# 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:** 1211
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24205 "2018-08-18T20:32:43Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > The Washington Post is reporting that the Trump administration is discussing timing the revocation of security clearances so as to distract from other things on bad news days. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-intelligence-officials-rebuke-trump-for-pulling-brennans-security-clearance/2018/08/17/ea8382f2-a20d-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721\_story.html?noredirect=on&utm\_term=.17b1ffa815e5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-intelligence-officials-rebuke-trump-for-pulling-brennans-security-clearance/2018/08/17/ea8382f2-a20d-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.17b1ffa815e5) Huh. That’s related to one of the themes of _Chappaquiddick_, a not-bad docudrama from last year I just saw on Netflix. If Teddy Kennedy hadn’t been able to use the freakin’ first moon landing as his news-cycle distraction, he might never have gone on to become the Lion of the Senate. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24206 "2018-08-18T20:55:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you want to be extraordinarily nitpicky, the war didn’t end until 1921. The United States Senate didn’t ratify the general peace treaties so we just continued under the armistice agreement while we negotiated separate peace treaties with Austria, Germany, and Hungary. These were signed in August 1921 and went into effect a few months later; the final one was the treaty ending the war between Hungary and the United States, which went into effect on December 17, 1921. By Jingo, who knew Warren G. Harding was such a skilled diplomat? ---
**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:** [August 18, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24207 "2018-08-18T21:03:16Z")
They revoke a clearance, Omarosa releases a recording. The circle is complete. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24208 "2018-08-18T21:21:13Z")
> [@Project\_Patahhh](#): > > Unfortunately a disturbing proportion of Americans believe this vindictive has-been reality show star over verifiable FACTS, so believing him over Omarosa is nothing. After all, she’s a black woman, that’s like double minority :smack: Not to mention she’s just as cutthroat and untrustworthy as anyone else who was in that White House. > > I personally lean more towards believing her than not believing her, same as I felt with Michael Wolfe. Don’t particularly like either of them though. It’s odd, I know he was the ‘star’ of the Apprentice. Never saw a minute of it. BECAUSE I already knew he was just an asshole and a bully. Not my cuppa. And now this fuck is the President, and he is just as I thought, an asshole and bully. But, I’m learning more and more about this shithead every day. We all must. Just when you think he can’t be anymore idiotic or insulting, he outdoes himself. He would probably consider that a compliment, because all he would here is “he outdoes himself”. I weep for our country. Many people look up to this piece of shit. I think they are in three groups - [ul] Those that know they are getting richer and don’t care. Say the top 1%[/ul] [ul]Those that are too stupid to think beyond FOX news and be educated.[/ul] [ul]Those that admire how much of a mean stupid fuck he is, and want to be just like him. [/ul] Perhaps it IS counter productive to call a spade a spade. And that may well be why we have a moron for a President. But to hell with it. The people that voted for this asshole OWN this. They ARE showing us their true deplorable racist colors. They are showing us how stupid they are. They are showing us how they only hope for government handouts. They are showing that they don’t give a shit about the future. Fuck 'em. ---
**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 18, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24209 "2018-08-18T21:33:27Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I weep for our country. Many people look up to this piece of shit. I think they are in three groups - > > [ul] > Those that know they are getting richer and don’t care. Say the top 1%[/ul] > [ul]Those that are too stupid to think beyond FOX news and be educated.[/ul] > [ul]Those that admire how much of a mean stupid fuck he is, and want to be just like him. > [/ul] More than a few fall into both groups 2 and 3. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24210 "2018-08-18T22:38:33Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > More than a few fall into both groups 2 and 3. Yep some 30 million or so people. I’m stunned to discover what a stupid racist country we are. I shouldn’t be stunned I suppose. But these people have been hiding under rocks. Now that they have a dumb racist asshole for a leader, they have someone to identify with. Let these deplorable people get mad. Lets identify them. We should not just let them slink away in the night. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24211 "2018-08-19T00:07:09Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Let these deplorable people get mad. Lets identify them. We should not just let them slink away in the night. Cueing reflexive alt right moron response along the ones of “Yeah, keep disrespecting the Trump base - see how far _that_ gets any of your libtard candidates in getting any election victories.” in 3…2…1… ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24212 "2018-08-19T00:33:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Well, they’d better revoke someone else’s, and quick! > > [White House Counsel Has Cooperated Extensively With Mueller’s Obstruction Inquiry](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/us/politics/don-mcgahn-mueller-investigation.html) To be perfectly fair, there are 2 possible interpretations of this development: 1. Everyone in the WH is squeaky clean so there’s no reason not to cooperate; or 2. Trump is so screwed. ---
**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 19, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24213 "2018-08-19T00:33:47Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > They revoke a clearance, Omarosa releases a recording. The circle is complete. Is he going to revoke 200 clearances? 'Cause that might be how many he’ll need to pull to keep up with his former apprentice. > **[Omarosa Might Have 'As Many As 200' Tapes, NY Times Reports](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/omarosa-200-tapes-new-york-times_n_5b7649bde4b0a5b1feb99d15)** > > The former aide to President Trump has released several audio recordings while promoting her new book. Between McGahn and Omarosa, I bet people in the White House are in panic mode right now. ---
**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 19, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24214 "2018-08-19T00:34:52Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > It’s odd, I know he was the ‘star’ of the Apprentice. Never saw a minute of it. BECAUSE I already knew he was just an asshole and a bully. Not my cuppa. > > And now this fuck is the President, and he is just as I thought, an asshole and bully. But, I’m learning more and more about this shithead every day. We all must. Just when you think he can’t be anymore idiotic or insulting, he outdoes himself. He would probably consider that a compliment, because all he would here is “he outdoes himself”. > > I weep for our country. Many people look up to this piece of shit. I think they are in three groups - > > [ul] > Those that know they are getting richer and don’t care. Say the top 1%[/ul] > [ul]Those that are too stupid to think beyond FOX news and be educated.[/ul] > [ul]Those that admire how much of a mean stupid fuck he is, and want to be just like him. > [/ul] > > Perhaps it IS counter productive to call a spade a spade. And that may well be why we have a moron for a President. But to hell with it. The people that voted for this asshole OWN this. They ARE showing us their true deplorable racist colors. They are showing us how stupid they are. They are showing us how they only hope for government handouts. They are showing that they don’t give a shit about the future. Fuck 'em. But we can’t call them ‘deplorable’ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24215 "2018-08-19T01:32:38Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Cueing reflexive alt right moron response along the ones of “Yeah, keep disrespecting the Trump base - see how far _that_ gets any of your libtard candidates in getting any election victories.” in 3…2…1… Nothing reflexive about it at all. I have watched the moron in chief do his thing. And see his base supports the stupid fuck. Again, and again and again. Trumps base does own this. The facts lay at their feet, but they refuse to see them. Should we respect them for the mess that they created? Should we respect them for not looking at facts? Should we respect them for their racists ideas? Should we respect them for only caring about themselves? Should we respect them for not caring about the environment or our collective future? I, for one, don’t think that trying to coddle his base is gonna work. They refuse to come in from the rain, and complain about getting wet. I will call them the idiots that they are. Let’s face it. They bought into the trump bullshit and they are not going to see reason. Thinking people out number them. Not by much, but enough. Fuck 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24216 "2018-08-19T01:51:54Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Nothing reflexive about it at all. I have watched the moron in chief do his thing. And see his base supports the stupid fuck. Again, and again and again. Trumps base does own this. The facts lay at their feet, but they refuse to see them. Not sure how that isn’t reflexive, though. (Doing something again and again, without much conscious thought) (ha! kinda like the immediacy of my responses!:p) > [@enipla](#): > > I, for one, don’t think that trying to coddle his base is gonna work. That’s the thing, though - the troglydite snowflakes _expect_ to be coddled, and when we stand up to their shit, they pull the concern troll / oh-woe-is-me wimpery. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24217 "2018-08-19T13:03:39Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Not sure how that isn’t reflexive, though. (Doing something again and again, without much conscious thought) > (ha! kinda like the immediacy of my responses!:p) OK, but if you get lied to again and again, you don’t have to put much thought into trusting these assholes or not. > [@](#): > > That’s the thing, though - the troglydite snowflakes _expect_ to be coddled, and when we stand up to their shit, they pull the concern troll / oh-woe-is-me wimpery. So what. At this point, his base just isn’t going to change. They are too far dug in and removed from facts. They are too invested in this crap. As we are seeing with white supremacists, they are finally able to express their vial ideals. This is what the MAGA movement is all about. I think the people on the fence are few and far between. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24218 "2018-08-19T13:39:48Z")
And to add to all that, there’s really one main culprit in the creation of ‘the base/deplorables/MAGAbots’; Fox ‘news’. Without Fox this all would not have been possible. Without (in no particular order of importance) Hannity, Limbough, Pirro, Ingraham … I don’t and never have watched so I’m sure there’s plenty more, and without the bullshit lies they spew with impunity you wouldn’t have Trump supporters in their multitudes. And it’s not just the lies, it’s also the lies of omission. That fucking channel is everywhere in the USA! Yeah, you can blame people for being stupid and uniformed and some of them truly are. Some are even beyond stupid and just malicious and awful, but there’s a large portion that have simple been sucked into the propaganda. Doesn’t excuse them, but it does explain them somewhat. Fox ‘news’ came into existence in 1996. It’s all been downhill since. ---
**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 19, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24219 "2018-08-19T13:50:54Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > And to add to all that, there’s really one main culprit in the creation of ‘the base/deplorables/MAGAbots’; Fox ‘news’. > Without Fox this all would not have been possible. Without (in no particular order of importance) Hannity, Limbough, Pirro, Ingraham … I don’t and never have watched so I’m sure there’s plenty more, and without the bullshit lies they spew with impunity you wouldn’t have Trump supporters in their multitudes. > And it’s not just the lies, it’s also the lies of omission. That fucking channel is everywhere in the USA! Yeah, you can blame people for being stupid and uniformed and some of them truly are. Some are even beyond stupid and just malicious and awful, but there’s a large portion that have simple been sucked into the propaganda. Doesn’t excuse them, but it does explain them somewhat. > Fox ‘news’ came into existence in 1996. It’s all been downhill since. It’s the demassification of modern media, which has created electronic communities that are walled off from each other. I’d argue that it began in the 1980s with the comeback of AM radio being used as a space for shock jock talk radio hosts, like Rush Limbaugh. It worsened with cable television, which gave people like Limbaugh a new type of platform. It was the early success of right wing radio media and early cable media that probably convinced Rupert Murdoch that right wing television could succeed. What happened is that political conservatives had a place where they could go if they didn’t want to have their notions about reality challenged. AM radio hosts and Fox News would reinforce their biases. Of course, this alternative reality has only worsened in the day and age of social media, which allows people to not only wall themselves off from the mainstream news gathering sources but even from other people who might have different opinions. Whereas in the past, conservatives might watch something on Fox or listen to something on AM radio and forget about it, these same people now read or watch something on Fox or Breitbart or YouTube, share it with their social networks, and then collectively feed on this information like a school of blood thirsty piranhas. The technology of the new media has perhaps dramatically changed perceptions of “reality” ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24220 "2018-08-19T14:13:08Z")
“That’s not the way the world really works anymore.” He continued “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” Karl Rove He wasn’t wrong. The ‘reality’ they create/d wasn’t necessarily reality as the word is defined, but as long as it is accepted as reality by enough rubes, it works (for them). ---
**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:** [August 19, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24221 "2018-08-19T15:50:56Z")
“We risk being the first people in history to have been able to make their illusions so vivid, so persuasive, so ‘realistic’ that they can live in them.” — Daniel J. Boorstin Yes. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24222 "2018-08-19T15:55:13Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > … > That’s the thing, though - the troglydite snowflakes _expect_ to be coddled, and when we stand up to their shit, they pull the concern troll / oh-woe-is-me wimpery. Oh yeah. After they brag about “telling it like it is” and how they are “fighting the PC police”. THAT right there drives me right up the wall. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24223 "2018-08-19T16:26:58Z")
May I offer an alternative explanation? Mueller is empowered to investigate the collusion of the Trump campaign. Trump would prefer he didn’t, but he really doesn’t care about the _campaign_, he cares about Trump. If Trump is convinced that there is no actual proof of his own…personal… involvement, he skates. And so long as that is true, he retains his pardon power. This would explain his previous “cooperation”: he doesn’t care who gets caught in the gears, so long as its not him. Staffers, hirelings, people like that, fuck 'em. If Don Jr. gets ensnared, he can keep it in court forever, and if he finally loses…pardon time! All of this may add up to a foolproof defense against charges of collusion. Dunno, but he could think so, he could convince himself so. But obstruction is a different kettle of piranha. That has lots of grubby fingerprints all over it. Small ones from tiny little fingers. ---
**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 19, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24224 "2018-08-19T16:31:20Z")
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