# 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:** 203
**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 28, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4058 "2020-09-28T14:45:23Z")
Trump Land needs enemies. They feed on, survive off of enmity between people. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4059 "2020-09-28T14:52:05Z")
Yep, Goldsteins everywhere you look, according to them. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4060 "2020-09-28T15:33:15Z")
When presented with a meme comparing what Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Donald Trump paid in taxes in 2017 ($3,742,974, $516,469, $343,882, $268,484, and $750, respectively), a FB friend replied: > Obviously, Trump is an even bigger genius than I originally thought. Of course they were going to look at his taxes, duh! You do realize he is setting the stage for all of these well-known crooks listed here and beyond to be regularly audited, along with their close family members. They’ve all been in the corrupt world long enough to know what their taxes need to look like to pass the sniff test, but they haven’t been quite as thorough w/all of their family members. Stay tuned, this won’t be about Trump’s taxes for very long ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4061 "2020-09-28T15:43:02Z")
RE: how trump could get away with stealing an election he loses, I got a little queasy after seeing this article: > **[Trump readies thousands of attorneys for election fight](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/trump-legal-network-election-day-fight-422035)** > > Dozens of lawyers from three major firms have been hired. Thousands of volunteer attorneys and poll watchers across the country have been recruited. ---
**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 28, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4062 "2020-09-28T15:43:36Z")
Yes, _any day now_ all those crooked Democrats will be investigated and all their crimes revealed, just like the Republicans have been promising right before every election for over a decade. But **this time** they really mean it, and that’s why they should vote GOP again! ---
**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 28, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4063 "2020-09-28T15:44:16Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Trump readies thousands of attorneys for election fight How’s he planning on paying them? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4064 "2020-09-28T15:47:28Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > How’s he planning on paying them? Says right there after the title link that dozens have been hired, and thousands are volunteers. As for the dozens, he’ll probably promise to pay them after the election and then stiff them, contractor-style. ---
**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 28, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4065 "2020-09-28T15:48:22Z")
Hmmmm. Looking forward to this report. Link contains a video preview. It contains the words ‘we have obtained the database used by Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, a vast collection of files on 200,000,000 US citizens.’ > ---
**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 28, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4066 "2020-09-28T15:59:05Z")
That [Politico](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/trump-legal-network-election-day-fight-422035) article is worth reading. > A year before President Donald Trump alarmed Americans with talk of disputing elections last week, his team started building a massive legal network to do just that. > > Dozens of lawyers from three major law firms have been hired. Thousands of volunteer attorneys and poll watchers across the country have been recruited. **Republicans are preparing pre-written legal pleadings that can be hurried to the courthouse the day after the election,** as wrangling begins over close results and a crush of mail-in ballots. Attorneys from non-battleground states, including California, New York and Illinois, are being dispatched to more competitive areas and trained on local election laws. > > A 20-person team of lawyers oversees the strategy, which is mainly focused on the election process in the 17 key states the Trump campaign is targeting, like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. > > In total, it means the Republican Party will have thousands of people on hand to shape every element of voting — both on Election Day and in the days after. > > It’s a massive undertaking — one the RNC calls its largest election-year legal effort ever. And it’s one that could determine the winner of the pandemic-beset 2020 election. Both political parties are bracing for the Nov. 3 election to spill over into the days and perhaps weeks after Election Day, given the drawn out process of counting what’s expected to be a historic number of mail-in votes. Since Republicans and Democrats vehemently disagree over how — and when — those ballots should be counted, the court system might be the ultimate arbiter. > > “We’ve been hard at work on our planning and strategy for quite some time,” said Justin Riemer, chief counsel at Republican National Committee, one of the leaders of the effort. “We will spend whatever it takes to make sure the election is conducted orderly and that **we push back on the Democrats’ litigation to strike down various safeguards on the election process.”** > … My bold. The RNC is characterizing this as “pushing back on the Dems’ striking down safeguards.” 🤦🏽‍♀️ ---
