# 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:** 1317
**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:** [October 8, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26325 "2018-10-08T18:45:54Z")
Hope Hicks, Trump’s former squeeze communications director, has been hired as Fox’s PR chief. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26326 "2018-10-08T20:56:12Z")
Trump says we don’t have to worry about Trumpcare eliminating preexisting conditions, because China will pay for them. > **[Trump: China can pay for pre-existing-condition protections](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-china-can-pay-pre-existing-condition-protections-msna1151696)** > > So Trump thinks he'll get Mexico to pay for a border wall, and he'll get China to pay for protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions? ---
**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:** [October 8, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26327 "2018-10-08T21:08:20Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Trump says we don’t have to worry about Trumpcare eliminating preexisting conditions, because China will pay for them. > [Trump: China can pay for pre-existing-condition protections](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-china-can-pay-pre-existing-condition-protections?cid=sm_fb_maddow) Good Lord Almighty. He’s a raving blithering baboon. Worse, there are those who believe his crap. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26328 "2018-10-08T21:10:23Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Trump says we don’t have to worry about Trumpcare eliminating preexisting conditions, because China will pay for them. > [Trump: China can pay for pre-existing-condition protections](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-china-can-pay-pre-existing-condition-protections?cid=sm_fb_maddow) That guy is AWESOME when it comes to promising that other people will pay for something! How long till he’s belyaching onTwitter like a Jr. high kid about congress’ reluctance to fund his silly claim? ---
**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:** [October 8, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26329 "2018-10-08T21:16:29Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Hope Hicks, Trump’s former squeeze communications director, has been hired as Fox’s PR chief. Going from one sexual abuse hell hole to another. Victimhood complex. I’m referencing her “encounters” with Corey Lewandowski and Rob Porter. Probably run into them again around Faux. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26330 "2018-10-09T03:31:22Z")
Mentioned earlier, Micheal Lewis was on PBS tonight talking about his ["The Fifth Risk"](https://youtu.be/3RMvDwBiIU8?t=10)book. Oy - depressing stuff, some of the examples of administrative ex-laxery. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2018, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26331 "2018-10-09T04:27:49Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > He looked at me and said, “If you ain’t better than a [n-word], son, who are you better than?” Here’s an idea: how about you be better than the racists? I don’t mean that as snark at some racist shit. I mean it as in “if you issue is that you want to be better than others, then do it by being a better person.” Let’s redirect this natural tendency towards being “better” by actually being better. I mean, the thought even crosses my mind at times. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26332 "2018-10-09T08:56:42Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Mentioned earlier, Micheal Lewis was on PBS tonight talking about his ["The Fifth Risk"](https://youtu.be/3RMvDwBiIU8?t=10)book. > > Oy - depressing stuff, some of the examples of administrative ex-laxery. Ultimately, this is how presidents leave their imprints on a government and a country long after their out of office: through the bureaucracy, and through the competent, or less competent, policies and administration of the machinery that delivers services to the people. Toward the end of the 1800s, the trend was away from hiring buddies and toward competent civil servants who knew what they were doing. In New York, for instance, people began to see the relationship between public health administration and things like clean water to ensure clean water, and trained forensic investigators to enforce proper criminal justice. Republicans in recent years have had their own idea of whose properly qualified and who isn’t, and much of that has aligned with their ideology, but until now, they usually made a good faith effort to ensure some level of competence. Not anymore. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26333 "2018-10-09T15:37:46Z")
Another one bites the dust. [UN Ambassador Haley resigning; she gives no reason](https://start.att.net/news/read/article/the_associated_press-ap_sources_un_ambassador_haley_resigning-ap/category/news) > [@](#): > > It’s the latest shake-up in the turbulent Trump administration just weeks before the November midterm elections. Haley’s resignation was a closely guarded secret. Congressional Republicans involved in foreign policy matters and some key U.S. allies did not get advance word from Haley or the White House. > > No reason for the resignation was immediately provided. Haley, who is speculated to hold aspirations for higher office, said at the White House: “No I’m not running in 2020.” Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26334 "2018-10-09T16:17:36Z")
