# The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [December 1, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298 "2025-12-01T20:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 421
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8401 "2026-08-31T17:49:57Z")
In the sense that their parent companies are American, I presume. ---
**Author:** ![TheTooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8402 "2026-08-31T18:42:32Z")
I can think of one because I work for it. It’s an oilfield services company. If Trump wants to harass us that’s fine, it may disillusion all the Fox Watchers and separatists I work with. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8403 "2026-08-31T19:54:37Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > In the sense that their parent companies are American, I presume. Yes, exactly. For example, Ford of Canada Inc. is incorporated in Canada as a private corporation, and all the shares are owned by Ford in the US; i.e. the American parent. It’s the same thing with IBM of Canada Inc., Microsoft of Canada Inc., McDonald’s of Canada Inc., GM of Canada Inc., and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8404 "2026-08-31T20:18:37Z")
Isn’t it like that everywhere? You want to operate in a company, you open a local subsidiary. It’s not just Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8405 "2026-08-31T20:40:05Z")
There was a guy in Ireland who made a fortune off of this. He noticed that American corporations were expanding into the United Kingdom after World War II. He figured that after they filled the British market, they would be looking for new markets to expand into, including Ireland. And they would want to profit off of brand awareness which they had build up in the United States and United Kingdom. So he started registering dozens of famous trademarks in Ireland, which was legal because these trademarks didn’t exist in Ireland. Then a few years later, when these American companies started expanding into Ireland, they found they had to go to this guy and buy the local rights to their brand names. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8406 "2026-09-01T00:16:22Z")
[![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ihpglfqq3dapqjmwl2ntktil/bafkreibnstwcb6h55s2st55pejnzdivotzm4oqcyndyy4u6o3ir5gbbilm) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ihpglfqq3dapqjmwl2ntktil/bafkreibnstwcb6h55s2st55pejnzdivotzm4oqcyndyy4u6o3ir5gbbilm) Please, sir, make the GOP the party of data centers. Keep bringing our attention to this matter. Every Republican on the ballot should be shouting about how data centers are great and we should build one in every neighborhood. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8407 "2026-09-01T00:26:36Z")
[Oooh! The felon’s own Department of ~~War Crimes~~ Defense just had to contradict the felon.](https://www.aol.com/articles/trump-fake-ai-video-kharg-123619000.html) > [@](#): > > The Defense Department was forced on Monday to deny the U.S. had struck [Iran](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/iran)’s main petroleum export facility after President [Donald Trump](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/donald-trump) posted a [fake but very realistic AI-generated video](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/trump-iran-kharg-island-map-attack-b3042002.html) showing a purported attack by American forces. > > The video, [posted to the president’s Truth Social account](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-us-war-live-trump-strikes-larak-island-jordan-b3041946.html), appears to show oil storage tanks and refineries erupting in flames from the perspective of someone filming from inside a helicopter above the carnage, with an [accompanying message describing the scene](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-war-republicans-congress-midterms-b3042195.html) as “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens” and signed as “President DJT.” > > But a U.S. official said no such attack had taken place, with Kharg Island not being among the [locations targeted overnight](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-iran-attack-rocket-launchers-strait-of-hormuz-b3041881.html) in what has been the first exchange of fire between American and Iranian forces in weeks. > > Additionally, the head of National Iranian Oil Co, Hamid Bovard, said on Monday that the president’s post was “laughable” and described conditions on Kharg Island as “calm and appropriate.” [Once again, it’s the _American consumer_ paying the felon’s tariffs _to the tune of 343 billion dollars_.](https://www.aol.com/articles/tariffs-cost-americans-343-billion-143910000.html) > [@](#): > > A new estimate of the household cost of recent U.S. tariffs is circulating, and the state-level detail matters more than the topline. Reporting from Axios on August 27, 2026 put the running national tab at roughly $343 billion, drawing on the National Taxpayers Union Foundation State Tariffs Tracker at [tariffs.org](http://tariffs.org), with underlying estimates prepared by Trade Partnership Worldwide. The five states highlighted here are ranked by **estimated cost per household** rather than by raw dollar totals. Those two lists look very different. > > The tracker measures what it calls “executive tariffs”, meaning duties imposed by presidential action on top of regular statutory tariffs. It covers 52 jurisdictions: the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and it was last updated August 4, 2026 with data through Q2 2026. The per-household figure is estimated by NTUF using Trade Partnership Worldwide data and Census Bureau American Community Survey household counts. All numbers are estimates. Thank you for your attentin to this matter, DJT! [I wonder if they’d change their mind if the felon decides to “renovate” 1 First Street NE.](https://www.aol.com/articles/supreme-court-allows-trump-move-200519000.