# 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:** 1214
**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:** [August 20, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24265 "2018-08-20T22:26:01Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Pence is just as bad, just in a different way. Personally, he may well be as deplorable–obsessed and mentally odd and ethically-challenged–as Trump. But he’s nowhere near as popular. So Congress WILL stand up to him. In that sense Pence is _very much_ “better than” Trump. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24266 "2018-08-20T23:17:29Z")
Yeah, but Pence is one of them! I’m pretty sure there are current Republican representatives (if not current GOP senators who were representatives before) who were in Congress at the same time as Pence. He’s not just a VP, he’s a colleague. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24267 "2018-08-21T00:08:31Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, but Pence is one of them! I’m pretty sure there are current Republican representatives (if not current GOP senators who were representatives before) who were in Congress at the same time as Pence. He’s not just a VP, he’s a colleague. You’re probably correct in thinking that many members of Congress would be more likely to cut Pence some slack on the basis of his being a former colleague. However, that doesn’t mean they’d roll over and play dead if he tried to do any number of things they’ve let Trump get away with: things at the level of the family separations and locking-up of kids on the border; the nutty tariffs; and the obstruction-of-justice moves (firings, removal of clearances, etc.) They wouldn’t let Pence give away classified information to Russians in the Oval Office; they wouldn’t let him cash in the way Trump has. Not that Pence would necessarily try the same stuff Trump has. (It would be more along the lines of forcing gay people into “therapy” if they want to hold federal contracts, and such.) But _anything_ Pence might try that would reach Trumpian levels of serious-violation-of-norms-if-not-laws would be met with some push-back. For example, Congress _has_ acted to counter Trump’s attempts to end/ameliorate sanctions on Russia. There would be more of that sort of thing with Pence. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24268 "2018-08-21T00:39:19Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Environmental groups caught the Department of the Interior trying to sell off part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, despite a pledge by Secretary Ryan Zinke never to put public lands up for sale. > [Zinke caught red-handed trying to sell off public lands – ThinkProgress](https://thinkprogress.org/environmental-groups-catch-ryan-zinke-red-handed-trying-to-sell-off-public-lands-5b1c89fb0b06/) Sigh. In the upcoming book documenting the crimes and outrages of the Trump Administration, there’ll be a chapter on Trump’s Disastrous Impact on the Environment. (Alphabetically, it’ll come between “Emoluments Clause” and “Foreign Relations”.) ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24269 "2018-08-21T00:42:44Z")
A new children’s book brought to you by Rudy Giuliani. [![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180821/6ca274ff05857d9a149a5c18e29748b5.jpg) ](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180821/6ca274ff05857d9a149a5c18e29748b5.jpg) ---
**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 21, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24270 "2018-08-21T01:25:33Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Sigh. > > In the upcoming book documenting the crimes and outrages of the Trump Administration, there’ll be a chapter on Trump’s Disastrous Impact on the Environment. (Alphabetically, it’ll come between “Emoluments Clause” and “Foreign Relations”.) Don’t forget “Our Favorite Judges and Justices.” > [@Biffster](#): > > A new children’s book brought to you by Rudy Giuliani. > > [https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180821/6ca274ff05857d9a149a5c18e29748b5.jpg](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180821/6ca274ff05857d9a149a5c18e29748b5.jpg) Love it! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24271 "2018-08-21T01:59:21Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > In the upcoming book documenting the crimes and outrages of the Trump Administration, there’ll be a chapter on Trump’s Disastrous Impact on the Environment. (Alphabetically, it’ll come between “Emoluments Clause” and “Foreign Relations”.) C’mon, let’s keep it believable. No way are they going to get all the way up to F in the first volume. ---
**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 21, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24272 "2018-08-21T02:17:40Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Good. The cost was just a convenient cover. They really can’t just refuse because the piece of shit is still “Commander in Chief”. So they had to have a “reason”. That draft dodger/traitor/coward doesn’t deserve a parade anyway. Oh, I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind seeing one that featured Trump in a tumbrel. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24273 "2018-08-21T15:32:07Z")
Paraphrasing iDJiT on the deportation of Jakiw Palij: “Anti-Semitism does not belong in my America!” Okay, so, you had some relatively harmless 95-year-old death camp guard kicked out. When are you going to speak out against [the anti-Semities who were in Charlottesville](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/nazis-racism-charlottesville/536928/)? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24274 "2018-08-21T15:43:10Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It gives Trump his own private army to do with as he pleases. You will be able to tell that the private army is patriotic, because it will refuse to take any raises. > [@RickJay](#): > > Truly, it is fascinating how the law is different for rich people. I am quite sure if I tried to launder $100,000 I’d be arrested and sent to jail and my life ruined. These people launder millions and commit crimes the way I eat snacks, and they get away with it. Hell, I once dropped a quarter in the dryer, and the secret service was on my shit before it finished the cycle. ---
**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 21, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24275 "2018-08-21T18:33:10Z")
Cohen reaches plea deal! > **[Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime personal attorney, pleads guilty to...](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-president-trumps-longtime-personal-attorney-reaches/story?id=57310974)** > > ABC News has learned that Michael Cohen has tentatively reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24276 "2018-08-21T19:01:51Z")
