# 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:** 1259
**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:** [September 7, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25165 "2018-09-07T22:38:37Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Oh. Okay. Color me dense. What he said was so sensible that I just accepted it. Thanks for highlighting the importance of his comments. I just read Obama’s whole [speech](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/09/barack-obama-american-democracy-trump-speech/569605/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlantic+%28The+Atlantic+-+Master+Feed%29). God, does this country miss that man. It’s worth reading. Many quotable passages. Here are a couple: > [@](#): > > …over the past few decades, the politics of resentment and division and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party. > > This Congress has championed the unwinding of campaign-finance laws to give billionaires outside influence over our politics; systematically attacked voting rights to make it harder for young people and minorities and the poor to vote; handed out tax cuts without regard to deficits; slashed the safety net wherever it could; cast dozens of votes to take away health insurance from ordinary Americans; embraced wild conspiracy theories, like those surrounding Benghazi or my birth certificate; rejected science, rejected facts on things like climate change; embraced a rising absolutism, from a willingness to default on America’s debt by not paying our bills to a refusal to even meet, much less consider, a qualified nominee for the Supreme Court because he happened to be nominated by a Democratic president. None of this is conservative… > [@](#): > > …It should not be Democratic or Republican, it should not be a partisan issue, to say that we do not pressure the Attorney General or the FBI to use the criminal-justice system as a cudgel to punish our political opponents, or to explicitly call on the Attorney General to protect members of our own party from prosecution because an election happens to be coming up. I’m not making that up, that’s not hypothetical. It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say that we don’t threaten the freedom of the press, because they say things or publish stories we don’t like. I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down, or call them enemies of the people. It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say we don’t target certain groups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. We are Americans. We are supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them. We are supposed to stand up to discrimination. And we sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers. How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?.. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25166 "2018-09-07T23:11:57Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Possibly you’re right with the lower judges, but Kavanaugh comes down to simple numbers. The Democrats don’t have them. Unless there’s something in Kavanaugh’s papers that could scare some Republicans off of him, all the hollering and questioning in the world isn’t going to change anything. > > A few of the people who want to run for President are aware of that and so are using the hearings as free publicity, because there’s no real difference no matter what they do and they can score some points with the Progressives and Socialists. > > But I would say that that harms the hearings. It’s not just free media with no real impact. Susan Collins is really the make-or-break figure in it all. If you actually care about blocking Kavanaugh, because you really believe (not faux-believe, on the basis of partisan politics) that he’ll kill Roe v Wade or rule in Trump’s favor should Mueller end up in the Supreme Court over something, then you need to tailor your questions to Susan Collins and her base, and win them over. That doesn’t happen by grandstanding, it happens by making a real case and giving good reason to believe it. There is no case to be made; the Republicans Party’s avowed goal is to ensure they stay in power; they openly put party before the country. And of course abortion rights will be gradually chipped away at until all women between 12 and 50 have to get a pregnancy test before they leave the country, lest they get an abortion in some heathen place like Canada, and don’t think it can’t happen here. Mueller will be squelched somehow and Trump forced out by the GOP to make way for Father Pence and we’ll be in a full fledge theocracy before we can sneeze. > [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > [https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/1037858749724221441](https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/1037858749724221441) > > Jared Kushner, the unelected member of the administration responsible for Middle East peace, Government reform/Opiod crisis management, Criminal justice reform, Liaison to Mexico, Liaison to China and the Liaison to the Muslim community, stand outside on the street for two minutes waiting for a door to open so he can renegotiate trade deals with Canada and Mexico. Refusing to answer questions from the press that surround him. Accountable to nobody. Why does his Secret Service Agent look so nervous? And why is his jacket so small? Is he a substitute who was brought in while Jared’s usual escort is grilled about the op-ed? > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Oh. Okay. Color me dense. What he said was so sensible that I just accepted it. Thanks for highlighting the importance of his comments. Time travelling again, I see, not being surprised by sensible statements. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25167 "2018-09-07T23:38:57Z")
> [@j666](#): > > … > Time travelling again, I see, not being surprised by sensible statements. Nostalgia… ---
**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:** [September 7, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25168 "2018-09-07T23:57:30Z")
> [@j666](#): > > There is no case to be made; the Republicans Party’s avowed goal is to ensure they stay in power; they openly put party before the country. > And of course abortion rights will be gradually chipped away at until **all women between 12 and 50 have to get a pregnancy test before they leave the country, lest they get an abortion in some heathen place like Canada, and don’t think it can’t happen here.** > Mueller will be squelched somehow and Trump forced out by the GOP to make way for Father Pence and we’ll be in a full fledge theocracy before we can sneeze. Re the bolded part: it won’t happen for Republican daughters and mistresses, though, because abortions will always ok for them. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25169 "2018-09-08T01:01:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I just read Obama’s whole [speech](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/09/barack-obama-american-democracy-trump-speech/569605/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlantic+%28The+Atlantic+-+Master+Feed%29). God, does this country miss that man. It’s worth reading. Many quotable passages. Here are a couple: Thump [says](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obama-criticism_us_5b92b41ae4b0cf7b003f6c18) he tried to watch Obama’s speech but he fell asleep. Not surprising from a guy who couldn’t comprehend a one-page briefing report. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25170 "2018-09-08T01:14:36Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thump [says](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obama-criticism_us_5b92b41ae4b0cf7b003f6c18) he tried to watch Obama’s speech but he fell asleep. Not surprising from a guy who couldn’t comprehend a one-page briefing report. I think there’s a meme opportunity here … signs that say ‘SOMEBODY WAKE UP DONALD’. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25171 "2018-09-08T01:21:25Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thump [says](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obama-criticism_us_5b92b41ae4b0cf7b003f6c18) he tried to watch Obama’s speech but he fell asleep. Not surprising from a guy who couldn’t comprehend a one-page briefing report. The red necks who elected him will find that to be vastly amusing. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25172 "2018-09-08T01:26:50Z")
Couple days ago a PBS blurb mentioned that in the first 14 months of the Trump presidency, nine out of 21 top white house and cabinet positions changed hands at least once. This compares with two under President Obama and one under George W. Bush over the same period. For first-year departures, Axios (well, as of July 5, anyway) lists [23 departures](https://www.axios.com/all-the-white-house-departures-6d81023a-3772-4c3e-ba70-59dfb1d9beb4.html) And then that number is closer to [150 in the first year](https://www.bustle.com/p/how-many-trump-white-house-staff-members-have-left-the-latest-turnover-rate-is-record-breaking-9658200) for lower profile WH employees. Too lazy to find comparative stats on the last two stats. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25173 "2018-09-08T01:28:39Z")
I don’t think that we can stop those people. Our only hope is that more rational people vote Democratic. Perhaps a candidate other than Clinton will work. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25174 "2018-09-08T01:30:47Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thump [says](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obama-criticism_us_5b92b41ae4b0cf7b003f6c18) he tried to watch Obama’s speech but he fell asleep. Not surprising from a guy who couldn’t comprehend a one-page briefing report. He should have stayed awake because Obama kept mentioning his name and he loves to hear that. 🙂 ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25175 "2018-09-08T01:39:45Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > He should have stayed awake because Obama kept mentioning his name and he loves to hear that. 🙂 Not so. He only mentions thump twice. First time to say thump is the symptom and not the disease, and the second that thump isn’t the threat to us, that the threat is indifference. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25176 "2018-09-08T02:54:09Z")
**This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.** Sorry that Christmas came a little early this year, but that line just popped into my mind for some reason… ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25177 "2018-09-08T11:51:09Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I think there’s a meme opportunity here … signs that say ‘SOMEBODY WAKE UP DONALD’. Or “Shush, let him sleep” > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t think that we can stop those people. Our only hope is that more rational people vote Democratic. Perhaps a candidate other than Clinton will work. Unless that candidate gets hillaried in social media and by the press as well. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25178 "2018-09-08T12:03:48Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > **This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.** > > Sorry that Christmas came a little early this year, but that line just popped into my mind for some reason… QFT ---
**Author:** ![Celidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Celidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celidin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25179 "2018-09-08T12:43:24Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thump [says](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obama-criticism_us_5b92b41ae4b0cf7b003f6c18) he tried to watch Obama’s speech but he fell asleep. Not surprising from a guy who couldn’t comprehend a one-page briefing report. So you’re saying Trump isn’t woke? I thought we knew that… ---
**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:** [September 8, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25180 "2018-09-08T13:14:37Z")
> [@Celidin](#): > > So you’re saying Trump isn’t woke? I thought we knew that… Well, I guess we all knew after Obama’s speech yesterday, he was eventually going to rouse himself from his torpor and come out wildly swinging: > [@](#): > > Donald J. Trump Retweeted > > Eric Bolling ������������‏Verified account @ericbolling · 20h20 hours ago > > Watching @BarackObama take credit for @realDonaldTrump successes is disgraceful. > > Score So Far- > > TRUMP: > -Unemployment Rate > -GDP > -Wage Growth > -# Blacks Employed > -# Hispanics Employed > -# Women Employed > -ISIS Wins > -Homegrown Terror Events > > OBAMA: > -Slick Speaking > **-School Shootings** My bolding. School shootings? SCHOOL SHOOTINGS??? Jesus wept. (Also, a little hard to parse, but sounds like ISIS has won? We’re undergoing a wave of homegrown terror events? I wouldn’t put that in Trump’s plus column.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25181 "2018-09-08T13:16:50Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Or “Shush, let him sleep” [My first thought.](https://i.imgur.com/Y15uwWC.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25182 "2018-09-08T14:12:17Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Well, I guess we all knew after Obama’s speech yesterday, he was eventually going to rouse himself from his torpor and come out wildly swinging: > > My bolding. School shootings? SCHOOL SHOOTINGS??? Jesus wept. > > (Also, a little hard to parse, but sounds like ISIS has won? We’re undergoing a wave of homegrown terror events? I wouldn’t put that in Trump’s plus column.) Trump is a complete and utter embarrassment and disgrace to not only our country but the human race. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25183 "2018-09-08T14:17:13Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Trump is a complete and utter embarrassment and disgrace to not only our country but the human race. Bolling doesn’t seem to be any better. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25184 "2018-09-08T14:31:02Z")
You have to give him “slick speaking”, if by “slick” you mean the ability to put a noun and a verb together. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1258) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1260)