# 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:** 186
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3718 "2020-09-17T19:50:39Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Typical. When are you special snowflakes going to start taking responsibility for not getting sick? > > /sarcasm If they would just have worn a mask like we told them too /more sarcasm ---
**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 17, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3719 "2020-09-17T22:28:34Z")
How does this make any sense at all? > [@](#): > > Barr has faced scrutiny for overruling the decisions of Justice Department prosecutors who work for him, including in criminal cases involving associates of President Donald Trump. But in his remarks, he rejected the notion that prosecutors should have final say in cases that they bring. Instead, Barr described them as part of the “permanent bureaucracy” and suggested they need to be supervised, and even reined in, by politically appointed leaders accountable to the president and Congress. > > “The men and women who have ultimate authority in the Justice Department are thus the ones on whom our elected officials have conferred that responsibility — by presidential appointment and Senate confirmation,” Barr said. “That blessing by the two political branches of government gives these officials democratic legitimacy that career officials simply do not possess.” Okaaaaay, “democratic legitimacy”. Sure thing, dude. 🙄 > [@](#): > > “Individual prosecutors can sometimes become headhunters, consumed with taking down their target,” Barr said. “Subjecting their decisions to review by detached supervisors ensures the involvement of dispassionate decision-makers in the process.” Wait… “detached supervisors”? “dispassionate decision-makers”? In what reality are those accurate descriptors of political appointees? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3720 "2020-09-17T23:35:30Z")
Oh look, DTS wants to put that American exceptionalism bullshit back in school curriculums. [President Trump Launches 1776 Commission to Restore "Patriotic Education" to Nation | C-SPAN.org](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4907181/president-trump-launches-1776-commission-restore-patriotic-education-nation) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3721 "2020-09-18T00:17:44Z")
Cross-posted in the Coronavirus Breaking News thread because it’s so f-ed up. The controversial CDC recommendation last month that people without symptoms didn’t need to be tested wasn’t written by CDC scientist, but by HHS officials. Anyone surprised? > **[C.D.C. Testing Guidance Was Published Against Scientists’ Objections...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/health/coronavirus-testing-cdc.html)** > > A controversial guideline saying people without Covid-19 symptoms didn’t need to get tested for the virus came from H.H.S. officials and skipped the C.D.C.’s scientific review process. > A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times. > > The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of Covid-19 even if they had been exposed to the virus. It came at a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less, and administration officials told The Times that the document was a C.D.C. product and had been revised [with input from the agency’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/us/politics/coronavirus-testing-trump-cdc.html). > > But officials told The Times this week that the health department did the rewriting itself and then “dropped” it into the C.D.C.’s public website, flouting the agency’s strict scientific review process. > > “That was a doc that came from the top down, from the H.H.S. and the task force,” said a federal official with knowledge of the matter, referring to the White House task force on the coronavirus. “That policy does not reflect what many people at the C.D.C. feel should be the policy.” > > \ > > **A new version of the testing guidance, expected to be posted Friday, has also not been cleared by the C.D.C.’s usual internal review for scientific documents and is being revised by officials at Health and Human Services, according to a federal official who was not authorized to speak to reporters about the matter.** More info at the [link](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/health/coronavirus-testing-cdc.html). ---
**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 18, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3722 "2020-09-18T00:25:26Z")
Wonkette really has a way with words. It’s still a shitshow, but you can indulge in some macabre laughter while you’re reading about it. > **[Trump Dick-Punches Self Repeatedly While George Stephanopoulos Watches](https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-dick-punches-self-repeatedly-while-george-stephanopoulos-watches)** > > NO KINK-SHAMING! > The entire internet is asking right now whose genius idea it was to sit Donald Trump down in front of a bunch of voters in Pennsylvania, where he’d have to talk to people and attempt his best impression of a competent human who wants to continue being president. > … > > It was probably Jared Kushner’s idea, because all bad ideas are. > > It was so hilariously bad. It was so bad Fox News is calling it an “ambush,” because we all know how it is when voters “ambush” candidates by asking them questions. In one question he’d shoot his dick off, then the next question, he’d tape his dick back on so he could punch it repeatedly. After that, he’d somehow manage to _julienne_ his own dick, that’s how bad it was. > > The best thing you can say about it is that _to our knowledge_ Trump did not poop on the stage, though somebody should ask George Stephanopoulos what it smelled like up there. > … > > ## Maybe If Joe Biden Had Done A Nationwide Mask Order! > > No, really. Trump lied and said we’re going to have a safe vaccine in just a few weeks, and whined that the Obama administration would have “taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals” — you know, the way things are supposed to be done so vaccines don’t kill people or make them sprout third armpits. He lied and said our mortality rates were the best in the world. He lied and said he didn’t downplay coronavirus, even though [THERE HE IS](https://www.wonkette.com/mighta-been-nice-if-we-had-tapes-of-trump-admitting-he-was-lying-about-coronavirus-back-in-february-bob) on tape telling Bob Woodward he did just that. > > Then, in response to a voter question, Trump blamed Joe Biden for not imposing a national mask mandate… ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3723 "2020-09-18T01:20:47Z")
Goddam that Joe Biden for not being president already. It’s his fault that the coronavirus got out of hand! And Biden has a fake spray on orange tan, and stupid hair as well! Biden was responsible for World War 2, when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. ---
