# The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making Part Deux (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083 "2020-06-22T03:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 160
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3198 "2020-09-04T17:22:59Z")
I wonder how this will factor into Trump’s standing with members of the military: > **[Trump won't let Pentagon close Stars and Stripes newspaper](https://apnews.com/10bf87893e3615685895f92346601a47)** > > WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he won't allow the Pentagon to cut funding for the military's independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, effectively halting Defense leaders' plan to shut the paper down this month... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3199 "2020-09-04T17:24:51Z")
I came in to post exactly this. Trump is already in trouble with many in the military because of the Atlantic article. This seems to be pushing the knife in deeper, and an insane thing to do just before the election. Even if the timing is fortuitous (or infortuitous for him), and this had been in the works, just showing up now, why the hell would he do this right before an election? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3200 "2020-09-04T17:28:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I saw a meme the other day: 'When someone says they are a Christian, I ask ‘Classic Jesus, or Republican Jesus?"’ [Republican Jesus.](https://images.dailykos.com/images/379031/large/what-would-republican-jesus-do-1442781591_1_.jpg?1489807108) ---
**Author:** ![rboyce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rboyce/32/4066_2.png) [@rboyce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rboyce)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3201 "2020-09-04T17:30:37Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’ll just say this: I’m a small, middle-aged woman and I am capable of lifting and throwing a brick. > > Trump is a fucked up, demented, staggering moron. > > Also weak, with weak tiny hands. Somethings just need repeating until heard ---
**Author:** ![rboyce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rboyce/32/4066_2.png) [@rboyce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rboyce)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3202 "2020-09-04T17:33:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This seems to be pushing the knife in deeper, and an insane thing to do just before the election. Trump already has a plan. He will declare the election results false and refuse to accept the results. What do we do then-? ---
**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:** [September 4, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3203 "2020-09-04T17:43:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But that’s the kind of case we’re talking about here. The reality of the Covid crisis was not subtle in revealing itself. Actually the original note was about the Portland riots spreading to rural Appalachia, but extending to other issues like climate change and the Trump tax plan (as well as Covid). You were the one who restricted it to the Covid crisis. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3204 "2020-09-04T17:49:31Z")
The President doesn’t certify the election results, and whether or not he concedes is entirely just a matter of norms and good manners. The 50 states will each decide who won and where their electors go…they’ll vote on the date specified by the Constitution, and the winner will take office on January 20. Of course there are many monkey wrenches that Trump can throw into the works between Nov 3 and Jan 20. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3205 "2020-09-04T17:59:52Z")
I had to quite FB for that reason. My blood pressure was starting to become a serious problem. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3206 "2020-09-04T18:00:22Z")
One of the absolute best memes in the history of memes. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3207 "2020-09-04T18:04:18Z")
I thought the link would be to [this one.](http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly050504.htm) ---
**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:** [September 4, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3208 "2020-09-04T18:05:28Z")
Truth: > **[NPR tweeted out the Declaration of Independence on July 4th — and Twitter...](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-supporters-react-to-npr-declaration-of-independence-tweets-2017-7)** > > Some Trump supporters thought the tweets were "propaganda" and said no one would read "5000 tweets about this trash." ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3209 "2020-09-04T18:07:03Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > …whether or not he concedes is entirely just a matter of norms and good manners. Good manners, you say? Well then we’re quite screwed, aren’t we? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3210 "2020-09-04T18:11:33Z")
He’s trying to shut his critics up, plain and simple. He doesn’t have the power to do this with privately owned media, but he feels good knowing that he can act like a dictator. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3211 "2020-09-04T18:20:47Z")
