# 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:** 1329
**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:** [October 20, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26565 "2018-10-20T02:12:30Z")
What if the Republicans Win Everything Again? > **[Opinion | What if the Republicans Win Everything Again? (Published 2018)](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/sunday/midterm-elections-republican-party-trump-senate-house.html)** > > Total victory for the G.O.P. would mean Trump unleashed. > [@](#): > > … > If Republicans do manage to keep both chambers of Congress, it would cause a political shock. So far, much of the speculation has focused on what a Democratic House takeover might mean — attempts to rein in Trump’s executive actions, subpoenas, investigations, maybe even impeachment. But it’s important to understand that a Republican victory would also change Washington. > > It would be validation for Trump, who could then brag that he had defied the experts once again. It would mean he had outperformed Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman, all of whomsuffered drubbingsin the first midterm election of their presidency. It would embolden Trump to push even harder toward the America he wants — where corporate oversight is scant, climate change is ignored, voting rights are abridged, health care is a privilege, judicial independence is a fiction and the truth iswhatever he says it is. > … If you read this whole article…it’s out to the ledge. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26566 "2018-10-20T02:26:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I like to remember that most people didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. We just unfortunately have an archaic system that gives some people more votes than others and allows a minority of voters to elect a President. All the more reason for getting out the vote. The voting rate in the USA is low compared to most developed countries. If Americans wanted change, it would be easy enough to get it simply by going out and voting. > **[Turnout in U.S. has soared in recent elections but by some measures still...](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/01/turnout-in-u-s-has-soared-in-recent-elections-but-by-some-measures-still-trails-that-of-many-other-countries/)** > > When comparing turnout among the voting-age population in recent national elections in 50 countries, the U.S. ranks 31st. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26567 "2018-10-20T04:08:47Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > All the more reason for getting out the vote. The voting rate in the USA is low compared to most developed countries. If Americans wanted change, it would be easy enough to get it simply by going out and voting. And people need to remember if they don’t vote in 2018, they might not be able to vote by 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26568 "2018-10-20T04:09:34Z")
> [@Celidin](#): > > I too saw the article from Politico and got worried. But remembered again that Mueller’s office isn’t the one leaking this shit, it’s all coming from the side that wants you worried and despondent! Fuck those guys. > > Then I saw a Twitter thread from [Seth Abramson](https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1053329609670967297) that brought stuff into context for me. With that name, he’s sure to be Deep State! … I wonder. Does Trump [del]thinkbelieve[/del] somehow has something resembling a notion\* all those guys in yarmulkes down in Israel are the National Israeli Accounting Team? - The kind that’s got nothing to do with sewing. ---
**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 20, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26569 "2018-10-20T04:13:28Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Now that the Republicans and the Republican president have had the opportunity to steer the boat for a couple of years, the people of the USA have the opportunity to cast informed votes. Why would you think a vote in 2016 for Trump was an informed vote? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26570 "2018-10-20T15:10:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I like to remember that most people didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. We just unfortunately have an archaic system that gives some people more votes than others and allows a minority of voters to elect a President. I wish people wouldn’t harp on that tune. It might just discourage voters and keep them home. The GOP’s electoral advantage should be viewed just as a built-in handicap we must accept. If I played Go with you, I’d let you start with nine stones on the hoshi points. If we had a boxing match, I hope you’d tie one arm behind your back. Play with a professional golfer and you’d get to subtract 10 points from your score. It’s too bad the D’s can’t pick up an easy 4 electoral votes by splitting California and New York into two states each. I’m not sure how you split New York to get two blue states. Make Long Island with two boroughs an entire state? (Splitting the Big City across two states would seem unprecedented —even Istanbul, spanning two continents, is in a single Turkish province.) Squeak out victories in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia or theRust-belt states and it will be the R’s complaining about electoral college disadvantage. (Unfortunately those are the precise states where the GOP is imposing hideous voter suppression measures.) ---
**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 20, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26571 "2018-10-20T15:54:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > What if the Republicans Win Everything Again? > [https://nyti.ms/2R1TAPP](https://nyti.ms/2R1TAPP) > > If you read this whole article…it’s out to the ledge. Fuck the ledge. Why would I want to be a stain on the ground? If it gets worse, I would want my demise to amount to something. I do not want to go full **asahi** , but it could come to that. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26572 "2018-10-20T16:28:58Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Why would you think a vote in 2016 for Trump was an informed vote? That’s just it,. the 2016 was an uninformed vote. I can forgive the person who voted for trump because he thought that trump was going to personally give him his coal job back, make sure that he has affordable and accessible healthcare, and insure the same for his children. He was fooled, he was scammed, he may have even been conned. But he can learn, maybe, and cast a more informed vote in 2018 and 2020. I seriously doubt that the majority of trump voters will be swayed from trump’s conman rhetoric, but we may manage to pick off a few on the fringe. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26573 "2018-10-20T16:30:12Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Fuck the ledge. Why would I want to be a stain on the ground? If it gets worse, I would want my demise to amount to something. I do not want to go full **asahi** , but it could come to that. The trick is to aim for an expensive looking car. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26574 "2018-10-20T16:40:49Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Fuck the ledge. Why would I want to be a stain on the ground? If it gets worse, I would want my demise to amount to something. I do not want to go full **asahi** , but it could come to that. Indeed, I can name at least one person, Brian Kemp, who is exactly the kind of person the “second amendment solutions” crowd would be talking about if they were anything other than a bunch of craven right-wing lunatic shitheads. Hi, **Bone**. ---
**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 20, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26575 "2018-10-20T16:43:32Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > …but we may manage to pick off a few on the fringe. The burned\* soy bean farmers in southern North Dakota are the first to come to mind. If they don’t vote Heitkamp after the shit deal they were dealt, they can rot along with their crops. \*ok, no Spinal Tappy instant conflagration or self-immolation stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26576 "2018-10-20T22:47:40Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > …This is way IMHO, but Cohen almost seems like he could have been a decent guy, but poor lawyer. Swept up in trumps corruption, and now he wants to at least protect his family, and of course, knock some time off his sentence to enjoy a few years. Could the man actually have a conscience? No idea. No links or cites, but something has planted that idea in me. Well, maybe. He strikes me as a bit thug-like, but maybe that’s a regional thing. But Weisselberg definitely has the nitty-gritty goods on Trump Organization doings. I continue to have high hopes for state charges. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26577 "2018-10-20T23:13:38Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Well, maybe. He strikes me as a bit thug-like, but maybe that’s a regional thing. > > But Weisselberg definitely has the nitty-gritty goods on Trump Organization doings. I continue to have high hopes for state charges. Yeah, I tend to agree about Cohen. But maybe… More likely is he had a come to Jesus moment when the FBI came a knockin. Can state charges do anything against a sitting president? Seems like he may be bullet prof if the senate won’t impeach. Quite crazy. The founding fathers never thought they had to add a codicil about the president being a complete and total crook. Sort of like saying “Hitting your thumb with a hammer is likely to hurt”. But here we are with Mitch, Ryan and the gang trying to get as much as they can before the shit hits the fan. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26578 "2018-10-20T23:25:24Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Yeah, I tend to agree about Cohen. But maybe… > More likely is he had a come to Jesus moment when the FBI came a knockin. > > Can state charges do anything against a sitting president? Seems like he may be bullet prof if the senate won’t impeach. Quite crazy. The founding fathers never thought they had to add a codicil about the president being a complete and total crook. Sort of like saying “Hitting your thumb with a hammer is likely to hurt”. > > But here we are with Mitch, Ryan and the gang trying to get as much as they can before the shit hits the fan. Yeah, that’s the problem the FF never foresaw: a corrupt Congress, ignoring a President’s high crimes and misdemeanors for their own personal profit. As for what state charges could do: my impression is that our best hope is that the prospect of Don, Jr. and Ivanka being charged could be used to pressure Donnie to resign. ‘You can keep what you’ve grifted if you will let the nation move on with a President who is unhampered by this multitude of potential criminal and civil vulnerabilities.’ Something like that. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26579 "2018-10-20T23:37:23Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yeah, that’s the problem the FF never foresaw: a corrupt Congress, ignoring a President’s high crimes and misdemeanors for their own personal profit. > > As for what state charges could do: my impression is that our best hope is that the prospect of Don, Jr. and Ivanka being charged could be used to pressure Donnie to resign. ‘You can keep what you’ve grifted if you will let the nation move on with a President who is unhampered by this multitude of potential criminal and civil vulnerabilities.’ Something like that. And that is ultimately what it may come down to. The president may manage to find himself immune to any form of prosecution or even civil suit, but even Kavanaugh is going to have difficulties justifying why his family should enjoy the same immunity. Then, I guess it matters if he cares. He can send Jr and Eric to jail, along with Ivanka and her husband, and still have Tiffany and Baron, who, as far as have heard, have not done anything that would receive attention from the law. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26580 "2018-10-21T14:57:05Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yeah, that’s the problem the FF never foresaw: a corrupt Congress, ignoring a President’s high crimes and misdemeanors for their own personal profit. I think Jefferson’s “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” was meant to cover that. Not that I’m advocating direct action yet. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26581 "2018-10-21T18:55:22Z")
Of all the disturbing things we have learned about thump every day and sometimes several times a day, this might be THE most disturbing of all. _What?_ you ask, _Have we finally reached bottom?_ You tell me. [**‘It doesn’t matter.’ ‘We’ll see.’ The Trump Doctrine is sounding more fatalistic every day.