# 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:** 1201
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24005 "2018-08-12T17:18:35Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So Trump is going after legal immigrants now. Wonderful. **What about those legal immigrants who enlisted** but have to use food stamps for their family? Yeah Trump is wonderful…if you’re Satan. He wants to use them up and then deport them too. The fucking traitor draft dodger “Cadet Bone Sours” wants to deport veterans. And he’s already doing it. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24006 "2018-08-12T17:34:52Z")
Just a reminder… A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. […] That’s when McCarthy brought the conversation about Russian meddling around to the DNC hack, Trump and Rohrabacher. “I’ll guarantee you that’s what it is. . . . The Russians hacked the DNC and got the opp [opposition] research that they had on Trump,” McCarthy said with a laugh. Ryan asked who the Russians “delivered” the opposition research to. “There’s . . . there’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy said, drawing some laughter. “Swear to God,” McCarthy added. “This is an off the record,” Ryan said. Some lawmakers laughed at that. “No leaks, all right?,” Ryan said, adding: “This is how we know we’re a real family here.” “That’s how you know that we’re tight,” Scalise said. “What’s said in the family stays in the family,” Ryan added. — [www.washingtonpost.com/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/)… The fuckers KNEW all along and thought it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24007 "2018-08-12T18:32:48Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Just a reminder… > The fuckers KNEW all along and thought it was funny. Yep. Trump Inc isn’t exactly a place of secrecy. You would think he would have learned from the NY and Russian Mob, but no, he needs to brag about his crimes. What can’t be explained is that nearly half the US wants a moron for a president. Is it because they can identify with the racist idiot fuck? I suppose so. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24008 "2018-08-13T03:06:17Z")
“Family”, eh? Makes me think of a certain type of family. They made some movies about them. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24009 "2018-08-13T05:02:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > “Family”, eh? Makes me think of a certain type of family. They made some movies about them. The Washington Post just published an article about that. > **[| Trump’s résumé is rife with mob connections](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-trumps-mob-connections-a-coincidence-fuhgeddaboudit/2018/08/10/24b62e2c-9cad-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html?utm_term=.e6b4c24da0c8&tid=sm_fb)** > > Are they a coincidence? Fuhgeddaboudit. > [@](#): > > And the president ought to know: He has spent plenty of time in mobbed-up milieus. As many journalists have documented — the late [Wayne Barrett](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/wayne-barrett-obituary-reporter-village-voice-trump-first-214669) and decorated investigator [David Cay Johnston](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910) most deeply — Trump’s trail was blazed through one business after another notorious for corruption by organized crime. > > New York construction, for starters. In 1988, Vincent “the Fish” Cafaro of the Genovese crime family [testified](https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/30/nyregion/mob-role-in-new-york-construction-depicted.html) before a U.S. Senate committee concerning the Mafia’s control of building projects in New York. Construction unions and concrete contractors were deeply dirty, Cafaro confirmed, and four of the city’s five crime families worked cooperatively to keep it that way. > > This would not have been news to Trump, whose early political mentor and personal lawyer was [Roy Cohn](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/former-mccarthy-aide-showed-trump-how-to-exploit-power-and-draw-attention/2016/06/16/e9f44f20-2bf3-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html?utm_term=.4f435bb8a307), consigliere to such dons as Fat Tony Salerno and Carmine Galante. After Cohn [guided](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-roy-cohn-relationship) the brash young developer through the gutters of city politics to win permits for Trump Plaza and Trump Tower, it happened that Trump elected to build primarily with concrete rather than steel. He [bought the mud](https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/02/ted-cruz/yes-donald-trump-has-been-linked-mob/) at inflated prices from S&A Concrete, [co-owned](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trump-swam-in-mob-infested-waters-in-early-years-as-an-nyc-developer/2015/10/16/3c75b918-60a3-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html?utm_term=.043166cae4bf) by Cohn’s client Salerno and Paul Castellano, boss of the Gambino family. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24010 "2018-08-13T06:09:28Z")
Stephen King got the “twittersphere” to [have some fun](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stephen-king-donald-trump-space-force_us_5b6e90c8e4b0ae32af9843f7) regarding Trump’s out of the world idea. I like the logo and the motto for the 11th photo down on the linked page. The logo is a swastika with a toy rocket ship and the motto is “in space no one can hear you lie…”. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24011 "2018-08-13T08:47:53Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Stephen King got the “twittersphere” to [have some fun](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stephen-king-donald-trump-space-force_us_5b6e90c8e4b0ae32af9843f7) regarding Trump’s out of the world idea. I like the logo and the motto for the 11th photo down on the linked page. The logo is a swastika with a toy rocket ship and the motto is **“in space no one can hear you lie…”**. (My bold) Ooooo… good one! ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24012 "2018-08-13T10:27:54Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > The fuckers KNEW all along and thought it was funny. Of course they knew; it’s highly unlikely that Trump was the only beneficiary of Russian involvement in our elections. It’s clear that Russia has orchestrated a campaign to infiltrate American politics, going back before 2016. It started with their connections to GOP insiders and activist groups like the NRA. The ‘collusion’ scandal isn’t a story about one candidate’s campaign; it’s really a larger story about how the Republican party as a whole abandoned its constitutional duty to represent American national interests. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24013 "2018-08-13T15:12:44Z")
