# 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:** 1144
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22865 "2018-07-16T01:25:22Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Wait, what Asahi? Of _course_ they’re not interested in stopping this. The only thing Republicans want to stop is the investigation into this. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22866 "2018-07-16T01:58:58Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > What if Republicans don’t want to stop Russian hacking? > > They know they’re going to lose a democratic election … It is their ace-in-the-hole. When they do lose the election, the survivors will try to paralyze the government by stirring up a controversy about Russian hacking. _All men are created equal_, the Democrats have no monopoly on being hacked, why would you assume that. If the Russians hacked them, they could just as well have hacked us this time. Where is the investigation??? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22867 "2018-07-16T02:13:41Z")
My nightmare scenario has Putin openly trying to swing 2018 to the Dems, allowing Trumpublicans to scream “SEE?!? I TOLD YOU IT WAS DEM/RUSSIA COLLUSION!” ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22868 "2018-07-16T02:16:01Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Here’s a chilling thought – and I’m being dead serious: > > What if Republicans don’t want to stop Russian hacking? > > They know they’re going to lose a democratic election, right? Gerrymandering and voter suppression might not save their control of the House. But what if Russians steal 500,000 or 5 million voter profiles? What if they remove their names from databases? Suppose you have 5 million reliable democratic voters who show up at the polls, only to find their names are not on the list, and they get turned away, or they file ‘provisional’ ballots that eventually get rejected? > > [“The Russians Play Hard”: Inside Russia’s Attempt to Hack 2018—And 2020 | Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/inside-russias-attempt-to-hack-2018-and-2020) This is just now occurring to _you_? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22869 "2018-07-16T02:43:08Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > My nightmare scenario has Putin openly trying to swing 2018 to the Dems, allowing Trumpublicans to scream “SEE?!? I TOLD YOU IT WAS DEM/RUSSIA COLLUSION!” I could actually see that happening, if the goal is to sow chaos. Impeachment hearings do have a way of paralyzing a government. Divided government is pretty much a sure way of making sure that nothing gets done. The downside of this, from the Russian perspective, is that if the Dems benefit from Russian activity in this election after the Republicans did in the last, it might actually forge a consensus that something needs to be done. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22870 "2018-07-16T02:58:07Z")
> [@aspenglow](#): > > the penny finally drops. копе́йка ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22871 "2018-07-16T04:10:53Z")
The Bay is dropping [Barbinka](http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/ny-news-hudsons-bay-ivanka-trump-20180715-story.html)’s clothing line, due to performance issues. Canada’s iconic retailer also owns Saks, as well as Lord&Taylor. Her stuff will now be available exclusively at Mervyns. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22872 "2018-07-16T04:40:41Z")
I saw a movie today all about the 2016 election. A brash, immature asshole with anger issues challenges the stodgy, uptight, establishment candidate in a competition. Despite violating every code of civilized behavior, he attracts an audience that can’t look away and a retinue of idiots who follow him. Along the way, he throws his earliest supporter out a window. He’s only in it for the money. At the end, he wins a million-to-one victory. For some strange reason it was called _Happy Gilmore_. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22873 "2018-07-16T04:52:15Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The Bay is dropping [Barbinka](http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/ny-news-hudsons-bay-ivanka-trump-20180715-story.html)’s clothing line, due to performance issues. Canada’s iconic retailer also owns Saks, as well as Lord&Taylor. Her stuff will now be available exclusively at Mervyns. Next stop, Wal-Mart. As soon as they clear out all of those pesky brown rugrats. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22874 "2018-07-16T04:54:33Z")
Well, for one thing, Adam Sandler’s a lot smarter. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22875 "2018-07-16T05:02:58Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > [Trump calls European Union a 'foe' – ahead of Russia and China | European Union | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/15/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-helsinki-russia-indictments) > > Just…fucking…wow! > [@SteveG1](#): > > Trump also said our real foe is the EU. - our European allies are the Enemy, according to him. > > “Well I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe." > For real. > Oops, El Kabong beat me to it. To quote someone from Facebook: “I wonder how it must feel to be a general in the military or a career ambassador or a counter-intelligence agent in the FBI; you spend decades facing and understanding the geopolitical and ideological complexities of the threats America face. You realize that you’re not just serving your country but the stability of a relatively just and prosperous bloc of an alliance. And then some Russian-aided billionaire becomes your Commander-in-Chief and thrashes the gains that you and two generations of your predecessors have fought tooth and nail to defend.” There’s an old [Eliezer Yudkowsky post](https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/5c7ggh/what_the_hell_are_they_smoking_excellent_essay_by/) that talks about how Trump is “different”, and it contains this very neat passage: Being President means standing on a shaky platform over a pit of radioactive