# 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:** 228
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4558 "2020-10-07T14:30:02Z")
you could hear the inner monologue. i’ll salute, that will look good. look how good i look saluting, i’m saluting! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4559 "2020-10-07T14:41:39Z")
What song is being parodied? I must be losing touch with Broadway. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4560 "2020-10-07T14:54:35Z")
I don’t know either, but it’s so catchy, by the time the “Now Kindly Fuck Off” line came up, I was singing along. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4561 "2020-10-07T15:00:37Z")
[stolen from twitter] Republicans in 2010: “Obamacare will kill your grandma.” Republicans in 2010: “We have to let grandma die so we can all go to the mall.” ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4562 "2020-10-07T15:07:17Z")
@[rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair): [![](https://i.imgur.com/dFdPsfv.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/dFdPsfv.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4563 "2020-10-07T15:36:34Z")
Apparently ol’ Methamphetamine Mitch whined to Trump that Pelosi was not cooperating sufficiently in negotiations. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4564 "2020-10-07T15:36:46Z")
That’s not an apostrophe. It’s a _hyphen_. As in Liddle’ ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4565 "2020-10-07T15:41:31Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > That’s not an apostrophe. It’s a _hyphen_ . As in Liddle’ No… this is a hyphen: **-** (i.e., a “dash”) > hy·phen > > /ˈhīfən/ > > _noun_ > > noun: **hyphen** ; plural noun: **hyphens** > > 1. the sign -, used to join words to indicate that they have a combined meaning or that they are linked in the grammar of a sentence (as in _pick-me-up_ , _rock-forming_ ), to indicate the division of a word at the end of a line, or to indicate a missing or implied element (as in _short- and long-term_ ). You can call the mark in this word, _o’clock_, a “single quotation mark,” if that floats your boat, but it’s definitely NOT a hyphen. That “single quotation mark” indicates that letters have been left out. As in “it’s” meaning the letter **i** has been left out: it is. ‘Bout Fuckin’ Time has two places where letters have been left out: **A** bout and Fuckin **G**. So for the acronym we just need the _apostrophe_ at the beginning. \<_puts down baseball bat_\> ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4566 "2020-10-07T15:46:29Z")
**If Mama were Married** from _Gypsy_. One of my favorite shows, and I was pretty sure when I saw the title, but I listened to a few seconds to be sure. IIRC, LuPone starred in a revival ( but not as one of the characters in the scene with that song) ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4567 "2020-10-07T15:46:53Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > No… this is a hyphen: **-** (i.e., a “dash”) A hyphen is not a dash. A hyphen is smaller and connects words, a dash is longer and connects statements. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4568 "2020-10-07T15:50:29Z")
Aw, Thelma, I can’t believe a lowly lurker like me has managed to whoosh you! How soon we all forget: “Trump kicked off his day with a profoundly strange tweet attacking CNN for not making painstaking distinctions between the smears he uses to attack House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA); he also misspelled “describing” and revealed he may not know the difference between an apostrophe and a hyphen.” [[“Liddle’, not Liddle”: Trump’s latest tweets among his strangest yet - Vox](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/27/20886829/liddle-adam-schiff-trump-tweet-hyphen-apostrophe)] ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4569 "2020-10-07T16:18:22Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > A hyphen is not a dash. A hyphen is smaller and connects words, a dash is longer and connects statements. I’ll accept that. > [@bobsmom101](#): > > Aw, Thelma, I can’t believe a lowly lurker like me has managed to whoosh you! How soon we all forget: > > “Trump kicked off his day with a profoundly strange tweet attacking CNN for not making painstaking distinctions between the smears he uses to attack House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA); he also misspelled “describing” and revealed he may not know the difference between an apostrophe and a hyphen.” - > > [[https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/27/20886829/liddle-adam-schiff-trump-tweet-hyphen-apostrophe](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/27/20886829/liddle-adam-schiff-trump-tweet-hyphen-apostrophe)] Oops. I’d forgotten about that. 😊 It’s hard to keep up! ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4570 "2020-10-07T17:33:47Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > I saw a clip yesterday of Trump returning to the White House and saluting, was he really saluting a helicopter? Well, yes. Apparently the helicopter outranks him. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4571 "2020-10-07T17:39:25Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > > What’s the proper collective noun for assholes? > > A “caucus”. A rally. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4572 "2020-10-07T17:45:01Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Neither. The millions of assholes who voted for him in the first place. > [@Gyrate](#): > > It’s assholes all the way down. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > What’s the proper collective noun for assholes? > > A hiney of assholes? No. > A pantsload of assholes? No. > A seatful of assholes? No. > > I’ve got it: **A buttload of assholes!** Obligatory: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sen8Tn8CBA4/hqdefault.jpg "Spaceballs: Surrounded by assholes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sen8Tn8CBA4) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4573 "2020-10-07T17:50:40Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > What song is being parodied? I must be losing touch with Broadway. “If Mama Was Married,” from _Gypsy_ (Jule Stein/Stephen Sondheim). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4574 "2020-10-07T18:03:16Z")
Oh, absolutely wonderful! I don’t think I would have recognized it as from Gypsy without Ann\_Hedonia; I might have picked up on it when the “Let Me Entertain You” theme came in, and Randy was dressed in a Shirley Temple dress. My favorite line was the “I’d be back on Broadway and belting Sondheim / Instead of cheap internet parody songs.” ---
**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:** [October 7, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4575 "2020-10-07T19:09:45Z")
People, please, stop your cruelty to assholes. The asshole is a noble portal that serves in freeing us from our darkest needs, retiring modestly to its secure enclave when its work is done. It may be full of shit, but only for very brief intervals – the lion’s share of its existence is spent not full of shit. To compare MAGAts to assholes is a rank disservice to our most faithful excretory servants. * * * (And a hyphen is an alpine bog.) ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4576 "2020-10-07T19:13:56Z")
Another question for Pence at the debate. “What is the Republican Party platform?” Pence blathers on. Follow on question, “No one thought to write that down?” ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/4577 "2020-10-07T20:28:58Z")
Especially fitting, since Sondheim wrote the lyrics for _Gypsy._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=227) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=229)