# 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:** 441
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8826 "2021-01-14T12:34:31Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Trump demands his staff not pay Giuliani’s legal fees You’d think anybody working for Trump would know by now that stiffing the hired help is the default and that specific instruction are required only if Trump decides to actually pay one of his bills. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8827 "2021-01-14T12:37:16Z")
I hope they have lots of crayons for colouring in. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8828 "2021-01-14T13:19:25Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > You have to pay a fare when you’re _under_ the bus? 🤣 ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8829 "2021-01-14T13:51:05Z")
the site is really well done. the grift shop has many lovely items. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8830 "2021-01-14T13:55:21Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Their publications have the Presidential seal and the federal government copyright on them… Trump’s idiots can’t even get the little things right. Works by the federal government generally aren’t even subject to copyright. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8831 "2021-01-14T14:07:56Z")
Even works of fiction\*? ETA:\*yes, to answer my own rhetorical question, as it is meant as a joke to imply that this was a work of fiction, not to actually inquire as to whether or not works of fiction commissioned by the federal govt are generally under copyright. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8832 "2021-01-14T16:52:17Z")
Sources say that Tr\*mp is moping around in self-pity mode. He stays in the residence and watches TV, complaining that Republicans are not defending him enough. 🎻 A source blames Mark Meadows for bringing in “kook after kook after kook” to talk to Tr\*mp and get his hopes up about the election being “stolen” and ways to get it back. Staff are tired of “setting themselves on fire” for him but Lindsey Graham is back in his good graces, calling Republicans and urging them not to convict on impeachment. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8833 "2021-01-14T16:55:58Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Sources say that Tr\*mp is moping around in self-pity mode. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8834 "2021-01-14T17:03:19Z")
Remember him? His 15 minutes just expired. > **[Harold N. Bornstein, Trump’s Former Personal Physician, Dies at 73 (Published...](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/nyregion/harold-bornstein-dead.html)** > > He attested that President Trump would be the “healthiest president ever,” but he was later expelled from his orbit. > … > When Mr. Trump was elected president in 2016, Dr. Bornstein had hoped to be named White House physician and suggested as much to a longtime Trump assistant. But he was expelled from the Trump orbit after he disclosed to The Times that the president was taking medication to make his hair grow. > … > > In response to questions about his own health, [trump] ordered Dr. Bornstein to issue “a full medical report.” Mr. Trump predicted that although he would be 70 when he took office, the oldest president ever to be inaugurated for the first time, the report would show that the state of his health was “perfection.” > > He soon released a four-paragraph letter signed by Dr. Bornstein saying that his blood pressure and unspecified lab test results were “astonishingly excellent,” and that his strength and stamina were “extraordinary.” > > Using hyperbole more often associated with Mr. Trump than with the medical profession, the letter added, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” > … Bornstein’s cause of death was not given in his obituary. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8835 "2021-01-14T17:08:27Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Bornstein’s cause of death was not given in his obituary. Embarrassment? ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8836 "2021-01-14T17:16:00Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > Trump demands his staff not pay Giuliani’s legal fees > > You’d think anybody working for Trump would know by now that stiffing the hired help is the default and that specific instruction are required only if Trump decides to actually pay one of his bills. You know the drill. Miss Rudy will write it off on his taxes as a business loss. Hopefully Biden’s repaired IRS will \_\_\_\_\_ a \_\_\_ of \_\_\_\_\_ up \_\_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_ . ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8837 "2021-01-14T17:36:23Z")
Oh, I hope I’m the first one to post this, it just goes to show what assholes Jared and Ivanka are. They get a Secret Service detail. And, for years, they’ve refused to let the men tasked with keeping their elite butts safe use the bathroom inside their 6 bathroom mansion. > **[The $3,000-a-month toilet for the Ivanka Trump/Jared Kushner Secret Service...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/01/14/secret-service-bathroom-ivanka-trump-jared-kushner/)** > > Instructed not to use any of the half-dozen bathrooms inside the couple’s D.C. home, the Secret Service detail assigned to protect the lives of President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law spent months searching for a reliable restroom. The solution was... I guess they had a Porta-Potty for awhile, but they also resorted to _ **going over to Obama’s house whenever they had to pee.** _ Sometimes they peed at Pence’s house, too. Then, cause grifters gotta grift, one their neighborhoods graciously offered to let them use a bathroom located in a basement studio. But, we the people, the taxpayers, paid $3000 a month to keep Ivanka’s toilets from being sullied by a working man’s ass. All I can say is that if I were editing the Washington Post or on charge of networks News, this would be my headline, my lead story. By the way, in the course of my career, I think I’ve worked in the luxury apartments and mansions of somewhere between 500 and 1000 wealthy people. Sometimes just for a day, sometimes every day for weeks. And I have never had anyone refuse me access to a bathroom in their home. Granted, you just can’t pop your ass down in the Master Bath, but there’s ALWAYS a staff bath or powder room you can use. And I knew, over the course of my career, hundreds of other people that worked in thousands of wealthy peoples homes and I never heard of anyone being denied access to a bathroom. The gossip channels in my business would’ve exploded if they had. ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8838 "2021-01-14T17:46:09Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Can someone tell me, is “Hatriots” a word? Should it be? It absolutely should be, and I plan to promote it bigly. I’ve been trying to find the right term & that is it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8839 "2021-01-14T17:51:29Z")