lava, on which platform also happens to rest the United States and often the rest of the world. You can only select among other desirable qualities of a Presidental candidate, such as punching you in the nose less often, if both candidates seem aware that their desired job will entail taking calculated steps on a shaky platform over a pit of radioactive lava. Your disagreeing with a step they calculated–if you imagine yourself sufficiently expert in international affairs to have an opinion–is qualitatively different from one of the candidates being LEEEEROY JENKINS. As much as you may not be happy with the current situation, it is a tiny slice of relatively less bad outcomes, perched above a much larger space of worse outcomes. Pumping up the entropy doesn’t shatter a fragile malevolent thingy and let us go back to the normal good days. It obliterates the careful moves that barely manage to achieve the meh results you see around you, and dumps us into the boiling lava underneath. That’s what happened to Venezuela when they elected a more likeable leader who wasn’t much of a policy wonk but at least wasn’t part of the old machine. In retrospect, _even this was too goddamn optimistic_. And that’s deeply saddening. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22876 "2018-07-16T10:29:39Z")
So, how does it feel to have a President who calls\* his own country\* [foolish and stupid](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-summit/trump-blames-us-foolishness-and-stupidity-for-poor-russia-ties-ahead-of-putin-summit-idUSKBN1K601D) just before a meeting with Russia? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22877 "2018-07-16T10:50:06Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Best sign from the London protest was a drawing of DOTUS as a Handmaid, with the caption “OfPutin”. 😃 Which functions as a bit of clever wordplay (which the more canon-accurate Ofvladimir wouldn’t). ‘Cuz Il Douche sure is off-puttin’. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22878 "2018-07-16T11:32:34Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > This is just now occurring to _you_? :dubious: No, I’ve suspected this is where it’s going for a while. I was just reminding everyone that this could be where we’re headed: a contested election. A lot of the focus is on how Russia could help steal an election, but even if they don’t successfully steal enough data to help Republicans stave off defeat, the Republicans could lose and claim the results are invalid, and in some ways, this might be an even better outcome for Vladimir Putin. He wants the US to fight with itself. Few things can achieve that more than a disputed election and government that has questionable legitimacy. When Russiagate began, I expected Republicans to downplay it in an attempt to protect their president and their ambitious agenda. But what I’m increasingly realizing is that Russia didn’t just infiltrate Trump’s campaign; they infiltrated the entire Republican party ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22879 "2018-07-16T11:43:45Z")
I’m still worried about a Reichstag incident in the run-up to November. I’m not sure I’d put the probability as high, but it is disturbingly plausible nonetheless. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22880 "2018-07-16T11:50:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’m still worried about a Reichstag incident in the run-up to November. Trump is going drum up a pretext to arrest his political rivals? I give that no chance of happening. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22881 "2018-07-16T11:51:21Z")
The “Reichstag event” was 11.8.16. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22882 "2018-07-16T11:57:57Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’m still worried about a Reichstag incident in the run-up to November. I’m not sure I’d put the probability as high, but it is disturbingly plausible nonetheless. A Reichstag moment would probably be in response to political violence. The more outrage that the far right employs - child separations at the border, Charlottesvilles, police brutality, etc - the more likely it is that outrage turns from protest to violence. This is when you’d see a Reichstag moment. They would cite some sort of ‘national emergency’ and claim that they need to ‘protect’ ‘real’ Americans from left-wing extremists. That is how culture wars can be utilized to the right’s advantage. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22883 "2018-07-16T12:03:34Z")
All I can say is that when this nightmare of Republican misrule is over, a lot of people need to go to jail. Fuck a period of reconciliation and healing - jail! ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22884 "2018-07-16T12:27:50Z")
Broken record: Thump doesn’t have any friends. He operates by CREATING conflict and setting people against each other. Therefore, he doesn’t want the USA to have any friends among the nations and is consciously and deliberately setting us against nations that have always been allies. Frankly, in spite of the noises he is making (and in spite of our jokes about the bromance), I don’t believe thump wants the USA to be “friends” with Russia or himself to be “friends” with Putin. Thump doesn’t make friends. He doesn’t believe in loyalty (except to himself). He doesn’t trust _anyone_. I think HE thinks he’s somehow going to use or outsmart Putin and come out The Winner at the closing credits. He thinks he’s going play Putin like a fish on a line or a starlet in a dressing room and then yell, Gotcha!" when he nails his prey. And even though thump is the one being played, HE will tell the story–whatever the outcome–as though he has won. Just like he did with North Korea. And FOX will say whatever he wants them to, and the tainted slop will be eagerly lapped up by his ignorant MAGAbots. He has told us and shown us and the world who he is and what he is over and over. And every day, he screams it in our faces all over again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1143) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1145)