**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/it-doesnt-matter-well-see-the-trump-doctrine-is-sounding-more-fatalistic-every-day/2018/10/18/218d3b8a-d14d-11e8-83d6-291fcead2ab1_story.html?utm_term=.613b693e1812) My bold. > [@](#): > > It was Feb. 27, 2004, and Donald Trump was on “Larry King Live” to talk about his new hit TV show “The Apprentice.” Eight episodes had already aired — including one titled “Ethics Shmethics” — and the real estate mogul seemed pleased to gab with King about his return to relevance. Near the end of the segment, a caller from Burlington, N.J., asked Trump how he handles stress. > > “\*\*I try and tell myself it doesn’t matter,” \*\*Trump replied. “ **Nothing matters.** If you tell yourself it doesn’t matter — like you do shows, you do this, you do that, and then you have earthquakes in India where 400,000 people get killed. **Honestly, it doesn’t matter.”** > > Sunday night, Trump was again on television, this time as president of the United States, and not for a softball chat with a showbiz pal. Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” pressed Trump about his public mockery of Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault. > > \*\*“It doesn’t matter,” \*\*Trump said eventually. “We won.” > > It doesn’t matter. Nothing really matters. Is this, finally, the Trump Doctrine? > … > > “We’ll see what happens with Iran,” Trump said Sept. 5. “Whether they want to talk or not, that’s up to them, not up to me. I will always be available, but **it doesn’t matter** one way or the other.” > > This philosophy springs from the privilege that’s defined his life, theorizes Tim O’Brien, author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.” The president was born into wealth, inherited business and opportunity, and kept graduating to higher stations despite financial, personal and political blunders. > > “He profoundly believes nothing matters because he usually isn’t the victim of his own mistakes,” O’Brien says. (The White House did not reply to a request for comment.) > … > > He was talking about a summit with North Korea, but he could’ve been talking about his own life. “If it doesn’t [work out], that’s okay too,” he went on to say. “Whatever it is, it is.” > … > > \*\*“It doesn’t matter,” \*\*Trump said in January 2016, when asked about his flip-flopping political views. > > **“It doesn’t matter,”** a White House aide said in May about John McCain and his opposition to Trump’s nominee for CIA director. “He’s dying anyway.” > > \*\*“It doesn’t matter,” \*\*Trump said two separate times during his Sept. 20 rally in Las Vegas, where he also said “let’s see what happens” twice. > > But of course there is one thing that does matter. He implied it on “60 Minutes,” and he pronounced it five weeks before his election, at a rally in Wisconsin. > > **“The only thing that matters,” he said then, “is to win.”** This is why he is the Pubbies dream [del]puppet[/del] candidate. Because he doesn’t give a fuck about anything except the next win. Content, context, long-range thinking, ultimate goals, principles, values, consistency-- none of those things matter. Therefore he can be used for any purpose the Pubs want, because he has no interest in where the Ship of State is sailing. Nothing matters. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26582 "2018-10-21T19:28:42Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Of all the disturbing things we have learned about thump every day and sometimes several times a day, this might be THE most disturbing of all. _What?_ you ask, _Have we finally reached bottom?_ You tell me. > > [**‘It doesn’t matter.’ ‘We’ll see.’ The Trump Doctrine is sounding more fatalistic every day.**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/it-doesnt-matter-well-see-the-trump-doctrine-is-sounding-more-fatalistic-every-day/2018/10/18/218d3b8a-d14d-11e8-83d6-291fcead2ab1_story.html?utm_term=.613b693e1812) > > My bold. > > This is why he is the Pubbies dream [del]puppet[/del] candidate. Because he doesn’t give a fuck about anything except the next win. Content, context, long-range thinking, ultimate goals, principles, values, consistency-- none of those things matter. Therefore he can be used for any purpose the Pubs want, because he has no interest in where the Ship of State is sailing. Nothing matters. [It is contagious among his followers.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21279119#post21279119) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26583 "2018-10-21T20:40:29Z")
[Trump says he’s working on another tax cut, but _this_ time it’ll be for the middle class](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/21/18005468/trump-tax-cut-middle-class-2-0): > [@](#): > > Speaking with reporters in Nevada on Saturday, Trump said he was working on a “very major tax cut for middle-income people.” He said the White House and Congressional leaders are “studying very deeply, round the clock” to create another tax cut “not for business at all” that will be announced on November 1 or sooner. Axios was first to flag the remarks. > > It’s not at all clear what Trump is talking about. House Republicans last month quietly passed a tax bill that would extend tax cuts for individuals that under last year’s legislation are set to expire in 2025. The Senate hasn’t expressed an interest in taking it up, and the president seemed to be alluding to some new package that they’re still hammering out the details on, not the bill the House GOP already passed, or the broader package they rolled out in September. “What worked last time? Let’s just say we’ll do more of that!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26584 "2018-10-21T21:00:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > \Nothing matters. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it. When you understand that the current Republican credo is that _the end **always** justifies the means_, everything they do makes sense. It’s not honorable, it’s not ethical, it’s not decent. It’s the opposite of all those things. But their only defining goal is to obtain the result they want. As Steve Bannon recently put it in an interview with Michael Moore when asked why Republicans keep “winning” against Dems, Bannon said something like, “We’re willing to take head shots. You guys have pillow fights.” He’s right. I don’t believe the way forward for Dems/liberals/progressives is to engage in head shots. If we sacrifice our own decency as they have, we will accomplish nothing. But it’s good to be aware of where they’re coming from and why there is no bottom in their race to the bottom. There is quite literally nothing they won’t sanction in their quest for absolute power. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1328) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1330)