# The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 7, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070 "2016-12-07T00:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1072
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21425 "2018-06-12T19:19:18Z")
Ivanka tweeted her fortune cookie from last night’s Chinese takeout, and got called on it. > **[Ivanka Trump Mocked By Asians Everywhere For Tweeting ‘Chinese Proverb’](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ivanka-trump-tweet-chinese-proverb_n_5b1fd9fbe4b0adfb826e159d)** > > Hey, Ivanka, are you sure about your sourcing? ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21426 "2018-06-12T19:20:06Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Let’s test that: ask him when is Tiffany’s birthday. Or when is Melanie’s birthday (which was pretty recent). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21427 "2018-06-12T19:24:46Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Ivanka tweeted her fortune cookie from last night’s Chinese takeout, and got called on it. > > [Ivanka Trump Mocked By Asians Everywhere For Tweeting ‘Chinese Proverb’ | HuffPost Voices](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ivanka-trump-tweet-chinese-proverb_us_5b1fd9fbe4b0adfb826e159d) “Ancient Chinese Secret, huh?” ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21428 "2018-06-12T19:34:35Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Ivanka tweeted her fortune cookie from last night’s Chinese takeout, and got called on it. > > [Ivanka Trump Mocked By Asians Everywhere For Tweeting ‘Chinese Proverb’ | HuffPost Voices](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ivanka-trump-tweet-chinese-proverb_us_5b1fd9fbe4b0adfb826e159d) There is nothing, apparently, that this administration will not lie about. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21429 "2018-06-12T19:46:40Z")
Pence is telling GOP Senators that, despite Trump’s pledge to stop joint exercises with South Korea, that isn’t really going to happen. A Pence spokesperson said that, despite Senator Cory Gardner’s claims, Pence did not say that. > **[Trump-Kim summit: world scrambles to decipher 'denuclearisation' deal – as it...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/jun/12/trump-kim-summit-meeting-singapore-us-president-north-korea-kim-jong-un-)** > > Donald Trump offers Kim Jong-un security guarantees in document signed by the two leaders ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21430 "2018-06-12T19:51:53Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Let’s test that: ask him when is Tiffany’s birthday. “Who’s Tiffany?” ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21431 "2018-06-12T20:53:53Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Pence is telling GOP Senators that, despite Trump’s pledge to stop joint exercises with South Korea, that isn’t really going to happen. > A Pence spokesperson said that, despite Senator Cory Gardner’s claims, Pence did not say that. > [Trump-Kim summit: world scrambles to decipher 'denuclearisation' deal – as it happened | North Korea | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/jun/12/trump-kim-summit-meeting-singapore-us-president-north-korea-kim-jong-un-) Holy crap. I hope someone is mapping this out on a giant wall chart. It’s harder and harder to keep up. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21432 "2018-06-12T21:37:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Pence is telling GOP Senators that, despite Trump’s pledge to stop joint exercises with South Korea, that isn’t really going to happen. > A Pence spokesperson said that, despite Senator Cory Gardner’s claims, Pence did not say that. > [Trump-Kim summit: world scrambles to decipher 'denuclearisation' deal – as it happened | North Korea | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/jun/12/trump-kim-summit-meeting-singapore-us-president-north-korea-kim-jong-un-) Not all Republicans are on board with Trump’s plans to withdraw US troops from the entire world, and let the local dictators do as they like. But of course, most won’t object in any meaningful way. With the example of Kim Jong Un before the world–given the massive rewards the US has now given him for starving, torturing, and murdering not only his own citizens (and family members) but also kidnapped Americans and others–there is bound to be a whole new wave of kidnapping and murdering! It does pay so very well. (And let those Republicans who enable Trump take their full and due credit for this.) …I am not quite sure how to express the depths of my disgust with Trump’s smug certainty that Otto Warmbier was tortured to death for the greater glory of Trump: > [@](#): > > " …I think without Otto, this would not have happened," Trump told reporters at a Tuesday news conference in Singapore. > **[Trump credits Otto Warmbier for summit: 'Otto did not die in vain'](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-credits-otto-warmbier-north-korea-summit-otto-did-not-n882276)** > > The summit, where Trump and Kim signed a joint statement agreeing to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, was held on the one-year anniversary of Warmbier's release. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21433 "2018-06-12T21:43:57Z")