As part of its efforts to Make America Great Again, the Trump Administration plans to replace Obama’s Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule. According to [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/climate/epa-coal-pollution-deaths.html) … > [@](#): > > In the scenario the E.P.A. has pegged as the most likely to occur … the Trump E.P.A. predicts its plan will see between 470 and 1,400 premature deaths annually by 2030 because of increased rates of microscopic airborne particulates known as PM 2.5, which are dangerous because of their link to heart and lung disease as well as their ability to trigger chronic problems like asthma and bronchitis. > … the Trump administration analysis finds that its own plan would see 48,000 new cases of exacerbated asthma and at least 21,000 new missed days of school annually by 2030 because those pollutants would increase in the atmosphere rather than decrease. Note that these are not hypothetical deaths from global warming but more clear-cut deaths in the near-term from heart and lung disease. It was Pruitt’s own EPA that reports this bad news. In defense of Scott Pruitt, he was too busy stealing taxpayer money to pay his call-girls, or whatever it was, to complete the firing of EPA scientists. The Trump Administration is on the ball though. Oh, they’re not trying to save the 1400 lives annually; they want to kill the messenger: > [@](#): > > That study itself is now under attack at E.P.A. The agency is considering a separate rule to restrict the use of any study for which raw data cannot be published, as is the case with Six Cities, which is based on the confidential health records of its participants. Scientists overwhelmingly oppose the move, pointing out that participants in long-term health studies typically agree to take part only if their personal health information won’t be made public. > > If the E.P.A. finalizes that restriction rule, Mr. Schneider said, it would be able to claim in future studies a far lower premature death rate for the Clean Power Plan replacement because the Harvard study would no longer be taken into account. _ **I really want this to be a GD or Elections thread** _ mocking the threads we’re getting from the right-wing idiots. But I don’t have the energy to do it. Anyone else up for the effort? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24277 "2018-08-21T23:50:52Z")
[A Day Filled with Gifts!!](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-crime-hunter/republican-rep-hunter-indicted-for-misusing-campaign-funds-idUSKCN1L62B0) (Reuters) > [@](#): > > U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California, was indicted on charges that he and his wife used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses and filed false campaign finance reports, federal officials said on Tuesday. > > Hunter, who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008, has been accused of conspiracy, wire fraud, falsification of records and other charges, said Adam Braverman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24278 "2018-08-22T00:20:02Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > [A Day Filled with Gifts!!](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-crime-hunter/republican-rep-hunter-indicted-for-misusing-campaign-funds-idUSKCN1L62B0) (Reuters) Making it two-for-two, for indictments of the first two Congressional endorsers of Donald Trump’s candidacy. (Chris Collins being the first endorser.) ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24279 "2018-08-22T00:24:23Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Making it two-for-two, for indictments of the first two Congressional endorsers of Donald Trump’s candidacy. (Chris Collins being the first endorser.) Can Dana Rohrabacher be far behind? 😃 I keep hearing references to Mueller gearing up to drop a number of indictments before the mid-terms. It’s what I believed would happen, I want it to be true – and maybe it will be, after all. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2018, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24280 "2018-08-22T00:38:12Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Can Dana Rohrabacher be far behind? 😃 > > I keep hearing references to Mueller gearing up to drop a number of indictments before the mid-terms. It’s what I believed would happen, I want it to be true – and maybe it will be, after all. As an atheist I’m not quite sure where to address this, but: please don’t let it be the case that we get our hopes up that the rule of law is NOT dead, and that justice WILL be served for all who’ve undermined our democracy-----and then have our hopes dashed. Please, please _don’t_ let it be Orwell’s ‘boot stamping on a human face, forever’… maybe it would be a tiny clown boot, but even so: please, no. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24281 "2018-08-22T00:40:56Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I keep hearing references to Mueller gearing up to drop a number of indictments before the mid-terms. I always thought that Mueller would wait until after the mid-terms, so as not to interfere with the election process. But after being referred to as ‘Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller’ by tRump, he might be a bit more inclined to not wait until after November 6. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24282 "2018-08-22T00:44:21Z")
I hate to be a party pooper, but today actually produced some very good news for Trump: his very own Willie Horton. > ---
**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:** [August 22, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24283 "2018-08-22T00:47:02Z")
2 Things: One: Sherred, I don’t know what your avatar is, but it looks like a hit of blotter acid. Two: Duncan Hunter. How about that name? That name sounds like the guy who has it should be compelled to mention it twice during any introduction. “Duncan Hunter. Nice to meet you. Duncan Hunter.” ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24284 "2018-08-22T00:50:40Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > As an atheist I’m not quite sure where to address this, but: please don’t let it be the case that we get our hopes up that the rule of law is NOT dead, and that justice WILL be served for all who’ve undermined our democracy-----and then have our hopes dashed. > > Please, please _don’t_ let it be Orwell’s ‘boot stamping on a human face, forever’… > > maybe it would be a tiny clown boot, but even so: please, no. As another atheist, I understand your feelings. Here’s what I think, though: It _will_ be the rule of law that holds the line against the Trumpists. It is the courts that have stopped Trump’s worst abuses against the rule of law. There will be some steps forward and some steps backward (in tiny clown boots), but in the end, the rule of law will prevail. Mueller and his team, Rosenstein, Wray, along with the DOJ and the FBI, working alongside the entire American justice system, are highly motivated to work themselves to the bone to succeed. Mueller didn’t dedicate his many years rehabbing the FBI from 9/11 just to watch it sink under the (substantial) weight of the criminal currently occupying the Oval Office and his “end-justifies-the-means” antics. It is _Mueller’s_ agents who are being wrongly maligned. This is personal for him and many others who believe in the rule of law. They know what they’re doing, and they’ve only just gotten started. The scope of this investigation is vast. It will take time to fully roll it out. Honestly, I expect there are aspects and reverberations of it that will still be going on long after I have been scattered to the winds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1213) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1215)