# 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:** 97
**Author:** ![doomtastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@doomtastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doomtastic)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1921 "2026-01-25T22:28:12Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > “How can they vote for someone whose policies run counter to their own advantage?” Because that’s not what they want or need. I’ve long since stopped caring what they want. They are aiding and abetting evil, and we are all paying the price for their stupidity and selfishness. Fuck em all. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1922 "2026-01-25T22:30:46Z")
Know your enemy! Reading that article: they mostly don’t. They navigate by prejudice. Turn that into your advantage. ---
**Author:** ![doomtastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@doomtastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doomtastic)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1923 "2026-01-25T22:37:10Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Know your enemy! Ugh, fine. I’ll enrich myself with more knowledge in hopes that it might someday make a difference. But don’t expect me to be happy about it _grumble_ ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1924 "2026-01-25T22:39:22Z")
You don’t have to be happy, you just have to win. When you do, leave the being happy to me. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![doomtastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@doomtastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doomtastic)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1925 "2026-01-25T22:57:18Z")
From the article: > The relationship Trump has established with tens of millions of Americans offers them something they cannot attain through conventional politics. In his various roles, **he embodies the reality that they want**. This is the source of his power. So I’m going to loop back around to fuck ‘em all. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1926 "2026-01-25T23:06:00Z")
Oh, I agree. It’s interesting in an academic way, and if the Dems can use this data to turn around some of the category 4 people, terrific. But, yeah, fuck ‘em all. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1927 "2026-01-25T23:14:27Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Matt McDermott tweet: > As insane as this sounds, it’s true: Pam Bondi sent Minnesota officials a letter today saying ICE would leave the state if Minnesota turns over its voter files to the Trump Administration. … > [https://x.com/mattmfm/status/2015218874111639976](https://x.com/mattmfm/status/2015218874111639976) It’s flat-out extortion. ‘Give us control of your elections OR ELSE we’ll keep gunning down your citizens.’ Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries need to unite in calling for Bondi to be impeached. They won’t, because they both prioritize self-preservation above every other consideration. But they should. > [@jsc1953](#): > > “Environmental insurrectionists”??? You mean, rational people and scientists? > Typical of Trump and the MAGAs that they learn a new word (like insurrection) because it’s a crime they committed and then they like to throw it at their opponents. Yes, but it also has the practical component of advancing Trump’s wish to declare vast swathes of the American citizenry—everyone who hold an opinion he doesn’t like, in fact—as being “engaged in insurrection.” Meaning that he can _finally_ invoke his beloved Insurrection Act. Watch for the word “insurrection” to be increasingly applied to all kinds of things in both Donald’s posts and remarks, and in those of his enablers. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2026, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1928 "2026-01-26T01:28:51Z")
It will come to the point where you might as well be shot as an insurrectionist instead of a sheep. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2026, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1929 "2026-01-26T05:20:13Z")
@smithsb I’m not sure I want to know, but what was in the first paragraph of that threatening letter? > [@dougrb](#): > > This quote says a lot about our descent into Idiocracy. > > > Trump’s political skills were forged in WWE arenas, on reality-TV sets, and in the luxury real-estate business—industries that live and die by their ability to capture attention, simplify narratives, and deliver emotional impact. In other words: _bullshit artists_. [Rip van Simple has gotten Europe united.](https://www.aol.com/articles/getting-no-europes-leaders-way-123438972.html) > [@](#): > > LONDON (AP) — No more fawning praise. No more polite workarounds and old-style diplomacy. And no one is calling Donald Trump [“daddy”](https://apnews.com/article/trump-nato-rutte-flattery-daddy-iran-e7ee4dacb4febf14e3911f376638daaa) now. > > European leaders who [scrambled for a year](https://apnews.com/article/trump-chaos-gaza-greenland-trade-eabba5e346e0c41fb5e9391f84450668?utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawPfLIxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFYOFpDNEJTMzhXVXhUSFRCc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHk6-xB3byt9V6OBt7q_qm2KrMM-GDCtr9LHBn5go9szzyuJG5Mp8uBrmWCOr_aem_xtFh0TtmHHVyjz_yonMt8g) to figure out how to deal with an [emboldened American