# 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:** 1294
**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 25, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25865 "2018-09-25T02:42:10Z")
Who watched the Kavenaugh interview? Comments in WaPo say he was a nervous wreck. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25866 "2018-09-25T03:09:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Who watched the Kavenaugh interview? Comments in WaPo say he was a nervous wreck. Even on Fox? I haven’t seen it, I just don’t think I can handle it. ---
**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 25, 2018, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25867 "2018-09-25T03:22:29Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Who watched the Kavenaugh interview? Comments in WaPo say he was a nervous wreck. > [@j666](#): > > Even on Fox? I haven’t seen it, I just don’t think I can handle it. Same here. I was hoping some resolute Doper with intestines of iron ventured forth and will report back. FWIW, **UltraVires** on the Kavenaugh thread said K was stiff as a board (but he supports him anyway). :rolleyes: ---
**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 25, 2018, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25868 "2018-09-25T03:52:00Z")
Here’s a bit on it. \*\*Supreme Court Fight Goes Prime Time With Kavanaugh’s Fox News Interview \*\* > **[Supreme Court Fight Goes Prime Time With Kavanaugh’s Fox News Interview...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/business/media/brett-kavanaugh-fox-news-interview.html)** > > Brett M. Kavanaugh submitted to questions about allegations of sexual misconduct, the first time in memory that a Supreme Court nominee was interviewed on TV before a confirmation vote. > [@](#): > > … > But even as Judge Kavanaugh emphatically denied the accusations against him, his appearance had more than a whiff of a reality-show confessional, starkly at odds with the prestige of the job he is seeking. The judge grew robotic at times under Ms. MacCallum’s scrutiny, reverting to talking points and reacting stiffly to her questions. > > “I’ve always treated women with dignity and respect,” Judge Kavanaugh said, repeating the phrase four times in the course of about 20 minutes. He said he was seeking a “fair process” 17 times. When Ms. MacCallum asked if he believed it was fair to judge adults on the actions of their teenage selves, Judge Kavanaugh looked thrown. > > “What I’m here to do is tell you the truth,” he said after a pause, “and this allegation from 36 years ago is not —” > > Ms. MacCallum jumped in to repeat her question, prompting a halting reply. “I think everyone is judged on their whole life,” Judge Kavanaugh said. “I’m a good person. I’ve led a good life. I’ve tried to do a lot of good for a lot of people. I am not perfect, I know that.” > … ---
**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:** [September 25, 2018, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25869 "2018-09-25T06:38:39Z")
I wasn’t expecting the, “I’m a good person…” angle. Faux and the incontinent Republican senators had me primed for something like the Thomas, “High tech lynching” or outright screaming denials.😕 ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25870 "2018-09-25T11:53:00Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I wasn’t expecting the, “I’m a good person…” angle. > > Faux and the incontinent Republican senators had me primed for something like the Thomas, “High tech lynching” or outright screaming denials.😕 Well, hell, now I’m convinced. The son of a bitch did it. Maybe he should have tried saying outright, “I was a privileged white boy in the 1980s; _of course,_ I assaulted girls in our ‘sister schools’ under the cover of alcohol, but I see now that was wrong.” ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25871 "2018-09-25T11:53:52Z")
Lawrence O’Donnell’s take from [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsD7hgqmwTk) MSNBC’s website sound wasn’t working for me, so I linked youtube above. Kavanaugh’s Talking Points starts about 5:35… ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25872 "2018-09-25T13:33:02Z")
Yep. Totally guilty. There is no other reason a person would say those things. An innocent person would insist that they are factually innocent. Kavanaugh bargains. He tries to argue that he is still a “good person,” and makes excuses. This is not what an innocent person does. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25873 "2018-09-25T13:39:30Z")
To me he sounds like he did it, he knows perfectly well he did it (i.e., no “holy shit, I do remember waking up the next morning asking what the heck happened, but I don’t remember that! :eek:”), and he hasn’t found the balls to admit he did it and say the not-always-magic words “I’m really, really sorry I was such an enormous asshole.” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25874 "2018-09-25T14:13:00Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I doubt if Trump thinks that strategically; he probably couldn’t tell you which way Puerto Rico leans, or how many Democratic senators there are currently. He just knows that somebody in PR pissed him off and he wants to punch back. Not only that: the Puerto Rico Repubs (and a large part of our Clintonite Dems) are PRO-statehood, while Mayor Yulin is a cultural nationalist darling of the NY left. So he’s “punishing” \*his own putative allies. \* Oh, and that State of PR = guaranteed +2 D Senators has not been axiomatic for a while, except in RW fundraising talking points. Then again, Donald may be very effectively causing a reversion to pre-1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25875 "2018-09-25T14:20:37Z")
Yulín is her middle name (Julianne transliterated to the Spanish alphabet). If you want her lastname it’s Cruz and if you want her firstname it’s Carmen. Is she known for the middle name? (Genuine question) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25876 "2018-09-25T14:39:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yulín is her middle name (Julianne transliterated to the Spanish alphabet). If you want her lastname it’s Cruz and if you want her firstname it’s Carmen. Is she known for the middle name? (Genuine question) You forget I am (sort of) one of her constituents 😉 Yes, PR we refer to her as just “Yulín” or as “Carmen Yulín” w/o her surname, in fact when she first ran for the legislature she litigated with the Elections Board to appear on the Ballot as such rather than as “Carmen Cruz Soto”. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25877 "2018-09-25T14:47:41Z")
