# 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:** 1224
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24465 "2018-08-25T19:03:08Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Must be pretty common, my experience with _Enquirer_: my local store carries it in the impulse buy section, right next to the cash registers. I always look. For the longest time, it was mostly Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, so on and so forth, and then suddenly: _Bat Boy: Hillary/Obama’s Love Child?_ and _Bible Proves Hillary Is The Whore of Babylon_, so on and so forth. > > First reactions were shock, horror and dismay. Downhill from there. It must be fun as hell to write those stories. I wonder if they are assigned titles? Someone said super hero comic authors were given a cover and told to write a story about it. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24466 "2018-08-25T19:08:25Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > …I can’t imagine any media outlet, least of all the National Enquirer, destroying anything like that. That would be like flushing diamonds down the toilet. Precisely. I’m betting Pecker is the sort to save things like that for a rainy day. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24467 "2018-08-25T19:16:20Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcom’s feet > and be baited by the rabble’s curse. > Though Burnam wood be come to Dunsiane, > and thou opposed being of no woman born, > yet I will try the last. > Lay on, McDuff, and damned be he who first calls, “Hold! Enough!” > > The next stage direction is “Enter McDuff with MacBeth’s head on a pike”. Note one big difference: MacBeth did his own dirty work and fought his own battles. He did not hide or leave it to flunkies, and he DID NOT PLEAD BONE SPURS. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24468 "2018-08-25T19:20:36Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Trump can’t successfully color a drawing of an American flag](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/trump-managed-botch-photo-op-ohio-kids-coloring-american-flag-wrong/). Not surprised. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24469 "2018-08-25T19:32:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Trump can’t successfully color a drawing of an American flag](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/trump-managed-botch-photo-op-ohio-kids-coloring-american-flag-wrong/). I think the author of that article kinda shoots himself in the foot, though. > [@](#): > > “The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field,” as the flag code makes clear. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24470 "2018-08-25T19:41:41Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Note one big difference: MacBeth did his own dirty work and fought his own battles. He did not hide or leave it to flunkies, and he DID NOT PLEAD BONE SPURS. I guess that quote is as close as he came to blaming it all on three witches he met. No witnesses, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24471 "2018-08-25T20:07:03Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Trump can’t successfully color a drawing of an American flag](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/trump-managed-botch-photo-op-ohio-kids-coloring-american-flag-wrong/). Someone said he was trying to color the Russian flag. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24472 "2018-08-25T20:24:06Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Someone said he was trying to color the Russian flag. Except, he had it kind of upside down. The Russian flag goes белое, синее, красное. He even fucks up his fuckups. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24473 "2018-08-25T20:26:23Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I think the author of that article kinda shoots himself in the foot, though. :smack: That was from the 1947 version of the flag code. Probably the first Google result. Ain’t it great that we’ve destroyed journalism? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24474 "2018-08-25T21:04:30Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Note one big difference: MacBeth did his own dirty work and fought his own battles. He did not hide or leave it to flunkies, and he DID NOT PLEAD BONE SPURS. Who? Our bravest of the brave President Orange. The man who declared he would have personally (had he been there) charged into the school while unarmed and saved the children from the shooter. That’s real courage, a real hero, a man’s man. If only he’d been there at Parkland. And a few other places. Yessir, youbetcha. > **[Trump shifts focus away from gun proposals - The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/02/26/trump-says-would-have-rushed-unarmed-stop-school-shooter/2qbzawplaQwzOTni7q8BqO/story.html)** > > Believes he would have rushed into Florida school without weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24475 "2018-08-25T21:18:59Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Trump can’t successfully color a drawing of an American flag](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/trump-managed-botch-photo-op-ohio-kids-coloring-american-flag-wrong/). I think most people know instinctively that the flag has red stripes. Not blue ones. And if they picked up the wrong pen, they could self-correct. I’m wondering how Trump would fare if he had to take a more challenging neurological test, one that Reagan could have failed during his last year in office. Slate article, much like the Rawstory article: [Did Trump color an American flag wrong during a photo-op with Ohio kids?](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/08/did-trump-color-an-american-flag-wrong-during-a-photo-op-with-ohio-kids.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24476 "2018-08-25T21:24:07Z")
Well, Trump hugs the flag, kisses the flag, even humps the flag on occasion, but just like with his women he never makes eye contact. ---