president](https://apnews.com/article/trump-nato-greenland-board-of-peace-diplomacy-39dafe866bab610a18f103622fc7d5fe) in his second term edged closer to saying “no,” or something diplomatically like it, to his disregard for international law and his demands for their territory. Trump’s vow to take over Greenland and [punish any country that resists](https://apnews.com/article/denmark-greenland-us-trump-4ad99ea3975a8b62d37bd04961feda55), seems to have been the crucible. > > “Red lines” were deemed to have been crossed this year when Trump abruptly revived his demand that the United States “absolutely” must rule Greenland, the semiautonomous region that is part of NATO ally Denmark. That pushed even the most mild-mannered diplomats to issue sharp warnings against Trump, whom they had flattered [with](https://apnews.com/article/trump-nato-netherlands-palace-sleepover-summit-c4a6030f174740e31621901de00b932c)[royal treatment](https://apnews.com/article/britain-trump-state-visit-king-charles-9e888f6d58da8765ab7e0775d11fb350) and [fawning praise](https://apnews.com/article/trump-rutte-text-message-nato-signal-6263810ac3ca77a5bf7366499f51c772). > > “Britain will not yield" its support for Greenland’s sovereignty, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. Several of the continent’s leaders said “Europe will not be blackmailed” over Greenland. > > “Threats have no place among allies,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Add that to getting Quebecers proud to be Canadian and maybe he should get some kind of prize. I suggest an early vacation. Surely Congress can manage that for ~~us~~ him. [I don’t think Hizzoner trusts the felon-in-chief and accomplices.](https://www.aol.com/news/judge-blocks-trump-admin-destroying-104936357.html) > [@](#): > > A federal judge in Minnesota has blocked the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to a deadly shooting involving a Border Patrol agent in [Minneapolis on Saturday.](https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/us-regions/midwest/minnesota) > > The ruling came after the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension filed a lawsuit Saturday to prevent the destruction of evidence in the [shooting death of Alex Pretti](https://www.foxnews.com/us/alex-pretti-37-identified-man-fatally-shot-border-patrol-agent-minneapolis), a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident killed by a Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation. > > According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Pretti approached Border Patrol agents armed with a 9 mm pistol and “violently resisted” when they attempted to disarm him. > > The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, names DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and U.S. Border Control, as well as [Attorney General Pam Bondi](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-blames-minneapolis-leaders-after-armed-suspect-killed-unrest-erupts-during-ice-operation), as defendants. > > The groups, represented by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, said the litigation is accompanied by a motion for a temporary restraining order that asks the court to immediately prevent the defendants from destroying any evidence related to the shooting. > > In granting the temporary injunction, Judge Eric Tostrud wrote that federal officials and those acting on their behalf cannot destroy evidence taken from the scene of the south Minneapolis shooting or now in their exclusive custody, which state authorities say they were previously barred from inspecting. [The felon’s taking his war on Gay men international.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-administration-potentially-sending-two-214522967.html) > [@](#): > > Two gay [Iranian](https://www.advocate.com/iran) men who fled their home country after being arrested for “[homosexual conduct](https://www.advocate.com/gay-sex)” and facing possible execution are at risk of being deported by the United States as early as Sunday, according to their attorney, even as one federal court has intervened to temporarily block one of the removals. Advocates warn that the case exposes a deeper collapse of asylum protections. > > The men, romantic partners in their late 30s and early 40s, were arrested in Iran in 2021 by the country’s morality police for what authorities described as homosexual activity — a charge that can carry punishments ranging from flogging to death. They were released from jail while awaiting sentencing and fled before punishment was imposed, eventually making their way to the United States to seek asylum, said Rebekah Wolf, a staff attorney with the American Immigration Council who represents them. Now the Trump administration is trying to send them back to Iran, she said. [Guess who’s _really_ behind the big bullshit ballroom (according to Rip van Simple).](https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/sundayshows0125/card/trump-says-lawsuit-over-ballroom-project-has-exposed-heretofore-top-secret-fact--1Eo02mKkcXgJSKfxL3V2?siteid=yhoof2) > [@](#): > > President Trump says a lawsuit over his White House ballroom project has exposed the previously “top secret” involvement of the military and Secret Service. & > [@](#): > > He said the project was being done with “the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service. The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore Top Secret fact.” I guess I really have been unfair to him. My best guess as to why he’s using the expression “top secret” is it was on a word o’ the day calendar. Either that or he saw it in a _Looney Tunes_ short. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2026, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1930 "2026-01-26T06:05:11Z")
