# 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:** 1227
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24525 "2018-08-26T09:55:10Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No, you don’t work with Nazis. You kill Nazis. So either you’re in favor of killing all the Republicans, or you have to accept their existence. > > If you want the U.S. to be a democracy, you have to accept one of the basic rules of democracy: you don’t get to pick your opposition. WTF does this even mean? Normally I can at least somehow figure out a post, even when other people say it makes no sense. But this appears to be completely gibberish, and seems to have nothing to do with what the guy actually said. He is arguing that McCain had an obligation to leave his party due to the level of evil within it, particularly that of supporting Nazis. The counterargument is that leaving is not always the best option, as it means fewer to fight against the evil within. So what is relevant is whether or not McCain actually fought the evil within the Republican Party. Because those are the two options to be good: stay and fight the evil, or abandon them because of the evil. But WTF does that have to do with picking your opponents or wanting to kill Republicans? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24526 "2018-08-26T11:01:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You know, if you’re going to have a two-party system, you’re always going to have one party you do’t like, and if you’s going to have one party you don’t like, it might as well have people like John McCain in it. I’d rather have a one-party system if the alternative is a system where the Republicans are one of the parties. ---
**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 26, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24527 "2018-08-26T11:43:10Z")
OKAY, OKAY… Opinions, please. Today when thump gets up and sees McCain’s name all over the news, he’s going to feel compelled to pull the spotlight onto himself. McCain’s death will be in the news for a while because of lying in state in the Capitol and in Arizona. Lots of tributes and praise from all over. Thump will not be able to STAND being pushed out of the headlines. \*What will he do to upstage the now-deceased McCain? \* ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24528 "2018-08-26T11:47:49Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > OKAY, OKAY… > > Opinions, please. Today when thump gets up and sees McCain’s name all over the news, he’s going to feel compelled to pull the spotlight onto himself. McCain’s death will be in the news for a while because of lying in state in the Capitol and in Arizona. Lots of tributes and praise from all over. Thump will not be able to STAND being pushed out of the headlines. \*What will he do to upstage the now-deceased McCain? \* “Today I ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to end the very bad (and sick!) war in Vietnam, that President Obama allowed, that has ruined the lives of many great American heroes such as Cenator McCain. Where are the parades? NO COLLUSION!” ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24529 "2018-08-26T12:01:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No, you don’t work with Nazis. You kill Nazis. So either you’re in favor of killing all the Republicans, or you have to accept their existence. > > If you want the U.S. to be a democracy, you have to accept one of the basic rules of democracy: you don’t get to pick your opposition. No, I don’t. But I also am under no obligation to pretend that anyone in my opposition is a good person. The entire republican party is, at this point, morally complicit in the disaster that is the Trump administration. McCain is no different. _There is no such thing as a good congressional republican_. Full stop. The best nazi is still awful; the best communist in the DDR is still awful, the best member of Pol Pot’s cabinet is still a genocidal bastard _simply because they’re in Pol Pot’s cabinet_. If they weren’t at the very least complicit, _they would not be a member of that organization_. And at the end of the day, what makes McCain better than Tom Cotton, or John Thune, or Mike Lee? He’s just another republican. He didn’t stand up against the awful nominees of the Trump administration. He didn’t even speak out against Trump promoting John Bolton to the NSC, even though John Bolton’s main schtick these days is pushing for war with Iran - in other words, he’s gunning for a repeat on what McCain considers one of the greatest failures of his career. McCain is, at best, a slightly above average Republican. Would it be nice if every republican was like him? Sure - maybe then the party wouldn’t be _quite_ as batshit insane. But he doesn’t get props for that. Not when he’s merely one of the least bad republicans, and is unwilling to either demand change from the party or leave. As **BigT** put it, when you’re a member of a morally/intellectually bankrupt organization, you have three choices: you either work to reform it from within, you leave, or you admit that you are equally morally/intellectually bankrupt. ---
**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 26, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24530 "2018-08-26T12:44:16Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Wait, does that mean Trump has one? Of his own, I mean, not bought at a butcher’s. Here’s what I posted over on AOL’s report about chump’s comment: > [@](#): > > Trump has no heart, and has yet to apologize for his vicious attack on a decent man. Save it, Mr. “President”. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24531 "2018-08-26T13:47:29Z")
[A nice take on McCain’s death.](http://www.listen-tome.com/gone-for-good/) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24532 "2018-08-26T15:53:05Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Because there were decent people on both sides - people like McCain. Back then, yes. There may still be, and McCain was one. But, I think the time has finally come to clean house and send _The Message_. That message has to be “Since you didn’t clean house we’ll do it for you. Now you ALL go”. Too many have been quiet, looked the other way, or were part of the current shit show. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24533 "2018-08-26T15:55:46Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d rather have a one-party system if the alternative is a system where the Republicans are one of the parties. Right now, with the R’s in control of the House, Senate, White House - and working on the courts - it IS a one party system. ---