**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 18, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3724 "2020-09-18T01:53:27Z")
fuBarr wants his hench to [look into charging](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/516821-barr-asked-prosecutors-to-explore-charging-seattle-mayor-over-protest) Seattle mayor Jenny Durkin and/or WA governor Jay Inslee with something or the other for allowing CHAZ to happen. ---
**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 18, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3725 "2020-09-18T02:32:13Z")
The Treasury Department offered a loan to the Postal Service if it would allow Treasury to take over control of the USPS. > **[Records Show Treasury Tried to Take Over Postal Service | Law & Crime](https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/internal-records-reveal-treasury-department-attempted-unprecedented-and-arguably-illegal-takeover-of-usps/)** > > A trove of internal communications records released Thursday revealed that as the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) struggled amid mounting debt and a surging global pandemic earlier this year the U.S. Department of Treasury attempted to seize operational... ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3726 "2020-09-18T03:41:37Z")
One part of the government tried to buy out another part?? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3727 "2020-09-18T09:54:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > One part of the government tried to buy out another part? More like a hostile take-over bid, as I interpreted what I read. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3728 "2020-09-18T11:41:02Z")
Wow, they really are trying to run government like a business, hostile takeovers and everything. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3729 "2020-09-18T11:50:06Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Wow, they really are trying to run government like a business, hostile takeovers and everything. - Just wait, Congressional lay-offs will be next. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3730 "2020-09-18T13:36:04Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Also denialists are saying that the actual deaths by Covid are a tiny fraction of the reported 195K, because deaths are counted as a Covid death when they test positive for Covid, no matter what actually killed them The Guiteau Defense: Yes, I _shot_ President Garfield, but it was the doctors who actually _killed_ him. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3731 "2020-09-18T13:44:34Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I feel like if they were finding the true undecideds, it would be two kinds of voters: > > –“Low information voters” aka dumbasses. These people wouldn’t know enough about any issue to ask coherent questions, so I can at least partially understand why they would be reluctant to feature such voters. > > –Conservative white people with college degrees who always voted Republican in the past, but are having a lot of trouble with continuing that pattern this time because of Trump’s dishonesty, corruption, and incompetence. But they also have trouble just voting Democratic because they are conservative and have never liked Democrats. Actually, most of them fit the usual profile of undecided voters (people who prefer to just mind their own business and not pay attention to national issues until some national issue (e.g. access to health care, the pandemic) insists on paying attention to them). ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3732 "2020-09-18T13:51:53Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Individual 1 hired Doctor Scott Atlas to work in the coronavirus task force. He was the head of neuroradiology at Stanford Medical Center, but several of his Stanford colleagues wrote an open letter saying he has no background in epidemiology or public health. He is threatening to sue them if they don’t retract their letter. I suggest a two-word reply, second word “you”. ---
**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 18, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3733 "2020-09-18T13:52:24Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > More like a hostile take-over bid, as I interpreted what I read. Likely with the goal of asset strippting Vulture capitalism. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3734 "2020-09-18T13:59:11Z")
It seems il Doofus is still butt-hurt over the Tulsa fiasco… > **[U.S. bans WeChat, TikTok as China becomes major focus of election](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/18/tiktok-wechat-ban-trump/)** > > The order banning the apps is unprecedented in the United States, officials said. ---
**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 18, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3735 "2020-09-18T14:02:29Z")
From that article: > “Today’s actions prove once again that President Trump will do everything in his power to guarantee our national security and protect Americans from the threats of the Chinese Communist Party,” U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a [statement](https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2020/09/commerce-department-prohibits-wechat-and-tiktok-transactions-protect). “At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.” > > On Sunday, the U.S. will also ban the provision of services that enable WeChat to be used for money transfers or mobile payments. > > And as of Sunday for WeChat, and Nov. 12 for TikTok, the U.S. will ban any provision of internet hosting services that allow the apps to function in the U.S. And it will prohibit “any utilization of the mobile application’s constituent code, functions, or services in the functioning of software or services developed and/or accessible within the U.S.” > … By what authority does trump do this??? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3736 "2020-09-18T14:02:59Z")
We KNOW one if not the only reason Trump hired Atlas - “Atlas? _Doctor_ Atlas? Yeah, I want a guy named Atlas. I can’t even pronounce that other guys name” ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/3737 "2020-09-18T15:02:41Z")
Russia is complaining that the US and NATO have sharply increased air and naval exercises near Crimea: > **[Russian military says US flights near Crimea fuel tensions](https://apnews.com/a8f6d22625acd2d84a26129f1019e030)** > > MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military on Friday accused the U.S. and its allies of provoking tensions in the Black Sea region with a sharp increase in the number of bomber patrols and intelligence flights... I’m thoroughly confused. Has Trump finally grown a pair and decided to stand up to Putin, is he simply unaware of what his own military is doing, or what? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=185) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=187)