# 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:** 1337
**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 29, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26725 "2018-10-29T04:08:44Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > There were lots of Despair-style memes about 15 years ago when those were really popular about D&D. Anyway, one had a picture of George W Bush with the caption “INT: Not everyone uses Charisma as a dump stat.” > > I can’t even figure out how to make fun of Trump in such a pithy way. He’s like the character you had to roll for stats on and your highest roll was a 8. > [@Gorsnak](#): > > Nah, he rolled one 18. He just put it in Bluster, which no one else even realized was a character stat. Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! I’m totally going to post this exchange elsewhere! Is his character a Chaotic Evil Blowhard? Are his tiny hands the source of a buff or a debuff? ---
**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 29, 2018, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26726 "2018-10-29T09:10:48Z")
The Secret Service detail probably gives a +8 to his AC… ---
**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 29, 2018, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26727 "2018-10-29T09:13:53Z")
…of course, I would imagine that the taco bowls and KFC give him a -3 to Save against hyperlipidemia. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26728 "2018-10-29T11:25:44Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Is his character a Chaotic Evil Blowhard? Chaotic Greedy. ---
**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 29, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26729 "2018-10-29T12:36:40Z")
One more of the many things being dismantled in the background while the organ-grinder’s puppet dances out front and keeps everyone distracted. [**Trump Shut Programs to Counter Violent Extremism**](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/trump-shut-countering-violent-extremism-program/574237/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlantic+%28The+Atlantic+-+Master+Feed%29) > [@](#): > > Set aside the question of whether President Donald Trump’s rhetorical flirtations with white nationalism enabled Saturday’s mass shooting in Pittsburgh. What’s undeniable is that his administration has hobbled the infrastructure designed to prevent such murders. > > In the waning days of Barack Obama’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security awarded a set of grants to organizations working to counter violent extremism, including among white supremacists. One of the grantees was Life After Hate, which The Hill has called “one of the only programs in the U.S. devoted to helping people leave neo-Nazi and other white supremacy groups.” Another grant went to researchers at the University of North Carolina who were helping young people develop media campaigns aimed at preventing their peers from embracing white supremacy and other violent ideologies. **But soon after Trump took office, his administration canceled both of these grants. In its first budget, it requested no funding for any grants in this field.** > > It’s part of a pattern of neglect. The grants were administered by the Office of Community Partnerships, which works intimately with local governments and community organizations to prevent jihadist and white-nationalist radicalization. In Obama’s last year, according to the former director, George Selim, the office boasted 16 full-time employees, roughly 25 contractors, and a budget of more than $21 million. The Trump administration has renamed it the Office of Terrorism Prevention, and cut its staff to eight full-time employees and its budget to less than $3 million. > > … Thump is keeping the cameras on him every day, distracting everyone while programs in the background are being quietly neglected and killed or allowed to die. Not by thump alone, as he’s too stupid. Since this was done early on, I see Steve Bannon’s fingerprints all over it. ---
**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 29, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26730 "2018-10-29T13:45:56Z")
[Lookie here, Border Security Theatre!](https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/10/28/jersey-barriers-troops-headed-to-border/) Fun fact: These soldiers will not have a law enforcement role. Fun fact: These soldiers do not have operating rules set yet. Fun question: What the fuck are they being sent to the border for when the dumb fucks running the show don’t know what they want them to do there? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26731 "2018-10-29T14:04:54Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > [Lookie here, Border Security Theatre!](https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/10/28/jersey-barriers-troops-headed-to-border/) > > Fun fact: These soldiers will not have a law enforcement role. > Fun fact: These soldiers do not have operating rules set yet. > > Fun question: What the fuck are they being sent to the border for when the dumb fucks running the show don’t know what they want them to do there? So we’re just supposed to sit idly by while a horde of bad hombres penetrates our nation’s perianal frontier? Word is, now they have catapults, AT-AT walkers and a guy playing a flamethrower guitar! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26732 "2018-10-29T14:26:47Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > [Lookie here, Border Security Theatre!](https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/10/28/jersey-barriers-troops-headed-to-border/) > > Fun fact: These soldiers will not have a law enforcement role. > Fun fact: These soldiers do not have operating rules set yet. > > Fun question: What the fuck are they being sent to the border for when the dumb fucks running the show don’t know what they want them to do there? Reads like they are sending active duty troops to set up some Jersey Barriers. Trumps finally erecting (a three foot) wall. ---
**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 29, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26733 "2018-10-29T15:37:57Z")
This reads like some kind of joke. But the joke is on us. [**9 hours of ‘Executive Time’: Trump’s unstructured days**](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBP30pL?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare) > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump had about three times as much free time planned for last Tuesday as work time, according to his private schedule. The president was slated for more than nine hours of “Executive Time,” a euphemism for the unstructured time Trump spends tweeting, phoning friends and watching television. Official meetings, policy briefings and public appearances — traditionally the daily work of being president — consumed just over three hours of his day. > > The president was slated to spend 30 minutes on the phone with CEOs and make brief remarks at a state leadership conference. He was briefed by senior military leaders in the evening and joined them for dinner. Apart from an 11:30 a.m. meeting with White House chief of staff John Kelly — his first commitment of the day — the rest of his day consisted of open time, some in blocks as long as 2 hours and 45 minutes. > … > > As a freewheeling president in one of the world’s most regimented jobs, Trump appears to be redefining the nature of the role. Past presidents were disciplined in their scheduled time, squired from meeting to meeting, event to event, from the moment they arrived in the Oval Office until they headed up to the residence at night. > > Trump, by contrast, enjoys huge blocks of unscheduled time in which he can do as he pleases. > … > > President Obama, by contrast, was generally booked throughout the day, according to Mona Sutphen, who served as his deputy chief of staff for policy from 2009 to 2011. “I’d say it was significantly, fundamentally a different pace of intensity of workload,” Sutphen said. Her successor, Nancy-Ann DeParle, recalled schedules packed with policy meetings — on average, six to seven hours per day, she said. > … ---
