# 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:** 86
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1701 "2025-02-08T00:14:57Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > “And must reflect the brtightest STARS on its stage from acros the nation.” You forgot Ted Nugent and the YMCA guys. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1702 "2025-02-08T00:27:33Z")
I sincerely hope that there’s a coming boycott of the Kennedy Center. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1703 "2025-02-08T00:43:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Who’s ready for the First Annual Donald J. Trump Award For Outstanding Achievement In The Field Of Excellence? Isn’t the membership of the board stipulated by law? Yeah, I know: _Law? Law? He doesn’t need to obey no stinking law!_ ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1704 "2025-02-08T00:44:42Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > God, I can’t _wait_ for 4 years when a rational Democrat takes office and we get to witness the Great Undoing; rolling back all the stupid bullshit of the Trump years. With chairman of the Kennedy Center just being the latest and most egregious example. Can we put asterisks next to some of Trump’s Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients like they do for some sports records? Like: Rush Limbaugh Devin Nunes Jim Jordan Of course, the medals are probably for sale this term. It’s not limited to US citizens, so maybe Musk gets one if there’s not a falling out. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom): > It is an award bestowed by decision of the [president of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States) to “any person recommended to the President for award of the Medal or any person selected by the President upon his own initiative,”[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom#cite_note-3) and was created to recognize people who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom#cite_note-4) This term it’s going to be: to recognize people who have made contributions to the bank account or political interests of Donald Trump. Watch. All the Fox hosts will get them. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1705 "2025-02-08T00:47:32Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > It’s not limited to US citizens, so maybe Musk gets one if there’s not a falling out. That particular clown actually is a United States citizen. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1706 "2025-02-08T00:53:19Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > That particular clown actually is a United States citizen. Well, fuck. Maybe our immigration system is broken. Actually, I think I knew that. Didn’t he also overstay his visa before becoming a citizen? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1707 "2025-02-08T01:06:27Z")
> **[Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/justinbaragona.bsky.social/post/3lhmpdhubq22w)** > > Trump just issued an executive order titled: ADDRESSING EGREGIOUS ACTIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA > > It says "the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination,... ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1708 "2025-02-08T01:06:50Z")
Amendment V to the Constitution of the United States of America (_bolding_ brought to you by Monty) > No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; **nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb** ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. [Fuck that nonsense, says Bondi.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/bondi-seeks-reverse-biden-death-011202040.html) (The link goes to _Yahoo_.) > U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is seeking to reverse the [last-hour commutations](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-commutes-sentences-37-federal-death-row-inmates-final-month-presidency) for death row murderers last month by former President Joe Biden, directing state officials to pursue the death penalty against the inmates. Putting the hypocrisy aside for the moment, here’s a grand question: since when does the federal attorney general get to dictate to state attorneys general what the latter do in office? @Smapti Good Grief. We’re living out _Opposite Day, the Groundhog Day Edition_. Anyway, I thought those “rerugees” already had a [refuge handy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orania). (The link goes to Wikipedia.) ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1709 "2025-02-08T01:27:44Z")
[_Time_ magazine calls 'em as they sees 'em.](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14373117/elon-musk-time-magazine-cover.html) (_Daily Mail_ photo) In other news, [Hegseth wants a super duper paint job so he can finally move into general officer/flag officer quarters.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/hegseth-wants-50-000-emergency-224234848.html) (The link goes to _Yahoo_.) > Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is looking to live in military family housing and requested to use $137,000 in taxpayer funding for repairs – including nearly $50,000 for an “emergency” paint job – a pair of top Democratic lawmakers said in a letter Friday demanding more details. > > While it is not unprecedented for a defense secretary to live in military housing, it is far more common for them to find private housing. And the reported price tag to fix up Hegseth’s military house comes as rank-and-file service members continue to struggle with crumbling, unsafe living conditions and as the Trump administration has been looking to [slash government spending elsewhere](https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/03/usaid-headquarters-washington-are-blocked-after-musk-says-trump-agrees-close-aid-agency.html). Gee. I wonder if these might be the quarters the Commandant of the Coast Guard got booted from. Also: so much saving! We’re soon going to be tired of all the tax money they’re saving! And, of course, [fuck freedom of the press](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-calls-washington-post-writer-164452753.html). > Donald Trump on Friday called for Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson to be “fired immediately,” after the writer was heavily critical of the president and Elon Musk. > > Robinson, in a story titled [“These Republicans Should Be Ashamed of Themselves”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/06/trump-senate-republicans/) out Thursday afternoon, said Trump “tramples” on the Constitution and is making “unacceptable choices” for his administration, but congressional Republicans are too scared to push back. The longtime WaPo writer and editor then ripped Musk — whom he called “Trump’s moneybags enforcer” — for his push to cut trillions of dollars in government spending. Good call, Donnie. Way to prove the journalist’s point while denying you’re doing just that. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1710 "2025-02-08T01:42:01Z")
The Trump administration forced the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to take down all LGBT+ content or lose federal funding. > **[Mentions of trans kids scrubbed from national child safety clearinghouse website](https://www.theverge.com/policy/608278/ncmec-removes-reports-lgbtq-transgender-children-government-funding-threats)** > > NCMEC was reportedly threatened by the government. I can’t _even_ with these people. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1711 "2025-02-08T02:42:30Z")
