# 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:** 205
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4098 "2020-09-28T23:54:47Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Mine probably says “Mostly Harmless”. Which in Trumpspeak means “dissident”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4099 "2020-09-29T00:02:43Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The Apprentice was a lifeline for Trump This whole entire mess has happened because NBC cancelled ‘The Apprentice’. We should all think about that. Let’s offer him and his family a new gig on a real ‘Gilligan’s Island’. Would be cheaper and a lot of fun to watch the antics of the kids trying to get rescued. The helicopter that flies over never sees them but mysteriously drops bags of hamberders. “Send lawyers, guns and money, the shit has hit the fan” is Trumps America. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4100 "2020-09-29T00:06:16Z")
Sorry, couldn’t let that post go without posting this: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP5Xv7QqXiM) Carry on. ETA: I hope we’ll soon see Trump in all of those places. Havana, Honduras… ---
**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 29, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4101 "2020-09-29T00:17:59Z")
If we have four more years of this, I’ll need one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer – every night. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4102 "2020-09-29T00:30:02Z")
And I’ll be drinking alone, with nobody else, afraid to go out because of the unmarked vans ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4103 "2020-09-29T00:32:47Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > If we have four more years of this, I’ll need one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer – every night One? Shit that’s breakfast. (got to have at least five characters in a reply) ---
**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 29, 2020, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4104 "2020-09-29T00:35:42Z")
Hadn’t checked FB and since I’m not really using anything other than an old dummy account I set up a while ago, I don’t know who’s saying what. But I figured today would be the day to see if I couldn’t see what some of my ole MAGA-bot family members and friends were posting to spin the latest revelations about Trump’s taxes. And sure enough, they’re calling it fake news, and asking “Oh yeah? Well let’s see Hunter Biden’s tax returns from paying that Russian woman!” “What about Obama’s tax returns?!” FFS, Obama’s not even running for president. It’s like they’re itching to lock him up even more than Hillary. The triggered white man’s impulse to enslave black people is mighty damn powerful stuff. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4105 "2020-09-29T01:12:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Here is that Channel Four report, the video embedded in the text: > > [Revealed: Trump campaign strategy to deter millions of Black Americans from voting in 2016 – Channel 4 News](https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed-trump-campaign-strategy-to-deter-millions-of-black-americans-from-voting-in-2016) There is speculation that Brad Parscale’s “incident” with Fort Lauderdale police, yesterday, is tied to this revelation about the Trump Campaign: > [@](#): > > … Also adding to Parscale’s troubles is breaking news from the UK’s Channel 4 detailing how President Trump’s 2016 campaign actively worked to deter millions of Black Americans from voting. The report, which was based on a review of a database used by the 2016 Trump campaign, showed that a disproportionate number of Black voters were labeled “deterrence” — a label used to categorize voters who the campaign wanted to refrain from voting. … > **[Who Is Brad Parscale? Why Trump’s Troubled Former Campaign Manager Is In The...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethcohen/2020/09/28/who-is-brad-parscale-why-trumps-troubled-former-campaign-manager-is-in-the-spotlight/#52d507781cad)** > > On Sunday afternoon, President Trump’s former campaign manager was taken into protective custody after threatening to harm himself at his home in Florida, The news begs the questions: who exactly is Brad Parscale and why is he suddenly at the center... The Forbes article doesn’t spell it out, but what I’ve seen elsewhere suggests that Parscale found out he’s being fitted out as the fall guy for the data-operation described in the Channel Four report------keeping Jared Kushner in the clear. That type of revelation could easily inspire behavior such as that described in the Sunday ‘taken into custody’ incident. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4106 "2020-09-29T01:15:45Z")
Ask not for whom the bus rolls, Brad, it rolls for thee. ---
**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 29, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4107 "2020-09-29T01:22:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > > > In Rick Gates’s new book, he says Individual 1 really wanted Ivanka as his running mate.- > > Well, he could never convince Mike Pence to sit on his lap. Without Mrs. Pence in the room anyway. I think they make a cute couple. [![](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/171221200436-trump-pence-moos-12-21-full-169.jpg) ](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/171221200436-trump-pence-moos-12-21-full-169.jpg) ---
**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:** [September 29, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4108 "2020-09-29T01:22:41Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Ask not for whom the bus rolls, Brad, it rolls for thee. Heh. Is it wrong to take a bit of pleasure in seeing these skunks spattered across the roadway? While not forgetting that those doing the spattering will have their own comeuppances…we hope. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4109 "2020-09-29T01:47:39Z")
There is more. There is always more. Trump wrote off $26 million in unexplained “consulting fees” between 2010 and 2018, with almost $750,000 apparently going to his daughter, Ivanka, in one disclosure. > **[Don't miss the Ivanka Trump bombshell buried in the Times tax story | CNN...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/28/politics/ivanka-trump-donald-trump-tacves/index.html)** > > The big bombshell in The New York Times tax returns story is, obviously, the fact that President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in each 2016 and 2017 -- and for 10 of the 15 previous years, paid no federal income taxes at all. ---