Makes you wonder what the trump Hotel detail had to do. ---
**Author:** ![Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levolor_the_Blind)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8840 "2021-01-14T18:23:53Z")
As an aside (from the Post story): “Yet this solution, too, was short-lived after a Secret Service supervisor from the Trump/Kushner detail left an unpleasant mess in the Obama bathroom at some point before the fall of 2017, according to a person briefed on the event.” I am now very curious. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8841 "2021-01-14T18:25:27Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I guess they had a Porta-Potty for awhile, but they also resorted to _ **going over to Obama’s house whenever they had to pee.** _ Sometimes they peed at Pence’s house, too. I don’t know why they just didn’t stick to using the porto – parked at the end of the driveway. And after six months when the neighbors inevitably complain\* tell them why. \*As a regular participant at Burning Man, I can tell you how odiferous portos are when they’re being serviced, and the truck’s pump is pretty darn noisy too. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8842 "2021-01-14T18:29:39Z")
Truck’s pump? You just haul out that half barrel, add diesel fuel, and light it.\* \*That’s standard for most poopers on military deployment at less developed sites. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8843 "2021-01-14T18:43:47Z")
I worked in Trump Tower once, in an apartment that was still under construction. My work generally started during the construction phase, and finished after. This was a very small job for me, it was a one bedroom pied a terre for some rich guy whose primary residence was in Italy. If you are working in an apartment in Trump Tower, you enter through a side door that leads to a small elevator lobby. It’s a one floor elevator that takes you down to the very large maze that is the basement of the building. There you check in, get your authorization and a temporary badge and directions on how to navigate the maze and get to the correct elevator to take you up - there are several for the building. Then you go to work. This was a very small job for me. When a house or large apartment is under construction there is always a bathroom for the workers. But this was a small apartment and there was no working bath, you were expected to go downstairs and use the facilities for building employees. This is not unusual if the apartment is small and it was not unexpected. I took a bathroom break after a few hours. So I headed down to the service area in the basement and _ **I was told they didn’t have a ladies room.** _ They had no bathroom facilities for women. My mind boggled. This happened in 2014, not 1980. I imagine, somewhere in that building there is a place that is “home base” for housekeeping but if they have a bathroom that was not revealed to me. They sent me to the bathroom in the public space in the building. Public spaces exist only because builders like Trump get other concessions in exchange for them. But they don’t want people to use them. So they look nice, on paper…but in practicality…that one is a black marble cave, hardly any lighting, with some uncomfortable tables and chairs. And in case that doesn’t dissuade you from wanting to eat lunch there, they plop in a piano player at lunchtime, VERY loud and not very good, echoing around the cavern -free Live Music! The ladies room was a side cave of the main cave, with a big yellow “closed for cleaning” sign blocking the entrance. I think they put the sign up during all high traffic times. As anyone who’s spent time in NYC knows, fast food restaurants do not have public restrooms. Drugstores, supermarkets and retail stores that are not large department stores do not have public restrooms. Sit down restaurants have restrooms _for customers only_. About the only place to find a public restroom is public library or a hotel large enough to host conferences and meetings. So I ended up walking all the way up 5th Ave to the freaking Waldorf Astoria. I was gone an hour and I’m glad there wasn’t any …urgency to the situation. Luckily, I only had to be there a few hours at a time, and after that I just made sure not to need a bathroom. Fuck the Trumps. I hope they don’t get bathrooms in their cells. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8844 "2021-01-14T19:35:32Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I suspect Trump hasn’t really thought about it though, I highly doubt that this is the case, because,… > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > He can, via fund raising or on his own dime, build his library himself, though I suspect any additional funds he raised from his gullible followers are more likely going to line his pockets and those of his defense lawyers. I’m sure he was looking forward to the building of the Trump library as yet another way to graft millions of dollars into his own private accounts. Although given how his brand has been undergoing free fall over the last week, he may not be able to raise enough money to set up a lemonade stand much less skim money off the top. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > It really is darkly fascinating to me to see how official government history will eventually treat the Trump presidency. Trump has definitely cemented his place in history, primarily as an caution to future generations. I suspect that there will be more books, accademic articles and dissertations analyzing his presidency than any other presidency since FDR, or possibly even since Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/8845 "2021-01-14T19:58:40Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Two Individual 1 appointees in the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy published, without approval from anybody else in the Director’s office, “flyers” in which they said that the science shows that climate change isn’t really a big deal. Their publications have the Presidential seal and the federal government copyright on them even though they were not approved by anybody but the two of them. They have been relieved of their duties and moved back to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration until their terms end on January 20. Since climate change is an interest of mine, I followed the links to get a better idea of what this was about. The “papers” in question were written by a variety of different authors, and I immediately recognized most of the names. They are notorious climate change deniers who have been plying their trade of lying to the public for many years; collectively, they are a significant source of the disinformation that has polluted the public discourse. Anyone who gives these reprehensible anti-science criminals a voice is as despicable as they are. Just what I would expect from Trump appointees. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=440) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083.md?page=442)