# 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:** 1302
**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 28, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26025 "2018-09-28T13:17:41Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > …It is ironic, really: we gained our freedom from an oppressive monarchy which, while still a monarchy, seems to have developed into a more democratic country relative to us. I’ve read that when socialism came in after Churchill, the government began nationalizing willy-nilly. Medical care is great nationalized, people have affordable health care. But taking over mining, the steel industry, transportation is too far. Government can put limits on things like railways, but taking away income is too far. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26026 "2018-09-28T13:30:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Trump isn’t the same. He was just a loud-mouthed asshole with no real power. The GOP made him President. True. Before he was just a loud mouthed, lying, thieving asshole. Now he is a loud mouthed, lying, thieving asshole and traitor with power. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26027 "2018-09-28T13:31:39Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > John Fugelsang: > > The POTUS who hired a felon lawyer, a felon campaign chair, a felon foreign policy adviser, a felon deputy campaign manager, a felon natsec adviser, a two time alleged wife beater staff secretary, the most corrupt EPA boss ever, and Omarosa, assures you Brett Kavanaugh is spectacular. > > \*\* > Kavanaugh certainly blew up in **spectacular** fashion yesterday. and will likely be appointed ANYWAY. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26028 "2018-09-28T14:06:02Z")
Yesterday’s hearings were significant culturally and emotionally; but politically…eh. And that’s what’s so depressing about the times we live in. We’re so partisan that nothing changes: you can look at the ® and (D) after everyone’s name and predict the outcome precisely. Debate means nothing. Kavanaugh will get the committee endorsement by 11-10, and pass the full Senate 51-49. Which makes moments like McCain’s thumbs-down on Obamacare repeal so extraordinary, because it was as if a unicorn had walked onto the Senate floor. I’d love to proven wrong this time. ---
**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 28, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26029 "2018-09-28T15:01:32Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > If you overlook their libel and government secrets laws, and their cameras on every corner. In England, cameras overlook _you_. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26030 "2018-09-28T17:12:45Z")
Documents within the administration [say](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-sees-a-7-degree-rise-in-global-temperatures-by-2100/2018/09/27/b9c6fada-bb45-11e8-bdc0-90f81cc58c5d_story.html) that current policies will probably lead to a 7°F increase in global temperatures (i.e., AGW is not considered a hoax) in the next 80 years, but trying to do anything to mitigate future catastrophe is just too damn difficult and costly, so we should make a profit now. More or less. This aligns perfectly with the tax cut strategy. If we fail to eliminate this rat-wing threat, our grandchildren will rightly revile us. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26031 "2018-09-28T19:06:43Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Come on, you can do better than that. In the US, a libel case can be filed without much difficulty, and even if the plaintiff is going to lose, they can still inconvenience the defendant (or perhaps even ruin the defendant if the plaintiff has deep pockets); the difference is vanishing. The US is very protective of state secrets – look at the peril faced by Snowden and Assange, who would probably be dead without the kind of protection they have. And cameras on every corner? Come on, have you no clue what the US is like? Try finding a place off camera without going to the vacant hills of central Wyoming. Funny, I don’t see cameras on every corner. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26032 "2018-09-28T19:13:14Z")
You never _see_ them. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26033 "2018-09-28T21:26:42Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Funny, I don’t see cameras on every corner. You are obviously not watching the movies and TV shows - there is almost always a camera to show where someone was or wasn’t. And there really are more and more everywhere - people’s Ring doorbells are monitoring neighborhoods. Hell, my neighbor even appears to have a camera looking out an upstairs window. He and his wife are new, and I’m beginning to suspect they are spies or something. ---
**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 28, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26034 "2018-09-28T21:44:07Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > You are obviously not watching the movies and TV shows - there is almost always a camera to show where someone was or wasn’t. > > And there really are more and more everywhere - people’s Ring doorbells are monitoring neighborhoods. Hell, my neighbor even appears to have a camera looking out an upstairs window. He and his wife are new, and I’m beginning to suspect they are spies or something. Are they “[Americans](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/)”? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26035 "2018-09-28T22:10:02Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > No. We started out as a sort of plutoligarchy, and that system has been in place with varying degrees of egalitaste for close on to a quarter millennium. We are not really even a democratic republic – our elections are basically sporting events that distract the public so that we mostly fail to notice the power-people-pick-pockets as largely facile issues dominate the news over various political tide shifts. > > It is ironic, really: we gained our freedom from an oppressive monarchy which, while still a monarchy, seems to have developed into a more democratic country relative to us. [The USA isn’t even in the top 20 when it comes to democracy. It is not a full democracy. It is a flawed democracy.](https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Democracy_Index_2017.pdf) ---
**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:** [September 29, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26036 "2018-09-29T00:05:10Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [The USA isn’t even in the top 20 when it comes to democracy. It is not a full democracy. It is a flawed democracy.](https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Democracy_Index_2017.pdf) Woo-hoo! Canada rules! Rules very democratically and with the consensus of the governed, to be sure, but nonetheless! ---
**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 29, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26037 "2018-09-29T00:06:34Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > …He and his wife are new, and I’m beginning to suspect they are spies or something. Sleepers! There is often video of crimes. “Here is Carnivorousplant walking up to the liquor store that he tried to rob, but had forgotten to bring a gun.” ---
**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:** [September 29, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26038 "2018-09-29T00:13:48Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [The USA isn’t even in the top 20 when it comes to democracy. It is not a full democracy. It is a flawed democracy.](https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Democracy_Index_2017.pdf) Thanks. Very interesting link. I’m wondering how they determined South Korea is more of a democracy than the United States, though. ---
**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 29, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26039 "2018-09-29T00:29:40Z")
Hell, if voting could really change anything, they wouldn’t let us do it. ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26040 "2018-09-29T02:23:56Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > People call me out for being pessimistic but they don’t understand why. The ‘why’ is that we’re just a stupid fucking country. Americans don’t know shit about history, geography, politics, economics. It hurts to write this, but it’s the truth. We don’t have a real democracy; it’s a half-baked, half-ass democracy. It’s a fake democracy. We think we have a democracy, but we really haven’t had one in a while, not necessarily because the Constitution changed, but because we changed. And the Bernistas are just as fucking stupid as the Trumpists. We’re just thicker than pig shit, and we can’t save ourselves from ourselves. Yep. Trump is the symptom, not the disease. And the disease is that Americans are just plain fucking stupid. Even if Trump were removed from the equation, the basic problem still remains. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26041 "2018-09-29T02:50:56Z")
This could be interesting. > **[Judge Says Democratic Lawmakers Can Sue Trump On Emoluments](https://www.npr.org/2018/09/28/652820065/judge-says-democratic-lawmakers-can-sue-trump-on-emoluments)** > > About 200 Democrats contend Trump's Washington, D.C., hotel is violating the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause. Now a federal judge will let them make the argument in court. > [@](#): > > About 200 Democrats in the House and Senate have won a judge’s approval to go ahead with their anti-corruption lawsuit against President Trump. > > U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, in Washington, D.C., said the lawmakers have standing to sue Trump. They allege he violates the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, as his hotels and other establishments around the world profit from spending and favors by foreign governments. > > Justice Department lawyers, representing Trump, contended that only Congress, not its members acting individually, could deal with the emoluments clause. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2018, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26042 "2018-09-29T05:50:38Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > John Fugelsang: > > The POTUS who hired a felon lawyer, a felon campaign chair, a felon foreign policy adviser, a felon deputy campaign manager, a felon natsec adviser, a two time alleged wife beater staff secretary, the most corrupt EPA boss ever, and Omarosa, assures you Brett Kavanaugh is spectacular. If those are the Best People he’s hiring, I wonder what the rejects look like. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26043 "2018-09-29T06:59:47Z")
Colbert, who is from SC, not satisfied with the progress of hurricane relief from the ongoing impact of Florence, is putting out a book to help fund relief. “[Whose Boat is this Boat?](https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/CultureShock/archives/2018/09/28/colbert-uses-trumps-words-in-a-new-book-whose-boat-is-this-boat-with-proceeds-going-to-storm-relief)” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26044 "2018-09-29T07:37:04Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I’ve read that when socialism came in after Churchill, the government began nationalizing willy-nilly. Medical care is great nationalized, people have affordable health care. But taking over mining, the steel industry, transportation is too far. Government can put limits on things like railways, but taking away income is too far. I dare you to tell someone from the UK or Germany that private rail is better than public rail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1301) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1303)