# 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:** 1114
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22265 "2018-06-28T13:32:49Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > You seem to have bought into the Communist notion that only someone who doesn’t give a shit about other people’s well-being can be rich. No, it’s just one of those moments when you say something jokingly expecting that the intent is obvious … but it isn’t. Of course you can be a socialist and a millionaire, it doesn’t have to be a problem, if you’re open about it. 😉 ---
**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 28, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22266 "2018-06-28T15:34:53Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Some of the biggest names in the history of both Socialism and Anarchism have been rich people. Very rich, in some cases. Even more so for Social Democrats. You seem to have bought into the Communist notion that only someone who doesn’t give a shit about other people’s well-being can be rich. Communist ? Hardly. “Behind every great fortune, there is a great crime”\*. Balzac wrote that decades before Marx wrote the \*Manifesto \*;). - the actual quote is “The secret of great fortunes without apparent cause is a crime forgotten because it was committed properly.” ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22267 "2018-06-28T15:53:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s the “Real American” card in play. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t “infiltrate” the United States. She’s a native-born American citizen (as were her parents). > > But to people like Grant Stinchfield she doesn’t belong here. When he talks about “our nation” which “we love” you know he isn’t including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as part of it. America belongs to people like Grant Stinchfield not people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Those people don’t count as Real Americans. Exactly. It was his “Blut und Boden” moment. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22268 "2018-06-28T20:30:42Z")
John Kelly is expected to leave the WH after Trump’s visit to Europe next month. > **[Kelly expected to leave White House this summer: WSJ](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/394686-kelly-expected-to-leave-white-house-this-summer-wsj/)** > > White House chief of staff John Kelly is expected to leave his post sometime this summer, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The White House denied the report.“I spoke to the… ---
**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:** [June 28, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22269 "2018-06-28T20:46:44Z")
The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, gave Cheeto a taste of his own medicine with [the 'ol yank and pull handshake.](https://i.imgur.com/Vtasgrj.gifv) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22270 "2018-06-28T21:08:46Z")
This is an older story, and maybe it’s already been reported here, but I’m not going back through 22,000 posts to find it. I just heard about it today when it made the rounds on Twitter. On February 15, DHS posted a [statement](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/02/15/we-must-secure-border-and-build-wall-make-america-safe-again)on their site arguing the case for enhanced border security, including the proposed border wall. The headline of the statement is 14 words long and begins with the phrase “We Must Secure…” The statement also uses a statistic to illustrate a point about the average rate of “meritorious claims” of asylum seekers. The stat expresses the average rate of meritorious asylum claims with the following: “On average, out of 88 claims that pass the credible fear screening, fewer than 13 will ultimately result in a grant of asylum.” It is, uh, somewhat rare to express a percentage figure with a denominator of 88. Pure coincidence. Pure coincidence. In case the article is edited or removed, an archive is [here](http://archive.is/aaE96). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22271 "2018-06-28T21:28:28Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > This is an older story, and maybe it’s already been reported here, but I’m not going back through 22,000 posts to find it. I just heard about it today when it made the rounds on Twitter. > > On February 15, DHS posted a [statement](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/02/15/we-must-secure-border-and-build-wall-make-america-safe-again)on their site arguing the case for enhanced border security, including the proposed border wall. The headline of the statement is 14 words long and begins with the phrase “We Must Secure…” The statement also uses a statistic to illustrate a point about the average rate of “meritorious claims” of asylum seekers. The stat expresses the average rate of meritorious asylum claims with the following: “On average, out of 88 claims that pass the credible fear screening, fewer than 13 will ultimately result in a grant of asylum.” It is, uh, somewhat rare to express a percentage figure with a denominator of 88. > > Pure coincidence. Pure coincidence. > > In case the article is edited or removed, an archive is [here](http://archive.is/aaE96). I actually think that there may be an innocent, though dumb, explanation. If the ratio is 13 our of 88 then for 100 it would be 14.77 out of 100. Maybe they wanted to be a able to give an accurate, but whole, number. They may have been concerned about being accused of lying if they reported 15 out of 100, or being mocked with jokes about 77 hundredths of a person if they didn’t round. So they picked a number (88) that gave the whole number 13. