# The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making Part Deux (Part 1)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083>\
**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:** 474

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**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:** [February 1, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9486 "2021-02-01T23:40:41Z")

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[![](https://i.imgur.com/aAKzy12.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/aAKzy12.jpg)

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9487 "2021-02-01T23:47:48Z")

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> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Who else recognizes this [cursive]…

That reminds me of why my kids can’t read cursive (and believe me, as a typography teacher, I’ve tried).

What’s with the Q shaped like a 2… and the T that could be a J… I mean, is this some kind of code that old people use? \*

And in what world does a P, a G and a Q look alike? In the world of lower-case cursive!

…

\*“Let’s send our grandchildren cards and letters that they’ll just stare at, trying to decipher the slanty scratchings from an old fountain pen… [cackle]!”

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**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9488 "2021-02-02T00:11:24Z")

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> [@digs](#):
>
> What’s with the Q shaped like a 2…

Seriously, I would like to know the answer to this. Never understood how that came about.

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**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9489 "2021-02-02T00:53:12Z")

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You got farther than I did. I failed making the series of slanted lines and the circles (which reminded me of barbed wire).

Learning penmanship from a nun was … not pleasant.

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9490 "2021-02-02T01:01:31Z")

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Try writing it out by beginning the upstroke way at the bottom, so the letter nearly completes the oval.

> **[Cartoon Tom and Jerry 074 Jerry and Jumbo 1951 - video Dailymotion](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x33qwrs)**
>
> Cartoon Tom and Jerry 074 Jerry and Jumbo 1951

At the 0:15 point in this MGM cartoon is Fred Quimby’s credit as producer

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9491 "2021-02-02T01:13:17Z")

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The signature proves that someone doesn’t cross their “t”s.

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9492 "2021-02-02T01:20:21Z")

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> [@digs](#):
>
> What’s with the Q shaped like a 2… and the T that could be a J… I mean, is this some kind of code that old people use? \*

somewhere - a Qanon believer’s ears perk up

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9493 "2021-02-02T01:54:34Z")

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I sometimes we a handwriting recognition input on my tablet (with a stylus, of course), and it seems to do a very good job with my indecipherable chickenscratch, the messy mess that drove my HS teachers crazy. When I try to write neatly, it gets confuddled.

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**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9494 "2021-02-02T03:15:26Z")

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> [@OttoDaFe](#):
>
> You got farther than I did. I failed making the series of slanted lines and the circles (which reminded me of barbed wire).
> 
> Learning penmanship from a nun was … not pleasant.

I was the lone left-handed kid in my 2nd grade class. The teacher didn’t like that. Let’s just say it didn’t go well.

It’s awesome to have a scanned signature on file to slap on electronic documents now!

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9495 "2021-02-02T05:30:11Z")

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Everybody has three signatures now.

1. The hurried one for every day use.
2. The careful one for drivers’ licenses and passports
3. The coffeehouse one made with an index finger on a screen

The last one makes even the first one look Spencerian.

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**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9496 "2021-02-02T05:54:52Z")

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[# Poor handling of virus cost Trump his reelection, campaign autopsy finds](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/poor-handling-of-virus-cost-trump-his-reelection-campaign-autopsy-finds/ar-BB1diLrr?li=BBnb7Kz)

> Former president Donald Trump lost the 2020 election largely due to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a post-election autopsy completed by Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio.

From inside Trump’s own camp.

> The internal report cuts against Trump’s claims that the election was stolen from him and that Biden could not have fairly beaten him — and mirrors what many Trump campaign officials said privately for months.
> 
> Advisers repeatedly encouraged Trump to wear a mask, stop attacking Fauci and signal to the public that he was taking the coronavirus more seriously, particularly after he was hospitalized and given an experimental drug.

And pushing Amy Coney Barrett hurt him.

> “9-in-10 voters in both groups said that SCOTUS was a factor in deciding their vote. Ironically, those who said it was a factor voted for Biden in both state groups while those who said it wasn’t a factor voted for POTUS by large margins.”