Right now he is giving his “What a GREAT President I am!!” speech to the U.N. He does realize that they can’t vote for him, right? He told them that he has accomplished more than any other U.S. President in history, them told them about how great he gets along with most of them. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25878 "2018-09-25T14:53:50Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > You forget I am (sort of) one of her constituents 😉 Yes, PR we refer to her as just “Yulín” or as “Carmen Yulín” w/o her surname, in fact when she first ran for the legislature she litigated with the Elections Board to appear on the Ballot as such rather than as “Carmen Cruz Soto”. That’s why I asked, partly because I did remember 😛 and partly because the “Yulín” part is unusual enough that by Hispanic customs it’s a normal way to refer to someone the rest of whose name is from the “a thousand of these” box. Like, say, a certain dude who used to be known as Presidente Zapatero. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25879 "2018-09-25T14:56:50Z")
Crap, that didn’t last long-Right after he told the U.N. that he gets along so well with most them, he goes into detail about how he is going to stop all his new friends from screwing the U.S. over. edited to add: He just declared that the ICC is a criminal organization with no jurisdiction anywhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25880 "2018-09-25T15:18:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Right now he is giving his “What a GREAT President I am!!” speech to the U.N. > He does realize that they can’t vote for him, right? He told them that he has accomplished more than any other U.S. President in history, them told them about how great he gets along with most of them. I loved how he was laughed at by what seemed to be most of the Assembly. It’s like he did not even realize they were laughing AT him. [video here](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/watch-trump-boasts-accomplishments-entire-un-burst-laughter/) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25881 "2018-09-25T15:43:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Right now he is giving his “What a GREAT President I am!!” speech to the U.N. > He does realize that they can’t vote for him, right? He told them that he has accomplished more than any other U.S. President in history, them told them about how great he gets along with most of them. This surely can’t be as weird as John Bolton (literally) waving a copy the U.S. Constitution at other diplomats, telling them that it proves the United States is a sovereign country. I am sure the baffled diplomats could have pointed out that they were aware of that, but what good would it have done? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25882 "2018-09-25T15:50:29Z")
> [@Ionizer](#): > > I loved how he was laughed at by what seemed to be most of the Assembly. It’s like he did not even realize they were laughing AT him. [video here](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/watch-trump-boasts-accomplishments-entire-un-burst-laughter/) What a sad embarrassment to us all. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25883 "2018-09-25T16:08:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > This surely can’t be as weird as John Bolton (literally) waving a copy the U.S. Constitution at other diplomats, telling them that it proves the United States is a sovereign country. I am sure the baffled diplomats could have pointed out that they were aware of that, but what good would it have done? > [@](#): > > [AMBASSADOR BOLTON](https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/09/286163.htm): Well, thanks. I’m just delighted to be here. Everybody have a copy? I’ve got mine. It’s a little worn, but I still got it. > > I just wanted to take a second and talk about one of the themes in the President’s remarks tomorrow. And I have been around long enough to know that I’m not going to step on any of his lines, but he is going to talk and elaborate on his views on sovereignty. > > And I just wanted to explain that this is — why this is so important for Americans, because many people consider sovereignty a kind of abstract concept. It derives, obviously, from the word “sovereign,” meaning the monarch. But it’s one of the reasons I think America is exceptional, and that is we understand sovereignty not to be vested in the head of state; we understand it as the Framers said in the Constitution itself: “We the People.” We the people are sovereign in America. So that infringements on our sovereignty are not infringements on abstractions or infringements on the government, they’re an infringement on the people themselves. > > We express our sovereignty through the Constitution, through our political process. It’s why that’s so important. And it’s why we believe — and of course, I’m speaking in secular terms here — that the Constitution is the highest authority that we recognize. > > So in a number of different ways, the President is going to address this issue. And again, it’s the continuing theme of his — as Secretary Pompeo said, it was a theme in his last address to the General Assembly, it will be this year, and in a variety of other contexts that you’ll see. > > Thank you. Holy hell - only the best and brightest from the US. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/25884 "2018-09-25T16:11:32Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > “But he was better off than that Theban guy who messed with his nephew/brother-in-law—that guy was LOW. Many people are saying it!” > [admittedly a bit of a stretch] Who, Creon? Sorry, I don’t follow… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1293) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1295)