**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 28, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4067 "2020-09-28T16:16:56Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > we push back on the Democrats’ litigation to strike down various safeguards on the election process.” I read it as “we push back” “to strike down various safeguards on the election process”. [Believe the autocrat. He means what he says.](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/) ---
**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 28, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4068 "2020-09-28T16:39:59Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > > we push back on the Democrats’ litigation to strike down various safeguards on the election process.” > > I read it as “we push back” “to strike down various safeguards on the election process”.- It is worded in an unclear way. Are they pushing back on Democrats who are attempting to strike down safeguards through litigation? Or are the Pubs striking down the safeguards? It’s a crap sentence anyway-- “orderly” should be “in an orderly way.” ---
**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 28, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4069 "2020-09-28T16:44:36Z")
This article is worth reading as well: > **[Pelosi begins mustering Democrats for possible House decision on presidency](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/pelosi-mobilizes-democrats-house-decision-on-presidency-422359)** > > The speaker sent a letter emphasizing local races, in case a tie in the Electoral College requires state delegations to vote. Mind you, Pelosi would be acting within the Constitution, but the concern is whether the average American today, who is used to seeing the outcome decided on television the night of the election, would be able to recognize what any of these technical and legal maneuvers being done by either side as being Constitutional. If it gets to that point, it would certainly seem antithetical to democracy, to the casual voting citizen anyway. Which brings me back to the underlying driver in all this: the danger isn’t Trump commandeering the military for an American putsch; confusion and disorientation are the point. This is the end game. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4070 "2020-09-28T16:47:39Z")
The army of lawyers readying for the legal challenges at 11:01 pm, Tuesday, Nov. 3, is another clear sign of the Trump campaign’s desperation, a desperation that has been illuminated by his tax returns. He’s in financial and possibly legal trouble if he loses and needs the power of the presidency to squash his political and legal opponents and shore up his financial standing (through ever greater grifting of the public coffers). I’m worried that the DNC and Dem voters in general aren’t taking this desperation seriously enough. Vote early and in person if you’re not a health risk. Donald’s legal strategy, abetted by friendly state legislatures and an even friendlier Supreme Court, won’t be worth a damn if the numbers on Election Night are heavily against him. ---
**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 28, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4071 "2020-09-28T16:51:20Z")
Good find, Bo. Yes, Masha Gessen is a Russian dissident and is quite familiar with Putin and Eastern European autocrats. Even if it’s just a tweet, anything that is written Gessen or Garry Kasparov, I read. People who write off Trump’s tweets as just tweets doesn’t understand the purpose behind the message. It’s to gain consent. People who get elected on a campaign of rejecting the legitimacy of an election are getting feedback and permission from the electorate to redefine democracy as we know it. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4072 "2020-09-28T16:58:16Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Vote early and in person if you’re not a health risk. Donald’s legal strategy, abetted by friendly state legislatures and an even friendlier Supreme Court, won’t be worth a damn if the numbers on Election Night are heavily against him. Unfortunately trump may well appear to be ahead on election day before the “blue shift” happens. And voting early makes no difference in states like my state of Michigan, where the mail ballots can’t begin to be counted until election day. I have decided I’m going to vote in person. > **[The ‘Blue Shift’ Will Decide the Election](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/brace-blue-shift/615097/)** > > Something fundamental has changed about the ways Americans vote. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4073 "2020-09-28T17:12:34Z")
The Dems have been organizing their own legal team to counter all these RNC efforts for months - my dad is friendly with one of the key players, a former Solicitor General who you’ve seen commentating on 24-hour news. They are prepared, and have an A-team ready, nationwide. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4074 "2020-09-28T17:21:24Z")
> [@mtnmatt](#): > > They are prepared, and have an > A-team ready, nationwide. Hopefully we’ll all be able to say “I pity the fool who thought he could beat Biden” soon after election day. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4075 "2020-09-28T17:39:10Z")
Biden has been amassing his own lawyers for months. > **[Biden Campaign Deploys 600 Lawyers So Trump Can’t ‘Steal This Election’](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/07/02/biden-campaign-deploys-600-lawyers-so-trump-cant-steal-this-election/amp/)** > > The campaign is sending lawyers and volunteers to every state “to try to figure out whether chicanery is likely to take place.” ---
**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 28, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4076 "2020-09-28T18:14:29Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I can totally see his nibs barricading himself in the White House along with one of his appointed judges just to muddy the waters further – if that’s possible. Maybe Brad Parscale barricading himself in his Florida home with his guns was a test case. ---
**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 28, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4077 "2020-09-28T18:19:29Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > In case you’re wondering, [Foxnews.com](http://Foxnews.com) currently has Hunter Biden and stories of scary black people as their lead. The sole indication that this “news” organization is aware that Trump is a tax cheat is the single story way down the page stating Trump says the story is fake. Even Drudge is pushing the story. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=202) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=204)