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9497 "2021-02-02T07:59:48Z")

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“Tony Fabrizio insists that his new career as an Uber driver gives him more time to spend with his family.”

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**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9498 "2021-02-02T08:31:05Z")

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I recognize that. Our school was spelled “2ueen of Heaven”. 😃 The 2Q, as we called it.

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9499 "2021-02-02T09:32:24Z")

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> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> Everybody has three signatures now.

Celebrities who sign a lot of autographs have a fourth. Partly for efficiency, so they can produce a lot of them quickly and not destroy their hand; but mostly so they aren’t distributing what is effectively a biometric identifier to countless strangers. In other words, the way Bradley Cooper signs your poster is not the same way he signs his contracts.

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9500 "2021-02-02T10:23:36Z")

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> [@robby](#):
>
> Is it just me, or does the memorandum from acting SecDef Christopher Miller look like it was signed by a 2nd-grade student just learning cursive?

> [@eschereal](#):
>
> Just cheap водка.

Or a little too much траня.

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9501 "2021-02-02T10:38:38Z")

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Who remembers this Secretary of the Treasury with the famous loopy sig?

[![](https://i2.wp.com/l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/sD_Lyld1_F_46BCs8dAvLg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theticket/Jack-Lew-Dollar.jpg) ](https://i2.wp.com/l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/sD_Lyld1_F_46BCs8dAvLg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theticket/Jack-Lew-Dollar.jpg)

Jack Lew, Obama’s Secretary of Treasury after Tim Geithner. But of course you knew that says Jack Lew, right?

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9502 "2021-02-02T10:42:32Z")

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Who could forget Secretary [Ixolite](https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Ixolite)?

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9503 "2021-02-02T14:38:49Z")

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> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Just one more dumb way his fragile ego has to assert his individuality. “No one can tell me how to make my letters!”

Nah. I think most people stray from Palmer method or whatever method they were taught (if they even were taught at all) in school. I did fine in my handwriting classes, but I sure as shit dropped Palmer method writing as soon as I could because it was so horribly inefficient (to me) and nonsensical in some of its letterforms (as noted.) Expressing individuality through handwriting is a normal part of us, I should think. Hence signatures. They try to be a unique identifier of a person. As a kid in high school, when bored, I would practice my signatures until I settled on something I liked, something that was somehow “me” or pleasing to me. I found some other kids doing the same. And, as an adult, one important part of my signature – the initial letters – completely changed letterforms, as I found something that looked better to me and, somehow, felt more like me. (And, as a visual artist, I liked the change of forms for graphical reasons, too.)

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9504 "2021-02-02T14:50:52Z")

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> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#):
>
> Im pretty sure that Christopher Miller signature is the result of him drawing his signature with a computer mouse, or drawing it with his finger on a computer tablet. Same with that Cawthorne signature.

The thing that gets me about the Cawthorn signatures is that it looks like it’s so slow and careful, but then it messes up one letter and drops one entirely. I do that in my own quick scrawls, but Cawthorn has slowly and deliberately signed this letter as Madison Cauthon.

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**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:** [February 2, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making-part-deux-part-1/911083/9505 "2021-02-02T19:19:00Z")

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> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#):
>
> Im pretty sure that Christopher Miller signature is the result of him drawing his signature with a computer mouse, or drawing it with his finger on a computer tablet. Same with that Cawthorne signature.

In the forced transition to mostly digital documents that has happened where I work, you can easily tell who created their digital signature with a mouse based on the overall ‘angular’ look of various strokes. Cawthorne, on the other hand, looks like he hasn’t had to sign anything since the 2nd or 3rd grade. I’m not sure what method was used to teach me back in the day – it had some similarities to that shown upthread, particularly for the ‘Q’ – but I’ve mostly deviated from those letter styles, especially as I’ve learned to write cursive left-handed (I was taught right-handed).

Also, I haven’t had to actually write anything in cursive other than my signature since 4th grade. We had to write essays in permanent ink, and if you made a single mistake you had to throw the page out and start over. (Yes, this grade was taught by a nun.)

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