# 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:** 1145
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22885 "2018-07-16T13:13:53Z")
There is, realistically, no stopping Trump now; he won’t be impeached or convicted. His base is too solid and the GOP beholden to it. Of course, ThelmaLou’s analysis is spot on. Trump sees everything as a win/lose, zero-sum thing, which is why he struggles with concepts like trade deals and NATO. His term will be terribly destructive, and, sorry, American friends, but there is nothing you can do except work to defeat him in 2020. As the USA will be in a serious economic recession, that might not be too hard. ---
**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, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22886 "2018-07-16T13:30:09Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > 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. Sorry, but you have this wrong. Trump isn’t acting alone. He was compromised years ago but doesn’t care because he’s still got what he wants: lots of money and power, with a guarantee that the source of that will not be revealed and/or will not be a factor if & when it is revealed. Putin and his oligarchs have what they want: control of the most powerful country on Terra with absolutely no risk to themselves. This summit is a boss (Putin) having a meeting with his underling who thinks he is a partner (Trump). Don’t lose track of who’s in charge, eh. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22887 "2018-07-16T13:31:13Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > 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! Oh, they’ll be in jail all right, right next to all those banker assholes who served time for driving the economy into the ditch in 2008. IOW, nobody will wind up in jail; they’ll find a way to weasel out of it. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22888 "2018-07-16T13:33:22Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Trump is going drum up a pretext to arrest his political rivals? I give that no chance of happening. If he could get away with it, he WOULD. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22889 "2018-07-16T13:34:53Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > [T]here is nothing you can do except work to defeat him in 2020. As the USA will be in a serious economic recession, that might not be too hard. Only, the recession will be _entirely_ Obama’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22890 "2018-07-16T13:35:10Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > 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. This. All of this. It’s fucking obvious. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22891 "2018-07-16T13:38:09Z")
United States Code at 18 U.S.C. § 2381 states: Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. I’m good with public hanging at this point. Short drop, so they strangle for a good while. ---
**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, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22892 "2018-07-16T13:42:31Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Sorry, but you have this wrong. Trump isn’t acting alone. He was compromised years ago but doesn’t care because he’s still got what he wants: lots of money and power, with a guarantee that the source of that will not be revealed and/or will not be a factor if & when it is revealed. > > Putin and his oligarchs have what they want: control of the most powerful country on Terra with absolutely no risk to themselves. > > This summit is a boss (Putin) having a meeting with his underling who thinks he is a partner (Trump). > > Don’t lose track of who’s in charge, eh. What you say here seems wholly congruent with what I wrote. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22893 "2018-07-16T14:59:54Z")
Trump has issues with how arithmetic works. > [@The Man We Trust with Our Nuclear Stockpile](#): > > We are the two great nuclear powers. We have 90 percent of the nuclear, and that’s not a good thing. It’s a bad thing Donnie…if the US and Russia have less than 90% of the “nuclear”, that would mean that other countries would have a greater share. And that’s called _nuclear proliferation_, and it’s something the nations of the world have been working against for 50 years. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22894 "2018-07-16T15:04:28Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > United States Code at 18 U.S.C. § 2381 states: > > Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. > > I’m good with public hanging at this point. Short drop, so they strangle for a good while. I’m not sure of the technical details – would insisting on calibrating based on 239 pounds instead of the Dotard’s actual weight result in a longer or a shorter drop? ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22895 "2018-07-16T15:09:35Z")
What the hell is that noise? No, not Rump talking nor the Russian words … but the sounds of clutter and clatter in the background. [https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/donald-trump-putin-helsinki-summit/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/donald-trump-putin-helsinki-summit/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22896 "2018-07-16T15:32:28Z")
Putin looked like he came in his pants when trump read the passage about “we will be meeting often.” I wonder how long in advance Putin’s people had trump’s speech prepared? ---
**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, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22897 "2018-07-16T15:39:31Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I wonder how long in advance Putin’s people had trump’s speech prepared? If it had been written in Russian and he read it word for word untranslated, it would sound about as coherent to us Americans as any other series of noises that burble out of him. ---
**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, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22898 "2018-07-16T16:19:34Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > United States Code at 18 U.S.C. § 2381 states: > > Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. > > I’m good with public hanging at this point. Short drop, so they strangle for a good while. A suspended sentence. But death? No, I am a cruel and vindictive person. Take his money, all of it, down to the last dime. Give him a third-story walkup studio apartment with a hotplate, buy his dinner at the Dollar Store. Free medical care, want him to live a long, _long_ time. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22899 "2018-07-16T16:21:48Z")
Even if he is guilty of treason, we should not execute. His followers are fucking nuts enough as it is, we can’t give them a martyr. ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22900 "2018-07-16T16:28:20Z")
[Not suspicious at all](https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2018/jul/16/trump-winks-at-putin-at-start-of-helsinki-summit-video) #treasonsummit ---
**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, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22901 "2018-07-16T16:31:11Z")
[Vladimir Putin: I wanted Donald Trump to win US election](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2018/jul/16/trump-putin-summit-helsinki-russia-live). ETA: [Putin also did not deny that he has compromising material on Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2018/jul/16/trump-putin-summit-helsinki-russia-live?page=with:block-5b4cbff7e4b017453414c659#block-5b4cbff7e4b017453414c659). ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22902 "2018-07-16T16:34:26Z")
And Trump, starring in what should be the Democratic Party’s first presidential election ad, just said he trusts a former KGB agent over his own law enforcement agencies. That’s beautiful. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22903 "2018-07-16T16:42:03Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > And Trump, starring in what should be the Democratic Party’s first presidential election ad, just said he trusts a former KGB agent over his own law enforcement agencies. That’s beautiful. This is the part that stands out to me as well, above all the other horseshit being flung around. ---
**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, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22904 "2018-07-16T16:45:47Z")
HELSINKI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump emerged from a meeting with Vladimir Putin on Monday saying he saw no reason to believe Russia had hacked the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and the Russian leader “was extremely strong and powerful” in denying it. > **[Shock as Trump backs Putin on election meddling at summit](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-summit/trump-and-putin-to-hold-first-summit-talks-as-twitchy-west-looks-on-idUSKBN1K601D)** > > (Reuters) - Standing side-by-side with Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday refused to blame the Russian leader for meddling in the 2016 elections, casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and sparking a storm... So, what does the Faux say? Probably sounds more like a parrot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1144) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1146)