[Trump](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-natural-donald-trump-jr-emerges-as-a-campaign-star-despite-russia-baggage/2018/08/12/7a4ece20-9ca8-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html?utm_term=.059478618c38) on the tower meeting: “Don has received notoriety for a brief meeting, that many politicians would have taken, but most importantly, and _ **to the best of my knowledge** _, nothing happened after the meeting concluded.” Does anyone ever add “to the best of my knowledge” to a statement when they expect to be fully exonerated? ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24014 "2018-08-13T15:16:46Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > the Republican party as a whole abandoned its constitutional duty to represent American national interests. I’m not sure what part of the Constitution charges the Republicans – or any other political party – to represent American national interests. I’m pretty sure without looking that the Socialist Workers Party was somewhat deficient in that regard as well. Doesn’t mean I’m not vexed with the bastards. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24015 "2018-08-13T15:22:48Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > [Trump](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-natural-donald-trump-jr-emerges-as-a-campaign-star-despite-russia-baggage/2018/08/12/7a4ece20-9ca8-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html?utm_term=.059478618c38) on the tower meeting: > > “Don has received notoriety for a brief meeting, that many politicians would have taken, but most importantly, and _ **to the best of my knowledge** _, nothing happened after the meeting concluded.” > > Does anyone ever add “to the best of my knowledge” to a statement when they expect to be fully exonerated? Did he also shift from “any politician would have” to “many politicians would have”? ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24016 "2018-08-13T15:31:40Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > The Washington Post just published an article about that. Important Nitpick: Its and **opinion piece** not an article. I have a bee in my bonnet about this distinction, given the number of time the right has printed an excerpt from some Krauthammer of George Will screed and claim it’s facts from a Washington Post article. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24017 "2018-08-13T15:32:01Z")
Not surprisingly, our beloved President took a bit of time out of his busy golfing schedule this morning to trash Omarosa via Twitter. That’s not really news, but I was slightly amused by this touch of inadvertent self-revelation (my bolding below): > [@Donald J. Trump](#): > > Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard… > > …really bad things. Nasty to people & would constantly miss meetings & work. When Gen. Kelly came on board he told me she was a loser & nothing but problems. **I told him to try working it out, if possible, because she only said GREAT things about me - until she got fired!**  Yep, confirmed once and for all that saying GREAT things about the First Dickhead is more important than any sort of competence. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24018 "2018-08-13T15:46:55Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I’m not sure what part of the Constitution charges the Republicans – or any other political party – to represent American national interests. I’m pretty sure without looking that the Socialist Workers Party was somewhat deficient in that regard as well. > > Doesn’t mean I’m not vexed with the bastards. I’m pretty sure it’s an implied responsibility, absent of specific language to that effect. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24019 "2018-08-13T15:48:41Z")
Christ, just how many more tapes does Omarosa have? How did she manage to tape anyone inside the White House so easily? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24020 "2018-08-13T15:50:35Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > [Trump](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-natural-donald-trump-jr-emerges-as-a-campaign-star-despite-russia-baggage/2018/08/12/7a4ece20-9ca8-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html?utm_term=.059478618c38) on the tower meeting: > > “Don has received notoriety for a brief meeting, that many politicians would have taken, but most importantly, and _ **to the best of my knowledge** _, nothing happened after the meeting concluded.” > > Does anyone ever add “to the best of my knowledge” to a statement when they expect to be fully exonerated? Kind of like, _“I broke into your house to steal everything, but all you had was cheap stuff I couldn’t fence”_ ??? It doesn’t matter if the Russians gave them anything useful (I think **they DID** ). The crime was still committed. Hang the fucker already. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24021 "2018-08-13T15:51:47Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Of course they knew; it’s highly unlikely that Trump was the only beneficiary of Russian involvement in our elections. It’s clear that Russia has orchestrated a campaign to infiltrate American politics, going back before 2016. It started with their connections to GOP insiders and activist groups like the NRA. The ‘collusion’ scandal isn’t a story about one candidate’s campaign; it’s really a larger story about how the Republican party as a whole abandoned its constitutional duty to represent American national interests. That’s why **so many** of them are fighting to shut down the investigation and discredit Meuller. This goes way beyond just Trump. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24022 "2018-08-13T15:53:42Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Not surprisingly, our beloved President took a bit of time out of his busy golfing schedule this morning to trash Omarosa via Twitter. That’s not really news, but I was slightly amused by this touch of inadvertent self-revelation (my bolding below): >  > Yep, confirmed once and for all that saying GREAT things about the First Dickhead is more important than any sort of competence. Trump didn’t even have the balls to fire her himself. He had the other asshole do it. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24023 "2018-08-13T15:54:18Z")
Additionally, Omarosa made a point in one of her interviews, which is that everyone lies and, thus, she felt it absolutely necessary to tape conversations in order to protect herself. If that’s the case - and I have absolutely no reason to doubt that it is - then it makes me wonder: how many other people in Trump’s White House have been bugging the president and his aides? Look, she obviously is biased and has an axe to grind, and I’ve got no doubt that a few of her claims are exaggerated at best. But that description of the White House echoes what has been reported already, which is that it’s a White House of piranhas. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24024 "2018-08-13T15:55:39Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I’m pretty sure it’s an implied responsibility, absent of specific language to that effect. Until **NOW** , it didn’t **need** to be written. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1200) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1202)