Seems Nikki Haley had made a habit of accepting free flights on private jets as gifts… ---
**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:** [October 9, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26335 "2018-10-09T16:19:48Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Here’s an idea: how about you be better than the racists? > > I don’t mean that as snark at some racist shit. I mean it as in “if you issue is that you want to be better than others, then do it by being a better person.” Let’s redirect this natural tendency towards being “better” by actually being better. > > I mean, the thought even crosses my mind at times. I did what I was supposed, the way it ought to be done. That guy there blew through a red at over 40. My car is totaled; his truck had a massive brush guard on it, so his damage was minimal. I am tired of being the “better” person and getting fucked over by assholes who think I am a wimp for not being an asshole. What should I do? Pursue a losing strategy because it makes me feel better? Losing clean is not an improvement over losing ugly, in the end. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26336 "2018-10-09T16:42:35Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Seems Nikki Haley had made a habit of accepting free flights on private jets as gifts… Cite? ---
**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:** [October 9, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26337 "2018-10-09T17:02:41Z")
Haley managed the impressive feat of escaping the admin with her dignity mostly intact and without being implicated in the Mueller investigation. So, I hand it to her for that. She’s still a piece of crap for enabling this administration, but she at least seems less odious than most of her coworkers. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26338 "2018-10-09T17:08:07Z")
The fact that the emphasis should rightly be placed on “seems” is an indicator of the potential danger she represents. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26339 "2018-10-09T17:17:32Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Seems Nikki Haley had made a habit of accepting free flights on private jets as gifts… > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Cite? The other shoe drops. [Nikki Haley’s resignation comes one day after an ethics watchdog requested an investigation into her acceptance of free flights on private jets](https://start.att.net/news/read/article/business_insider-nikki_haleys_resignation_comes_one_day_after_an_et-newscred2/category/news) > [@](#): > > ``` > United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley's abrupt resignation on Tuesday came one day after an ethics group requested the State Department's inspector general investigate her acceptance of seven free flights aboard private jets. > Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, listed the flights on her 2017 financial disclosure and asserted that each qualified for an exception based on her relationships with the trio of businessmen who provided them. > But the group suggested that Haley did not provide enough information to assert that exception. > > ``` > > United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley’s abrupt resignation on Tuesday came one day after an ethics watchdog group requested the State Department’s inspector general investigate her acceptance of seven free flights aboard private jets from a trio of South Carolina businessmen. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26340 "2018-10-09T17:27:07Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The other shoe drops. > [Nikki Haley’s resignation comes one day after an ethics watchdog requested an investigation into her acceptance of free flights on private jets](https://start.att.net/news/read/article/business_insider-nikki_haleys_resignation_comes_one_day_after_an_et-newscred2/category/news) That’s pretty minor grift for this admin. Maybe she was forced out for not being more imaginative and energetic in her corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26341 "2018-10-09T17:44:57Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Another one bites the dust. > [UN Ambassador Haley resigning; she gives no reason](https://start.att.net/news/read/article/the_associated_press-ap_sources_un_ambassador_haley_resigning-ap/category/news) > > Good riddance. [It’s a great day in South Carolina](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/12/28/144382939/in-s-c-whether-to-say-its-a-great-day-is-now-a-political-issue)! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26342 "2018-10-09T18:10:38Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > That’s pretty minor grift for this admin. Maybe she was forced out for not being more imaginative and energetic in her corruption. There are numerous possible reasons why she might be leaving. We should at least wait until the Trump administration announces theirs, so we can rule that one out. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26343 "2018-10-09T18:17:44Z")
i wonder if Nikki is expecting Jefferson Beauegard to become Attorney General, thus leaving an open Senate seat in SC. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26344 "2018-10-09T18:24:00Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > i wonder if Nikki is expecting Jefferson Beauegard to become Attorney General, thus leaving an open Senate seat in SC. You mean Lindsey Graham? Because Jefferson Beauregard Sessions IS the AG… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1316) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1318)