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday handed a win to President Donald Trump by [allowing him](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/trump-appeals-supreme-court-white-house-ballroom-rcna266912) to move forward indefinitely with the construction of his new White House ballroom. > > The court, divided 5-4, granted an emergency request filed by the Trump administration, blocking lower court rulings that would have put the aboveground portion of the project on hold. This followed an [interim decision](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-trump-white-house-ballroom-rcna592899) along similar lines issued by Chief Justice John Roberts on Aug. 21. > > The legal challenge was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which argued that the president did not have unilateral authority to proceed with construction. > > In the [unsigned ruling](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a203_2b8e.pdf), the court said that the trust likely does not have legal standing to bring the underlying lawsuit. The court did not reach any conclusion on whether Trump has authority to carry out construction without congressional approval. > > “Today, we do not pass upon the legality of the government’s East Wing project. We conclude only that, based on the submissions before us, the government is likely to prevail in showing that the Trust lacks … standing to challenge the project in federal court,” the court said. [Another one bites the dust.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/army-secretary-dan-driscoll-stepping-222100599.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, the White House said Monday, in the latest departure of [a top military leader](https://apnews.com/article/trump-pentagon-hegseth-christopher-donahue-afghanistan-9ade7033e3a9e0c5e41acb5dcdb25133) during the Trump administration. > > No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of Vice President JD Vance, but tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported. It marks the [latest in a series of shakeups](https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-dia-iran-intelligence-trump-kruse-5cb1fb89b8f12c3b517f139f6d840b48) of the military leadership, with the Army especially seeing major upheaval. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8408 "2026-09-01T01:02:20Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Yes, the American owners of the shares in these Canadian companies (i.e. GM and Ford, respectively) own the shares, but have little say in these entirely separate corporations’ day-to-day business. Day to day, I understand. But it would be a bit weird if the shareholders can’t force major change. I’ve never heard of companies that cannot ultimately be controlled (albeit slightly indirectly) by their shareholders. Are you saying even if all shareholders agree, they can’t recall a board of directors that does not do what they want on major decisions like say relocating their production to the US? Can those shareholders not (in the extreme) force a voluntary winding up? That would be odd in my experience. > [@Alessan](#): > > Isn’t it like that everywhere? You want to operate in a company, you open a local subsidiary. It’s not just Canada. No for example in Australia a foreign company can become locally registered. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8409 "2026-09-01T03:35:12Z")
Happy 9/11 to those who celebrate, says Jorkin’ Dapeanus Vance. > **[Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3muflhbzlty2s)** > > JD Vance says we're about to "celebrate the 25th year" of 9/11 ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8410 "2026-09-01T03:54:39Z")
Maybe Vance was one of those Muslims that Trump saw dancing on rooftops. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8411 "2026-09-01T05:01:02Z")
Meanwhile, Pete “MEN MEN MEN MEN MANLY MANLY MEN” Hegseth is shitposting on Twitter to make fun of teenage girls in the Canadian equivalent of JROTC. > **[Connor Ewing (@cmewing.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/cmewing.bsky.social/post/3mugdfu7w6s24)** > > This is a picture of two women from the Vernon Cadet Training Centre, which holds summer programming for 12-18 year olds to develop skills on the way to adulthood. Unlike Secretary Hegseth, they do not deserve contempt or ridicule. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8412 "2026-09-01T09:48:05Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Pete “MEN MEN MEN MEN MANLY MANLY MEN” Hegseth Every time that war criminal opens his mouth about how men should be, I’m reminded of Ron White’s routine where he proved to his homophobic friend said friend is actually Gay. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8413 "2026-09-01T10:03:37Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Meanwhile, Pete “MEN MEN MEN MEN MANLY MANLY MEN” Hegseth is shitposting on Twitter to make fun of teenage girls in the Canadian equivalent of JROTC. Hang on—I thought MAGA likes to claim that “Canada has no military.” So here are some Canadian military cadets. If Canada has no military, then why does it have military cadets? I know, I know. MAGA’s reasoning has nothing to do with reality. In any event, military cadets are a popular choice for teens in Canada. There are actually three kinds: Sea, Air, and Army. I had a number of friends in high school who were Air Cadets; and more recently, a friend’s granddaughter was a proud Army Cadet. All of them learned valuable life skills in the cadet program. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8414 "2026-09-01T10:11:36Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > In any event, military cadets are a popular choice for teens in Canada. There are actually three kinds: Sea, Air, and Army. I had a number of friends in high school who were Air Cadets; and more recently, a friend’s granddaughter was a proud Army Cadet. All of them learned valuable life skills in the cadet program. I did Navy JROTC in high school. I believe it’s generally the same idea as the cadets program - you learn about the military, you study drill and marching, you are assigned a rank depending on your progression in the program, you occasionally wear a uniform and are inspected on it, and you get opportunities to attend short boot camps or sea tours alongside actual recruits, as a way of encouraging young people to enlist or apply for the service academies. I didn’t wind up going that path, but I was entitled to enlist as an E-3 instead of an E-1 if I chose to do so after graduating. Of course, Butcher Pete is convinced that there’s no adversary the US could possibly face that can’t possibly be cowed into submission by doing push-ups at it, so the idea of actually training people for jobs that don’t require cosplaying as the Spartans in _300_ strikes him as woke. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8415 "2026-09-01T10:26:31Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Of course, Butcher Pete is convinced that there’s no adversary the US could possibly face that can’t possibly be cowed into submission by doing push-ups at it, so the idea of actually training people for jobs that don’t require cosplaying as the Spartans in _300_ strikes him as woke. Good point. Not every job in the military involves shooting at people after a five mile hike while carrying a sixty-pound pack. Some need to be office clerks, who direct logistics experts, who make sure that fighting troops are supplied. Some are cooks on Navy vessels, and on Air and Army land bases. Some are “ramp rats,” directing aircraft on airbases. None require “manly men” in the way Hegseth sees them. It seems to me that Hegseth has ignored all the jobs that need doing in a modern military, concentrating only on the fighting aspects. I think of my friend’s granddaughter. She saw the cadet program, and the military, as a way to paid-for university, and then, to paid-for medical school. She had the aptitude to do both. Sadly, I don’t know what happened to her, as my friend suffered a stroke, and we have not been in touch lately. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8416 "2026-09-01T10:49:39Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > It seems to me that Hegseth has ignored all the jobs that need doing in a modern military, concentrating only on the fighting aspects. Wait are you telling me that a MAGA guy who got his job through being a TV personality is superficial? My world is shattered. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2026, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8417 "2026-09-01T11:17:05Z")
Hell, Hegseth probably has a diorama of an American soldier bayoneting a baddie. Or maybe a civilian. Who cares? The American is putting it to a non-American, who won’t be able to illegally enter the US now or ever. Or maybe he’s got a still-working Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game, and thinks that’s what a military is all about.. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8418 "2026-09-01T13:22:39Z")
If only someone would knock his block off… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8419 "2026-09-01T23:11:30Z")
> [@Executive Order 14433](#): > > To make it clear what this bigly nation stands for, the 50 states, Canada and Greenland from now on will be called “Trump’s Whites-only Anti-antifa Dominion”. Five presidential aides were fired over their hesitance to support this proclamation.     _“Acronym”? What is this “acronym” bullshit? Everyone will just call it Trump’s._ ---
**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:** [September 2, 2026, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8420 "2026-09-02T00:16:15Z")
27! Trump’s approval rating has now reached the Standard Crazification Factor. > **[Notice of Privacy](https://triblive.com/privacy/)** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298.md?page=420) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298.md?page=422)