Or maybe he watched a Val Kilmer movie. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1931 "2026-01-26T11:26:24Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > It will be interesting to see how he navigates this at the world cup where the audience is likely to be even more anti-Trump than normal, but where he will feel obligated to make an appearance given how much he’s been growing about it. Depends on how thoroughly boycotted those games are. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1932 "2026-01-26T11:29:56Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > They are evil avians. I think they are bitter that thay can’t fly, and take it out on all of nature. They are really horrible birds, as much as nature documentaries make them look like harmless graceful animals. I hear they also smell strongly of “used” fish. Birds of all sorts are often portrayed as cute and cuddly. I’ll just remind everyone that those are the dinosaurs that survived what T-rex could not. Having lived with one of the more social and friendly types of birds - parrots - for 30 years now I would use terms like “fierce” and “ruthless” before “cuddly”. Most other varieties are even less cuddly. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2026, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1933 "2026-01-26T11:47:38Z")
Reply “no” and let them get a judge to cite the laws against this blackmail. Or cite the laws and tell them to fuck the hell off. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1934 "2026-01-26T12:52:03Z")
The government had always a clear stance, I thought: We don’t negociate with terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1935 "2026-01-26T15:13:13Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Or maybe he watched a Val Kilmer movie. A friend of mine in college asked me to tape that movie for him while he was on a study trip to the Soviet Union. I wrote him a letter and started to write “I taped Top Secret for you”, but thought better of it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1936 "2026-01-26T15:41:10Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I mean, I get that Trump is out of his mind, but I don’t think Bessent is. Bessent isn’t out of his mind, he simply understands what his job is. No, not his ostensible job, his actual job: Making Trump happy. And everyone that Trump has hired understands that too. They mimic Trump’s bullshit, because they know that’s what Trump wants, and it makes him happy. The fact that it’s bullshit, that they know it’s bullshit, and that we know it’s bullshit, matters not at all to any of them. It’s long past time that we should recognize this, and stop listening to anything they say, on any matter. Whatever they say, it will be bullshit, intended only to advance Trump’s agenda. Just listen to the bullshit (I know, I know, I just said _not to do that_, but…) about the recent ICE shooting. Utterly deranged bullshit, immediately contradicted by multiple videos of the event, but they don’t care, they just keep spewing it because _that’s their real job_. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1937 "2026-01-26T15:45:44Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. > > So I asked him, “Can I have your shoes?” You laugh, but I almost did that once. I had a friend who lost a leg, and there was a homeless guy near me who’d lost the other leg. So I thought, “Damn, there’s half a pair of shoes going to waste here…”, but it turned out their feet were different sizes. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1938 "2026-01-26T15:47:54Z")
_Finally, we have the “Reluctant Right” (20 percent). Members of this group, unlike the other three, are not necessarily part of Trump’s base; they voted for him, but have ambivalent feelings toward him. Only half identify as Republicans, and many picked Trump because he seemed “less bad” than the alternative._ THIS, I would like more explanation of. Does “less bad” mean “less female” or “less non-white”? Does “ambivalent feelings” mean they don’t care who is President? Just flipped a coin? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1939 "2026-01-26T15:58:33Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > > He said the project was being done with “the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service. The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore Top Secret fact.” My god, I had no idea the Secret Service and the military were highly involved in the design and function of _\>checks notes\<_ the executive residence and offices of the President of the United States! ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/1940 "2026-01-26T15:59:10Z")
I had a similar reaction. My speculation (which no one has asked for 😌) is that these are traditional center-right moderates who see the left as misguided (not evil). So they hold their noses and vote for Trump, but their support has limits that hardcore MAGAs don’t recognize. Dem strategists should be focused on these guys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298.md?page=96) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298.md?page=98)