I’m trying to hang with the news just to see if the UK PM Keir Stermer actually goes to the US on a state visit, which used to be traditionally the first with your special-relationship pals (the Netanyahu visit was a surprise). To me it is a newer low that Trump considered his “own it”/Riviera/fuck the Palestinians and Chuck Schumer was brilliant and good politics. The UK should in no way validate Trump with any state visits, let alone invites to see KCIII. The EU, the Hague, Canada, Mexico, Gaza are all on Trump’s sworn enemy shortlist. There is no downside to the splendid knighted former-prosecutor Prime Minister of the UK sending his regrets that he is preoccupied with pesky Tories and especially Reform prics like Farage so maybe next summer? And KCIII is going to Australia for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1712 "2025-02-08T02:54:36Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > The UK should in no way validate Trump with any state visits, let alone invites to see KCIII. Considering the way he behaved last time, Chuck should invite him over, then have him thrown in the Tower of London for disrespecting his mum. > **[Trump Walks in Front of Queen Elizabeth, Causing Social Media Frenzy...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/us/trump-walks-front-queen-elizabeth.html)** > > There was little sympathy online for President Trump after a faux pas while meeting with the queen. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1713 "2025-02-08T09:43:58Z")
[Everything is a damn game to these idiots.](https://us.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-agrees-not-publicly-181617569.html) (The link goes to _Yahoo_.) They’ve agreed to give FBI agents who investigated the insurrection two days’ ~~head start~~ notice before publicizing their names. > The Trump administration has agreed to keep private a list of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases unless it first provides a two-day head start for the employees to seek a court’s intervention. > > [The agreement](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277085/gov.uscourts.dcd.277085.14.0.pdf) between the FBI Agents Association and President Donald Trump’s Justice Department deescalates, for now, a showdown between the bureau and DOJ after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sought the list. [FBI agents sued](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/04/fbi-agents-jan-6-cases-lawsuit-00202376) to prevent its dissemination over fears that Trump appointees intended to publicize the list, potentially putting thousands of FBI officials at risk of reprisal. > > The “consent order,” adopted by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb Friday afternoon, lacks a safeguard FBI employees’ lawyers were asking for during a court hearing Thursday: A restriction on passing the information from the Justice Department to other agencies or the White House. > > But the judge’s directive bars the entire federal government — not just the Justice Department — from making any part of the list public without giving two business days’ notice. That would allow attorneys for the FBI personnel to ask the judge for further relief. I can’t wait to see the next season of NBC’s _FBI_. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1714 "2025-02-08T15:12:13Z")
So under the new Afrikaaners are special refugee scheme, Musk himself would not qualify. A couple million white South Africans, about half the white population, don’t qualify. Among the many, many reasons I loath Musk, is the fact that its led to a rapid spread of misinformation and misunderstanding of South Africa, its history and its people. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1715 "2025-02-08T16:43:31Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > NBC’s _FBI_. trump may have virtually unchecked power, but even Dear Leader can’t move shows to different networks. _cough_ CBS, Tuesday is FBI night related: > [@What could happen to CBS' FBI in the trump era](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-happen-to-cbs-fbi-in-the-trump-era/1013818): > > FBI is a Dick Wolf franchise, so it, like it’s L&O brothers and sisters, has episodes “ripped from the headlines”. The show even was one of the few to show masking during Covid. In real life, Dear Leader has begun to purge the real FBI of “DEI” and those deemed disloyal. In FBI the series, the Senior Special Agent in Charge is a hispanic woman, Isobel Castille. As far as trump is concerned, she’s a double DEI. (in this viewer’s opinion, she’s also an example of the Peter Principle, in that she … ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1716 "2025-02-08T17:22:41Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > They may well agree, so long as it’s only .22 caliber and enshrine that into the laws of the USA. Right after they decide the “rule of thumb” case where husbands can beat their wives with a rod no thicker than a thumb. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1717 "2025-02-08T17:54:57Z")
It is odd this lead WaPo digital article didn’t make it to the NYT. America owes a good portion of its economic position to research and innovation. It is easy to forget how Covid cost the world economy at least $12,000,000,000. That makes this insurance cheap at the price, and better value than tax cuts. (Normal and limited gift links to the same article.) **Excerpt:** _The Trump administration is cutting billions of dollars in biomedical research funding, alarming academic leaders who said it would imperil their universities and medical centers and drawing swift rebukes from Democrats who predicted dire consequences for [scientific research](https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025/02/06/science-trump-orders-dei/)._ _The move, [announced](https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-068.html) Friday night by the National Institutes of Health, drastically cuts NIH’s funding for “indirect” costs related to research. These are the administrative requirements, facilities and other operations that many scientists say are essential but that some Republicans have claimed are superfluous._ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/02/08/nih-cuts-billions-dollars-biomedical-funding-effective-immediately/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/02/08/nih-cuts-billions-dollars-biomedical-funding-effective-immediately/) [https://wapo.st/3Q9DrIH](https://wapo.st/3Q9DrIH) ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1718 "2025-02-08T18:11:02Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > It is easy to forget how Covid cost the world economy at least $12,000,000,000. You may have shorted that one a few zeroes. > **[The COVID-19 Pandemic and the $16 Trillion Virus](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7604733/)** ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1719 "2025-02-08T18:26:50Z")
New bumper sticker: [![](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/q_70,fl_lossy,dpr_3,h_100,w_100,c_scale/v200/ca966c72-556f-4b5c-8953-b428c34f19ca) ](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/q_70,fl_lossy,dpr_3,h_100,w_100,c_scale/v200/ca966c72-556f-4b5c-8953-b428c34f19ca) ---
**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:** [February 8, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/1720 "2025-02-08T19:03:01Z")
This is a big deal. Indirect costs are real and if the government won’t pay for them, a lot of research institutions will not be able to afford US funded research. This will harm smaller R1 and all R2 universities. Only universities with huge endowments will be able to afford to allow research. If this 15% spreads to all the agencies (DOD, DOE, NIH, NSF, etc) expect a lot of changes at your state universities. Their budgets will take a huge hit. At least, this is my basic understanding of university research. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=85) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=87)