I don’t care how tired you are of Trump in general or all the current summit hype in particular, [YOU MUST watch this White House produced “trailer” for a “movie”](https://youtu.be/aYsaC2CADs0) that [Trump had produced and played for Kim and the NK delegation](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/12/trump-north-korea-video-summit-trailer-dissected). :eek::o ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21434 "2018-06-12T21:45:34Z")
Trump on Trudeau’s G6+1 speech > [@](#): > > “When I got out to the plane, I think that Justin probably didn’t know that Air Force One has about 20 televisions. And I see the television and he’s giving a news conference about how he will not be pushed around by the United States and I say push him around? We just shook hands. It was very friendly. … No, I have a good relationship with Justin Trudeau. I really did, other than he had a news conference, that he had because he assumed I was in an airplane and I wasn’t watching. He learned. That’s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada. He learned. You can’t do that. You can’t do that.” I’m trying to get my head around the process that would lead him to believe that Trudeau was unaware that Trump would hear his highly publicized speech criticizing Trump’s bullying behavior. Does he somehow think that Trudeau is an idiot who doesn’t know that presidents get briefed? Or is it that Trump so rarely gets briefed that it was unusual that he heard about this. Oh, and Trump’s obvious glee at the prospect of hurting Canadian citizens in response to a perceived personal slight is, of course, also reprehensible, but nothing particularly news worthy. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21435 "2018-06-12T21:56:42Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Trump on Trudeau’s G6+1 speech > > > [@](#): > > > > “When I got out to the plane, **I think that Justin probably didn’t know that Air Force One has about 20 televisions.** And I see the television and he’s giving a news conference about how he will not be pushed around by the United States and I say push him around? We just shook hands. It was very friendly. … No, I have a good relationship with Justin Trudeau. I really did, other than he had a news conference, that **he had because he assumed I was in an airplane and I wasn’t watching**.” > > I’m trying to get my head around the process that would lead him to believe that Trudeau was unaware that Trump would hear his highly publicized speech criticizing Trump’s bullying behavior. … I had the same reaction. Trump’s tone conveys this bizarre sense of triumph, as if he had outsmarted Trudeau. ‘_Trudeau had NO IDEA that the televised news conference might be seen by me!!!1!!!_’ It’s evidence of Trump’s mental illness. There’s no other explanation. Obviously, no sane person could believe that a televised news conference is a good place to say things you don’t want to be heard. But Trump seems to genuinely think that Trudeau believed his remarks would remain secret. More importantly, Trump seems unaware of how deranged this makes him look. (It’s another in the long list of things that Trump’s fans just can’t spin. Their only recourse is to change the subject.) Trump’s rant can be heard on the CBS This Morning Twitter feed: > ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21436 "2018-06-12T22:36:11Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Pence is telling GOP Senators that, despite Trump’s pledge to stop joint exercises with South Korea, that isn’t really going to happen. > A Pence spokesperson said that, despite Senator Cory Gardner’s claims, Pence did not say that. > [Trump-Kim summit: world scrambles to decipher 'denuclearisation' deal – as it happened | North Korea | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/jun/12/trump-kim-summit-meeting-singapore-us-president-north-korea-kim-jong-un-) So the upshot of the summit: we agree to stop military exercises (but not really, wink wink) and the North agrees to maybe de-nuke (but not really). Peace prizes for everybody! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21437 "2018-06-12T22:39:07Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > …I am not quite sure how to express the depths of my disgust with Trump’s smug certainty ] I know it’s a fool’s errand, but I’m trying to connect the dots between Otto Wambier and the summit, according to Trump. Is it: Kim was so horrified but what he had done, that he reached out and started making friendly overtures? Or is that the US woke up and started paying attention to what was going on in North Korea? ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21438 "2018-06-12T22:40:55Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > So the upshot of the summit: we agree to stop military exercises (but not really, wink wink) and the North agrees to maybe de-nuke (but not really). Peace prizes for everybody! Stupid people are unable to conceive of the possibility that other people are smarter than they are. So Trump probably genuinely believes that the Norwegian Nobel Committee are impressed (positively) by what they’ve seen the past couple of days. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21439 "2018-06-12T22:45:04Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I know it’s a fool’s errand, but I’m trying to connect the dots between Otto Wambier and the summit, according to Trump. Is it: Kim was so horrified but what he had done, that he reached out and started making friendly overtures? Or is that the US woke up and started paying attention to what was going on in North Korea? You raise a perfectly fair, but completely unanswerable question. Trump’s mental process here is more likely to be something along the lines of: > [@](#): > > _guy gets held hostage in North Korea … dies … I will win Nobel by shaking hand of North Korean dictator … cool! say something nice about dead guy … my translator has a nice rack …cheeseburger …_ ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21440 "2018-06-12T23:17:40Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I’m trying to get my head around the process that would lead him to believe that Trudeau was unaware that Trump would hear his highly publicized speech criticizing Trump’s bullying behavior. > > Does he somehow think that Trudeau is an idiot who doesn’t know that presidents get briefed? Or is it that Trump so rarely gets briefed that it was unusual that he heard about this. It’s simple. Loser Donald’s only source of information about the world is watching TV, so he assumes that all other world leaders also get all their info from TV. Therefore, he figures that Trudeau thinks he’d never hear about the speech, because he’d be on a plane with no TVs. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21441 "2018-06-12T23:23:47Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I had the same reaction. Trump’s tone conveys this bizarre sense of triumph, as if he had outsmarted Trudeau. ‘_Trudeau had NO IDEA that the televised news conference might be seen by me!!!1!!!_’ > > It’s evidence of Trump’s mental illness. There’s no other explanation. Obviously, no sane person could believe that a televised news conference is a good place to say things you don’t want to be heard. But Trump seems to genuinely think that Trudeau believed his remarks would remain secret. More importantly, Trump seems unaware of how deranged this makes him look. > > (It’s another in the long list of things that Trump’s fans just can’t spin. Their only recourse is to change the subject.) > > Trump’s rant can be heard on the CBS This Morning Twitter feed: > [x.com](https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning/status/1006460793288880134) An alternative explanation might be that he read the responses to this @PressSec [Tweet](https://twitter.com/presssec/status/1005245390503936000?s=21) of the framed photo and realized he’d been trolled. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21442 "2018-06-12T23:31:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “Ancient Chinese Secret, huh?” Dude. You’re like, old and stuff. 😛 . ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21443 "2018-06-12T23:41:52Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Oh, and Trump’s obvious glee at the prospect of hurting Canadian citizens in response to a perceived personal slight is, of course, also reprehensible, but nothing particularly news worthy. I had a lightbulb moment about it today. I don’t think he relishes the idea ; or indeed really cares about hurting Canadian or EU citizen. It’s much more simple than that. He has railed, for ages and ages, that China was the big trade bugaboo. But China just bribed him, so they’re cool now. Which means he needs a new enemy to oppress and rant against, because it’s win-win for him. Either they, too, end up bribing him to make him shut up (in which case he’ll absolutely be loyal to them, because that’s how he understands loyalty and friendship, in a personal “you did something for ME” kind of way) ; or they don’t and he’s got a good bugaboo to rile up the base with and look strong by opposing. I genuinely think that’s it, and that’s as far as the thinking goes. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/21444 "2018-06-12T23:51:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Holy crap. I hope someone is mapping this out on a giant wall chart. It’s harder and harder to keep up. It’s things like this that make me think you should change your national anthem to Yakety Sax. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1071) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1073)