**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 25, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24477 "2018-08-25T21:28:03Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, Trump hugs the flag, kisses the flag, even humps the flag on occasion, but just like with his women he never makes eye contact. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24478 "2018-08-25T21:29:10Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > :smack: That was from the 1947 version of the flag code. Probably the first Google result. Ain’t it great that we’ve destroyed journalism? So far as I can tell, the wording of the flag code hasn’t changed. That’s Chapter 1 Section 1 of the flag code. [Here it is from the US Government Pulishing office website](https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title4/html/USCODE-2011-title4-chap1.htm). Or [Here it from house.gov](http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml;jsessionid=E24EF6B52A7DD0DB590A0A5974F2AAF6?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title4-chapter1&saved=%7CZ3JhbnVsZWlkOlVTQy1wcmVsaW0tdGl0bGU0LXNlY3Rpb244%7C%7C%7C0%7Cfalse%7Cprelim&edition=prelim). Section 2 quotes what happens when there’s additional states: > [@](#): > > § 2. Same; additional stars > On the admission of a new State into the Union one star shall be added to the union of the flag; and such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admission. As the reporter was quoting the flag code (4 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 1), that quote seems proper and correct to me. Perhaps an explanatory note could have been made or the end of the quote omitted. That’s the code correctly quoted. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24479 "2018-08-25T21:30:30Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Jesus, I hope there isn’t some poor kid out there about to find out that Donald Fucking Trump is his or her father. What, are you kidding? I’d love to discover Chump was my biological father. He may not be a billionaire, but I could still wring a fortune out of him. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Can’t be - he only fucked her in her shit-hole. Reno? ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24480 "2018-08-25T21:33:12Z")
One of the quickie tests for Alzheimer’s is to ask the subject to draw a clock face. Not a particular time, simply draw a circle and put 12 numbers onto it in the correct order and reasonably well spaced. I wonder if some reporter could challenge him to do that? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24481 "2018-08-25T21:46:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Trump can’t successfully color a drawing of an American flag](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/trump-managed-botch-photo-op-ohio-kids-coloring-american-flag-wrong/). I first thought that he was trying to make a Blue Lives Matter flag, but if he was, the blue stripe is still in the wrong place. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Blue\_Lives\_Matter\_flag.svg/1024px-Blue\_Lives\_Matter\_flag.svg.png](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Blue_Lives_Matter_flag.svg/1024px-Blue_Lives_Matter_flag.svg.png) ---
**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:** [August 25, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24482 "2018-08-25T21:47:56Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > :smack: That was from the 1947 version of the flag code. Probably the first Google result. Ain’t it great that we’ve destroyed journalism? > [@pulykamell](#): > > So far as I can tell, the wording of the flag code hasn’t changed. That’s Chapter 1 Section 1 of the flag code. [Here it is from the US Government Pulishing office website](https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title4/html/USCODE-2011-title4-chap1.htm). Or [Here it from house.gov](http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml;jsessionid=E24EF6B52A7DD0DB590A0A5974F2AAF6?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title4-chapter1&saved=%7CZ3JhbnVsZWlkOlVTQy1wcmVsaW0tdGl0bGU0LXNlY3Rpb244%7C%7C%7C0%7Cfalse%7Cprelim&edition=prelim). Section 2 quotes what happens when there’s additional states: > > As the reporter was quoting the flag code (4 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 1), that quote seems proper and correct to me. Perhaps an explanatory note could have been made or the end of the quote omitted. That’s the code correctly quoted. Interesting. Is it some legal requirement that you don’t go back and rewrite portions of the U.S.C. to reflect changing circumstances, but instead you write an addendum to explain the change? That may be part of the reason that the legal system gets as complicated as it does. Still, if you’re going to nitpick someone, even Trump, best make damn sure all your own nits are in order. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24483 "2018-08-25T21:54:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That’s the code correctly quoted. [Pedant] Well, it is _accurately_ quoted, but I don’t think it was _correctly_ quoted in the sense that it actually confuses and distracts from the intended impact of the report. The writer could have accurately quoted just the relevant sections of the code, i.e. the colours of the stripes, to maintain the overall correctness of the story. [/p] For that matter, quoting the code at all seems like just a way to pad out the article. Just say that American flags have red stripes and white stripes except apparently in Trumpworld. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24484 "2018-08-25T22:40:01Z")
You commie snowflakes are trying to stifle his creativity! It’s what we need to MAGA! Besides, the other kid did it wrong, too. Probably a Hillary supporter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1223) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1225)