**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:** [October 29, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26734 "2018-10-29T16:11:51Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > This reads like some kind of joke. But the joke is on us. > > [**9 hours of ‘Executive Time’: Trump’s unstructured days**](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBP30pL?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare) I kind of have two minds about this. Yeah, he’s clearly a lazy prick, but OTOH I can’t help thinking the more time he spends vegging out in front of the TV, the less time he is spending fucking up the nation. Not that he isn’t still fucking up the nation in myriad ways, understand… ---
**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 29, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26735 "2018-10-29T16:22:28Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I kind of have two minds about this. Yeah, he’s clearly a lazy prick, but OTOH I can’t help thinking the more time he spends vegging out in front of the TV, the less time he is spending fucking up the nation. > > Not that he isn’t still fucking up the nation in myriad ways, understand… No, you’re right. I thought that, too. If he’s doing this much damage working a couple of hours a day, how much more could he do if he really dug in. The mind recoils from such a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26736 "2018-10-29T16:28:14Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I kind of have two minds about this. Yeah, he’s clearly a lazy prick, but OTOH I can’t help thinking the more time he spends vegging out in front of the TV, the less time he is spending fucking up the nation. > > Not that he isn’t still fucking up the nation in myriad ways, understand… I’d go a little the other way. Previous presidents have too much structure, too much to do. Someone always wants something. No wonder they all turn grey. The president shouldn’t just be another tool of government, a pawn to be moved around from one meeting to the next. The president should be allowed some time to do “big picture” stuff. To just sit and think. In this particular case, however, the president doesn’t sit and think. He just sits. ---
**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 29, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26737 "2018-10-29T16:40:26Z")
Trump, naturally wrong, claims before his suckers that the NY stock exchange opened for business the day after the Sept. 11 attacks. Trump’s suckers, naturally, accept bullshit. > **[Analysis | No, President Trump, the NYSE did not open the day after the Sept....](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/28/no-president-trump-nyse-did-not-open-day-after-sept-attacks/?utm_term=.61fdd51c9d37)** > > The president justified holding a rally after the Pittsburgh synagogue attack by claiming the NYSE opened the next day. Has no one at the White House heard of Google? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26738 "2018-10-29T17:19:48Z")
Chewing over the big picture with just a trusted old friend could very well indeed reap the rewards of reinforcing a certain clarity of purpose. Insert “passing by the office of the guy with his feet up on the desk” joke here. But Donald has never give us even the slightest reason to believe that he ever engages in introspection or anything more complicated than who might have tweeted insultingly at him within the past 24 hours. President Moron indeed. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26739 "2018-10-29T17:52:13Z")
Trump has the ability to do maximum damage with minimal effort. He can just say on a whim “let’s open up more public land to fracking” and his minions scurry off to work out the details, while he resumes watching Fox & Friends. ---
**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 29, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26740 "2018-10-29T18:05:35Z")
Aye; thankfully, most of his minions are just like Minions, tho. Imagine if he could actually find good help! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26741 "2018-10-29T18:08:34Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Trump, naturally wrong, claims before his suckers that the NY stock exchange opened for business the day after the Sept. 11 attacks. Trump’s suckers, naturally, accept bullshit. > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/28/no-president-trump-nyse-did-not-open-day-after-sept-attacks/?utm\_term=.61fdd51c9d37](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/28/no-president-trump-nyse-did-not-open-day-after-sept-attacks/?utm_term=.61fdd51c9d37) No surprise there. Trump also “remembers” Muslims in NJ cheering as the towers fell. His memory of 9/11 is as full of holes as Swiss cheese. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26742 "2018-10-29T18:09:53Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I kind of have two minds about this. Yeah, he’s clearly a lazy prick, but OTOH I can’t help thinking the more time he spends vegging out in front of the TV, the less time he is spending fucking up the nation. > > Not that he isn’t still fucking up the nation in myriad ways, understand… He has people to do that - the fucking up bit. ---
**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 29, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26743 "2018-10-29T18:13:42Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Not only would this cut down on attendance at religious services, but the services themselves might end if congregations had to pay for armed guards. That’s not an inexpensive proposition. And many houses of worship are hanging on financially by just a thread, as it is. All true in the practical sense but I was thinking even if the guards were there, they would have to be on the alert all the time, or wind up like [these two](https://youtu.be/GJoM7V54T-c?t=32). I have been in volunteer situations where I am the duty sober, so to speak – making sure those who are not aren’t injuring themselves too badly. It’s nothing like being ready to kill an assailant but it s still quite wearing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26744 "2018-10-29T21:58:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Was it some official Republican Party announcement that pointed out the Star of David on the truck? Truck? Did the nazi who believes Trump’s lies drive around in a tastemobile too, same as the fanboy who tried to assassinate several people because of Trump’s lies? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1336) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1338)