMA funds.” [Ex-president Musk is not happy with the DOJ!](https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-calls-doj-findings-133532776.html) > [@](#): > > Elon Musk has launched a fresh attack on the federal government, slamming the Department of Justice’s newly-released[findings that the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had no “client list”](https://www.yahoo.com/news/epstein-client-list-doesn-t-112513122.html)as “the final straw.” > > Musk posted a series of memes mocking the Trump administration over its handling of the Epstein case, and lashed out at the new DOJ/[FBI memo, issued on Sunday night.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/epstein-client-list-doesn-t-112513122.html) > > The two-page memo said there was “no credible evidence” that Epstein had a “client list” to blackmail “prominent individuals”. It also confirmed that he died by suicide in a New York City jail cell on August 10, 2019. > > “No further disclosure is appropriate or warranted,” the memo read, adding that no more Epstein-related investigations will be launched into third parties. > > Musk, who has said he is forming a [new political party after falling out with President Donald Trump](https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-claims-formed-own-203958399.html), railed against the memo’s findings on social media. > > The tech mogul occasionally posted on X about Epstein in 2024, but posts about the convicted pedophile intensified[after his relationship with Trump imploded.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-look-deporting-musk-122248783.html) > > “This is the final straw,” Musk posted in response to a user on X who said the administration’s pledges to release the files were “a farce.” Come on. What did you expect from a convicted fraud? Honesty? [Speaking of the ~~Schrödinger~~ Epstein list…](https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-peter-doocy-corners-212734627.html) (The **bolding** is mine; the 180 degree Fox turning on the felon and his co-conspirators is not.) > [@](#): > > With [much of the MAGAverse irate](https://www.yahoo.com/news/piers-morgan-calls-alina-habba-202327763.html) over the Trump administration’s [conclusion](https://www.yahoo.com/news/epstein-client-list-doesn-t-112513122.html) that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself and didn’t possess an explosive “client list,” Fox News’ Peter Doocy grilled Karoline Leavitt about Attorney General Pam Bondi’s previous “Epstein file” claims. > > **“So what happened to the Epstein client list that the attorney general said she had on her desk?” Doocy wondered during Monday’s White House press briefing.** > > Bondi, who has faced the brunt of conservatives’ wrath for failing to deliver on her past promises of releasing a [“truckload”](https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/pam-bondi-claiming-she-uncovered-a-truckload-of-jeffrey-epstein-evidence-goes-viral-after-fbi-says-epstein-files-dont-exist/) of bombshell FBI documents on Epstein, told Fox News in late February that she literally had possession of the convicted sex offender’s supposed black book of prominent figures who engaged in illegal sexual activities. This next bit just might get Bondi scaramuccied. (Same link, still my **bolding** ) > [@](#): > > “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” the attorney general [told Fox News anchor John Roberts](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-says-epstein-client-list-sitting-my-desk-right-now-reviewing-jfk-mlk-files) at the time. **“That’s been a directive by President Trump.”** Yeah. You just said the felon said something to you about something you now says does not exist. You embarrassed the felon. You’re done for. [The felon still isn’t winning against Planned Parenthood.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/planned-parenthood-sues-trump-administration-204128336.html) > [@](#): > > A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a provision of President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy law to defund Planned Parenthood’s health care services. > > The order from US District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, blocks the provision’s enforcement for 14 days. The measure would bar Medicaid users from coverage with a health care provider that also provides abortion services. > > The Planned Parenthood Federation of America – along with Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah – sued the administration earlier Monday, arguing that the funding ban would have devastating consequences across the country. > > While the legislation, which Trump signed on Friday, does not explicitly mention Planned Parenthood, the nationwide family planning and health care provider is in its crosshairs. The law prohibits federal funding for providers “primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care” that also provide abortion. I like the judge blocking it for _two weeks_. I know we have quite a few non-US citizens as posters here. And perhaps some of them are awash in cash. Further, maybe some have considered the Golden Green Card\*. [Direct your attention to some US immigration lawyers’ advice, if you will.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/lawyers-warn-wealthy-clients-not-135349658.html) > [@](#): > > Immigration lawyers have warned clients that the Trump administration’s efforts to create a bizarre $5 million “Gold Card” visa for wealthy foreigners may well be illegal and would face significant hurdles if forced into law. > > “There’s no lawful basis to do this, and if they do it anyway, they’re going to get sued, and they’re almost certainly going to lose,” Doug Rand, a former Citizenship and Immigration Services adviser under President Joe Biden, [told the _Washington Post_ Monday](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/07/trump-gold-card-visa-immigration/). \*I just now discovered if you mix gold with green, the color you get is shit. [Co-conspirator Cruella de Vile gets reamed by a Texan journalist.