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22272 "2018-06-28T21:37:00Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I actually think that there may be an innocent, though dumb, explanation. > > If the ratio is 13 our of 88 then for 100 it would be 14.77 out of 100. Maybe they wanted to be a able to give an accurate, but whole, number. > > They may have been concerned about being accused of lying if they reported 15 out of 100, or being mocked with jokes about 77 hundredths of a person if they didn’t round. So they picked a number (88) that gave the whole number 13. Next time I get a speeding ticket, I hope you’re my judge 🙂 I can see a preference for whole numbers as possibly explaining the 88 thing, except that they didn’t use 13 as a whole number. They said “fewer than 13”, which suggests to me they were indicating the numerator was somewhere between 12 and 13. I think this points to them arbitrarily choosing a fraction so they could get 88 in there. Plus, even if we apply generous benefit of the doubt to the 88, there’s still the Fourteen Words headline. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22273 "2018-06-28T21:40:11Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > This is an older story, and maybe it’s already been reported here, but I’m not going back through 22,000 posts to find it. I just heard about it today when it made the rounds on Twitter. > > On February 15, DHS posted a [statement](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/02/15/we-must-secure-border-and-build-wall-make-america-safe-again)on their site arguing the case for enhanced border security, including the proposed border wall. The headline of the statement is 14 words long and begins with the phrase “We Must Secure…” The statement also uses a statistic to illustrate a point about the average rate of “meritorious claims” of asylum seekers. The stat expresses the average rate of meritorious asylum claims with the following: “On average, out of 88 claims that pass the credible fear screening, fewer than 13 will ultimately result in a grant of asylum.” It is, uh, somewhat rare to express a percentage figure with a denominator of 88. > > Pure coincidence. Pure coincidence. > > In case the article is edited or removed, an archive is [here](http://archive.is/aaE96). If they had said “fewer than 14” it might have been too obvious what they meant. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22274 "2018-06-28T21:55:06Z")
Here’s a little tidbit about the Repubs and their wailing for more civility, in light of a shooting TODAY…. > **[Milo Yiannopoulos Encourages Vigilantes to Start ‘Gunning Journalists Down’](https://observer.com/2018/06/milo-yiannopoulos-encourages-vigilantes-start-gunning-journalists-down/)** > > The nationalist saw his his career implode following a Buzzfeed report linking his tenure at Breitbart to neo-Nazis. From The Observer: **Milo Yiannopoulos Encourages Vigilantes to Start ‘Gunning Journalists Down’** Milo Yiannopoulos has started issuing reporters threatening messages when asked to comment for stories. “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight,” the right-wing nationalist told Observer over text message, in response to a longer feature in development about an Upper East Side restaurant he is said to frequent. When asked to elaborate on who specifically had upset him, Yiannopoulos explained that the statement was his “standard response to a request for comment.” Yiannopoulos also sent the message to The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer in an article examining the struggling U.K. Independence Party, which the conservative commentator is reportedly seeking to join as part of, what an Info Wars host describes as, a “soft coup” lead by nationalist figures. Yiannopoulos posted a picture on Instagram of the veiled threat issued to Sommer, captioning it “where is the lie.” Donald Trump, who has repeatedly shown outright hostility to journalists and the media in general, will deservedly receive criticism for creating an environment in which these kinds of crimes are possible, but he’s had a lot of help. And, of course, his “fake news” mantra would fall on deaf ears if we had more educated citizens and a more decent society. **So much for “civility.”** ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22275 "2018-06-28T21:58:00Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, gave Cheeto a taste of his own medicine with [the 'ol yank and pull handshake.](https://i.imgur.com/Vtasgrj.gifv) Awesome. And it has to be intentional. ---