When I was stationed with the Air Force in Germany in the 70s, Stars and Stripes was our only easily available source of American news. If you had a TV, you could watch the news on the military TV station, but most of us didn’t have TVs. My Sunday routine was to drive into base from the off-base house I was sharing with a roommate, go to the base coffee shop, and pick up a cinnamon roll and a copy of the Sunday Stars and Stripes, and drive back home to read the paper and eat my roll. I’m sure nowadays, military members overseas can use their cell phones to get news. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3212 "2020-09-04T18:22:21Z")
Barr is claiming that a bipartisan group led by Jimmy Carter decided that mail in balloting was dangerous. Carter says their report is being misrepresented. > **[Carter affirms safety of mail-in voting after Barr and White House cite him...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/politics/carter-vote-by-mail-safety-barr-white-house/index.html)** > > Jimmy Carter is pushing back on efforts by Attorney General William Barr and the White House to use the former Democratic president's work studying voting by mail to discredit the practice. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3213 "2020-09-04T18:24:28Z")
Stars and Stripes was founded in 1861. > **[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_and_Stripes_(newspaper))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Stars and Stripes is a daily American military newspaper reporting on matters concerning the members of the United States Armed Forces and their communities, with an emphasis on those serving outside the United States. It operates from inside the Department of Defense, but is editorially separate from it, and its First Amendment protection is safeguarded by the United States Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' intere... Every day he does something that leaves me speechless. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3214 "2020-09-04T18:50:54Z")
The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency says the US could be kicked out of the Olympics if Individual 1 follows through on his threat to stop funding the WADA. [U.S. Could Be Thrown Out of Olympics Over Trump Funding Threats, World Anti-Doping Agency Warns](https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-could-be-thrown-out-of-olympics-over-trump-funding-threats-world-anti-doping-agency-warns)? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3215 "2020-09-04T18:56:33Z")
[channelling MAG-hatted maroon] Who wants to be around all them furriners? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3216 "2020-09-04T19:02:00Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > John Kelly can go fuck himself, along with everyone else in this administration and Congress who knew better and enabled Trump. > > The same John Kelly who refused to sign the iJDiT’s loyalty oath and said telling him that things he wanted to do were illegal was like “French kissing a chainsaw”? > > (posts 2971 & 2972) Like French-kissing a chainsaw? Give me a break. Why are all of these accomplished administration officials, including retired generals, so afraid of Trump? Because he might fire them or say bad things about them? He’s not a king (at least not yet), but by kowtowing to him they help prop him up and enable him. To his credit, John Kelly did reportedly try to restrain Trump’s worst impulses while serving as White House Chief Of Staff, including blatantly illegal acts and idiotic, short-sighted policy decisions, like withdrawing from NATO. However, he could have done much more. He knows that Trump is not acting in America’s best interest, and he knows that Trump is a threat to American democracy. By working for Trump as long as he did in two high-level administration posts, he enabled Trump and allowed him to consolidate his power. He could have spoken out publicly while still in the administration (which surely would have led to his firing, but so what?), and he could be speaking out more publicly and explicitly about Trump’s unfitness for office even now. Instead, he makes these inconsequential off-the-record comments that seem more intended to exonerate himself from blame for the dumpster fire that is the Trump administration, rather than to take concrete steps that could help turn this lawless, unfit abomination of a “President” out of office. If John Kelly, Jim Mattis, H.R. McMaster, Dan Coats, and even Rex Tillerson were to give a joint press conference, or at the very least go on the record on what it was like to work for Trump, they could do a lot a good for our country. But until then, fuck the lot of them. P.S. I don’t mean to imply that John Kelly hasn’t spoken out publicly at all. He has, like in this speech: > **[John Kelly Finally Lets Loose on Trump](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/02/john-kelly-alexander-vindman-north-korea-and-trump/606496/)** > > The former chief of staff explained, in the clearest terms yet, his misgivings about Trump’s behavior regarding North Korea, immigration, and Ukraine. But even though the article’s headline states that John Kelly “finally lets loose on Trump,” if you read the article he doesn’t really. Instead he presents everything as if they are minor policy disagreements with a rational actor. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3217 "2020-09-04T19:08:28Z")
> [@robby](#): > > To his credit, John Kelly did reportedly try to restrain Trump’s worst impulses while serving as White House Chief Of Staff, including blatantly illegal acts and idiotic, short-sighted policy decisions, like withdrawing from NATO. And refused to be Trump’s FBI lapdog, unlike Barr. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=159) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=161)