**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 26, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24534 "2018-08-26T16:45:00Z")
The convenient “national security” canard doesn’t seem to have gotten its due lately, so the incremental march towards late '20s Wiemar Republic got advanced recently with further [bottlenecking the vetting of refugees.](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-intentionally-slowing-fbi-vetting-refugees-ex-officials-say-n903346) > [@](#): > > Former officials and aid organizations say the administration has overloaded the FBI and other government agencies with an array of procedures that have weighed down the bureaucracy and effectively delayed refugee admissions. > [@](#): > > Apart from the lengthy screening process, DHS has also drastically cut the number of staff that manage refugee admissions and travel overseas to interview those seeking to resettle in the U.S. > [@](#): > > [F]ormer officials, including senior intelligence officers, say the Trump administration has consistently overstated the potential security threat posed by refugees, and conflated the issue with illegal immigration and those seeking asylum. > > “There is no evidence of a significant threat from refugees as a group,” said Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University Law School. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24535 "2018-08-26T19:55:03Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Right now, with the R’s in control of the House, Senate, White House - and working on the courts - it IS a one party system. Plus most state legislatures. ---
**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 26, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24536 "2018-08-26T19:55:46Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Yes, he absolutely should have caucused with the dems. Or quit, if he can’t stomach that. You don’t get to work with the nazis, vote with the nazis 90+% of the time, and then expect to be called a good person because you were better than the average. Fuck that noise. Hear! Hear! And fuck John McCain. ---
**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 26, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24537 "2018-08-26T22:36:23Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The Full-Spectrum Corruption of Donald Trump [https://nyti.ms/2objynq](https://nyti.ms/2objynq) Is that the rainbow his unicorn rode a unicorn over? ---
**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 26, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24538 "2018-08-26T22:53:43Z")
Sometimes it takes a while for a Presidential administration to get its protocols together. So, a day later… the only statement is that upthread tweet, plus…: [INDENT] On Sunday, the only way to read Trump’s mind on McCain was by omission. Flags over the White House were lowered to half-staff but without any proclamation. No formal statement about McCain’s death was delivered. Instead, the president tweeted about the strong economy and retweeted his disdain for the Justice Department, the FBI and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Then he went to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia. [/INDENT] [Donald Trump's brevity following John McCain's death speaks volumes](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/26/donald-trump-silence-following-john-mccain-death-speaks-volumes/1104081002/) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24539 "2018-08-26T23:31:21Z")
Wait, the White House made no official statement on the death of a sitting senator and former POW & war hero? I really did not like McCain, but that’s just not right. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24540 "2018-08-26T23:33:29Z")
Is it normal protocol for a president to attend the funeral of a sitting senator? Especially one held in D.C.? Not that Trump would go (I imagine he doesn’t attend any event where he is not the focus of attention) but I hope the McCain family has made it clear that he is not welcome. ---
**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 26, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24541 "2018-08-26T23:34:36Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Is it normal protocol for a president to attend the funeral of a sitting senator? Especially one held in D.C.? Not that Trump would go (I imagine he doesn’t attend any event where he is not the focus of attention) but I hope the McCain family has made it clear that he is not welcome. Chump was specifically told not to attend the funeral, by McCain himself when he was still alive. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24542 "2018-08-26T23:49:24Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Chump was specifically told not to attend the funeral, by McCain himself when he was still alive. So we can expect him to attend, just out of spite. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24543 "2018-08-26T23:52:12Z")
Mm, juicy. > **[Axios: GOP circulating spreadsheet ahead of midterms listing potential Dem...](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/403719-axios-gop-circulating-spreadsheet-ahead-of-midterms-listing-potential/)** > > Republicans on Capitol Hill are circulating a spreadsheet ahead of the November midterms listing investigations Democrats are considering launching if they take back the House, … ---
**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:** [August 26, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/24544 "2018-08-26T23:54:27Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > So we can expect him to attend, just out of spite. And give the rebuttal to Obama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1226) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1228)