**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 29, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4110 "2020-09-29T02:18:41Z")
1980: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” 2020: “Do you pay more than $750 in income taxes?” ---
**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 29, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4111 "2020-09-29T02:31:43Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > And sure enough, they’re calling it fake news, and asking “Oh yeah? Well let’s see Hunter Biden’s tax returns from paying that Russian woman!” “What about Obama’s tax returns?!” What I’m getting is, “Hey, if it’s legal, it’s perfectly OK that I have 1/2000th of the assets that Trump claims to have but pay 20 times the tax!” Also (and this one is truly hilarious), “Biden had 40 years to reform the tax code, why didn’t he do it?” That last one was actually uttered by Rick Santorum today in an interview with the BBC. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4112 "2020-09-29T02:35:16Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > And I’ll be drinking alone, with nobody else, afraid to go out because of the unmarked vans [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7YvAYIJSSZY/maxresdefault.jpg "Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY) ---
**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 29, 2020, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4113 "2020-09-29T02:37:35Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > The Forbes article doesn’t spell it out, but what I’ve seen elsewhere suggests that Parscale found out he’s being fitted out as the fall guy for the data-operation described in the Channel Four report------keeping Jared Kushner in the clear. > > That type of revelation could easily inspire behavior such as that described in the Sunday ‘taken into custody’ incident. Brad knows that loyalty to Trump means nothing. When you become a liability or the appropriate scapegoat, under the bus you go. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4114 "2020-09-29T02:39:18Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > There is more. There is always more. That”s for sure. Let’s see, so far this week - the NY Times got hold of Trump’s tax returns and released several bombshells. Note that they aren’t releasing the actual returns to anyone - only descriptions of the content. They might be holding additional incriminating details for later. I wonder who the person with legal access that leaked them was? There is the UK channel 4 story on the database, and the fact that they got their hands on the database itself. President Law and Order’s ex-campaign manager and current campaign advisor just had a psychotic armed stand-off with the police - we don’t yet know if hostages were involved. And it’s only Monday night. October Surprise? October is going to be like a freaking Advent calendar, with a little door opening and releasing a new tidbit every day. There aren’t a lot of people with access to the sensitive material that was leaked, and it’s quite possibly the two most sensitive and tightly held items in the Trump universe. At first, I was going to say that someone in his inner circle is trying to take him down, but I don’t think that’s it. I think we are seeing the Trump cult of selfishness at play. Trump is the mad king that enjoys playing his courtiers against each other and making them vie for his favor. His advisors are craven amoral bullies who seek out opportunities to gain immediate short term advantages with total disregard for long term consequences. Or as a Republican would say, they are _transactional_. That’s why they siphoned off all the campaign donations before anyone could use them for campaigning. I’m pretty sure any one of them would leak the most sensitive data they could find to the most damaging source possible, as long as they could make it look like someone they didn’t like was responsible. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4115 "2020-09-29T03:11:47Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > President Law and Order’s ex-campaign manager and current campaign advisor just had a psychotic armed stand-off with the police - we don’t yet know if hostages were involved. One news article I saw said that his wife had fading bruises on several areas of her body (head and arms, I think?), and when questioned she admitted that Parscale had beaten her a few days before. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4116 "2020-09-29T03:12:39Z")
> [@solost](#): > > 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. You can vote early in Michigan in person. I believe early “in person” voting has already started. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4117 "2020-09-29T03:25:26Z")
Here’s more detail. It’s pretty bad. 10 guns in the house, he’d apparently pulled one on her. He hit her at least once, she fled in her bathrobe and some realtors showing a nearby house called the cops. > **[Police took 10 guns from Trump associate’s Florida home after wife showed...](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article246062390.html)** > > Officers also wrote in their reports that Parscale’s wife told them he had post-traumatic stress disorder and had become violent in recent weeks. ETA: They have body cam video in that link! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=204) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=206)