**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 28, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22276 "2018-06-28T22:14:42Z")
[Dunno where else to put this](https://apnews.com/a5da65346575423ea0436b35ccf3c332/US-GDP-revised-down-to-lackluster-2-percent-rate-in-Q1) and I’m too lazy right now to start a new thread: > [@](#): > > U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was revised down to a lackluster 2 percent — a sharp deceleration and the poorest showing in a year. But economists expect a significant rebound in the current quarter, forecasting a sizzling growth rate of 4 percent or more. > > The Commerce Department said Thursday in its final estimate for the January-March quarter that gross domestic product, the country’s total output of goods and services, was even weaker than previously thought. Lower numbers from consumer spending and business inventories helped trim 0.2 percentage points off last month’s estimate that GDP had grown 2.2 percent in the January-March period. If those are the same economists expecting better Q2 report that just revised their previous estimates down, I’m not entirely convinced I should lend much weight to what their opinion is. ---
**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 28, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22277 "2018-06-28T23:08:58Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > From the reports she has campaigned favoring “abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), tuition-free college, a federal jobs guarantee, universal Medicare, gun reform, an end to private prisons and access to affordable housing.” > > Pretty mainstream socialdemocrat by rest-of-planet standards (save that come on, you DO need an immigration control agency). She _has_ self-identified with Bernie and the Democratic Socialists of America though, so it’s not like it’s an opposition accusation. I don’t really disagree; as you say, it’s a self-applied label as opposed to an opposition ‘smear.’ It was just a matter of comparison between European socialists and the somewhat watered-down version we have here. (For example, no American ‘socialist’ office-holder is likely to openly call for the re-distribution of wealth, or at least not in such blatant terms.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22278 "2018-06-28T23:32:19Z")
[“NATO is as bad as NAFTA.”](https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-foreign-policy-europe-nato-allies-worried-bd1e143a-e73a-415b-b688-d18ab2d902e7.html) > [@](#): > > Trump made the comment after telling the G7 leaders that Crimea probably should belong to Russia because everyone there speaks Russian, the source added. Trump then went on his usual riff about Germany not paying its fair share of defense spending, said the Europeans weren’t paying enough and that the U.S. is being ripped off. > > Then Trump said of the NATO Summit on July 11-12 in Brussels: “It will be an interesting summit. NATO is as bad as NAFTA. It’s much too costly for the U.S.” ---
**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 29, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22279 "2018-06-29T00:03:05Z")
I find that a compelling argument and look forward to its companion piece concerning Trump’s position that the United States should be returned to its status as an English colony because of all the people speaking English. Spain may have something to say about that, but that’s between England and Spain. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22280 "2018-06-29T00:22:47Z")
Probably not the right place for this, but the following article as some interesting parallels between the Hells Angels and the more hardcore Trump fans. [https://www.thenation.com/article/this-political-theorist-predicted-the-rise-of-trumpism-his-name-was-hunter-s-thompson/](https://www.thenation.com/article/this-political-theorist-predicted-the-rise-of-trumpism-his-name-was-hunter-s-thompson/) ---
**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 29, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22281 "2018-06-29T02:52:44Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > Probably not the right place for this, but the following article as some interesting parallels between the Hells Angels and the more hardcore Trump fans. > > [https://www.thenation.com/article/this-political-theorist-predicted-the-rise-of-trumpism-his-name-was-hunter-s-thompson/](https://www.thenation.com/article/this-political-theorist-predicted-the-rise-of-trumpism-his-name-was-hunter-s-thompson/) Very interesting and I think nearly 100% accurate. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22282 "2018-06-29T02:59:02Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, gave Cheeto a taste of his own medicine with [the 'ol yank and pull handshake.](https://i.imgur.com/Vtasgrj.gifv) I have never been so proud of my European heritage. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22283 "2018-06-29T04:51:13Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I find that a compelling argument and look forward to its companion piece concerning Trump’s position that the United States should be returned to its status as an English colony because of all the people speaking English. Spain may have something to say about that, but that’s between England and Spain. Don’t forget about Germany (Pennsylvania Dutch) and France (Cajun). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22284 "2018-06-29T04:59:17Z")
As for Kennedy’s Supreme Court retirement, this will end up turning the clock back in the US for decades to come. It’s like they’re saying on CNN: Elections matter. All you selfish bastards who stayed home and didn’t vote – or worse, cast a de-facto vote for Trump by voting third party – this is all on you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1113) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1115)