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-news-anchor-rips-kristi-142930514.html) > [@](#): > > San Antonio anchor Stephania Jimenez fumed Saturday [over a press conference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpdoHt7VeIM) that featured Homeland Security Secretary [Kristi Noem](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/kristi-noem) and Texas Gov. [Greg Abbott](https://www.huffpost.com/topic/greg-abbott) thanking each other and President Donald Trump instead of giving immediate updates on the lethal floods in central Texas. > > Other officials did the same and gushed over the emergency response, delaying pertinent details by nearly a half-hour, she said. > > “What I was struck by is that we really didn’t get any concrete information until 27 minutes into that news conference where you had the governor speak, you had Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speak for a while,” KSAT’s Jimenez said. “But you know what people are wanting is information.” Be kind Ms. Jimenez. Maybe they forgot who was supposed to bring the Sharpie and were filling time while waiting for a substitute item. [A judge just discovered what talking to con artists is like.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/frustrated-judge-blasts-trump-team-203521934.html) > [@](#): > > The federal judge overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s [legal challenge over his arrest and removal from the United States](https://www.yahoo.com/news/legal-filing-details-graphic-torture-235503028.html) is hauling Trump administration officials to court to get to the bottom of the government’s plans for the wrongfully deported Salvadoran immigrant. > > Abrego Garcia, whose case has been at the center of Donald Trump’s [mass deportation agenda](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-bill-gives-ice-45-172334095.html), is currently locked up in federal custody ahead of a[trial on smuggling charges](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kilmar-abrego-garcia-hearing-plea-charges-b2769703.html). > > If he’s released from pretrial detention, immigration officials intend to arrest and deport him, again, before a trial even begins, according to the Department of Justice. > > After government lawyers and top Trump administration officials gave a [series of conflicting statements](https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-keeps-kilmar-abrego-garcia-212423188.html) about the fate of Abrego Garcia in recent weeks, District Judge Paula Xinis is ordering officials from the Department of Homeland Security to testify about their plans for his removal — answers that may reveal whether the criminal charges against him had anything to do with complying with court orders for his return. & (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > **“It’s like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall trying to figure out what’s going to happen,” Xinis said at one point on Monday.** That’s exactly what you get with conmen: lies, damn lies, fake statistics, and whatever verbiage comes out of the Second Felonial Era. Pakistan may have regrets about nominating the felon for the Nobel Peace Prize, but that’s all good. [Netanyahu has stepped into the void!](https://www.aol.com/trump-netanyahu-may-victory-lap-040033689.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu](https://apnews.com/hub/benjamin-netanyahu) told President [Donald Trump](https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump) that he was nominating the U.S. leader for a Nobel Peace Prize as the two took a victory lap on Monday to hail their [recent joint strikes on Iran](https://apnews.com/article/mideast-wars-iran-satellite-photos-nuclear-sites-us-da82442dd4d526e69a4f1e77a72f3dfd) 's nuclear facilities as an unmitigated success. > > The two leaders sat down with their top aides for a dinner in the White House Blue Room to mark the Iran operation and discuss efforts to push forward with a 60-day ceasefire proposal to pause the 21-month conflict in Gaza. > > “He’s forging peace as we speak, and one country and one region after the other," Netanyahu said as he presented [Donald Trump](https://www.yahoo.com/people/donald-trump/) with a nominating letter he said he is sending the Nobel committee. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6358 "2025-07-08T02:08:15Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > [quoting article] > The two-page memo said there was “no credible evidence” that Epstein had a “client list” to blackmail “prominent individuals”. It also confirmed that he died by suicide in a New York City jail cell on August 10, 2019. > > “No further disclosure is appropriate or warranted,” the memo read, adding that no more Epstein-related investigations will be launched into third parties. See, this just shows how deep the Deep State is. If they can get to Bondi, get to Patel, get to Bongino… that just means “They” control almost everything. Donald Trump is this country’s only hope because he is the only one who can’t be gotten or corrupted and Trump now needs the country’s support more than ever to save it from the pedophile libs and their America-destroying agenda.\* \*Paraphrased from an actual, real-life, serious Facebook post by a MAGA diehard I saw a couple of hours ago. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6359 "2025-07-08T02:08:52Z")
> [@](#): > > “He’s forging peace as we speak, and one country and one region after the other," Netanyahu said Which definition of _forging_ are you using there Benji? ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6360 "2025-07-08T02:14:17Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > that just means “They” control almost everything. Donald Trump is this country’s only hope Donald Trump, the _only person who can fix it_ and the _world’s biggest victim_, simultaneously. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2025, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6361 "2025-07-08T03:05:34Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > \*Paraphrased from an actual, real-life, serious Facebook post by a MAGA diehard I saw a couple of hours ago. Dead serious. While I was reading the stuff before this, I was thinking, “I bet some magaflatearther already posted it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=314) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=316)