# 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:** 1345
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26885 "2018-11-05T22:09:51Z")
Quick lesson: There are three things to remember about Government contracting: Commitments, Obligations, and Disbursements. Commitments are the estimated costs pre-contract or during negotiations; it is usually higher than the cost, but gives one a ceiling. Obligations (what we are talking here) means there is a contract and the money has been made available to honor that contract of an official funding document. Disbursement is actually paying out the money once the service has been completed and the bill paid (maybe everybody already knew this, but thought it worht mentioning). It was also a Firm-Fixed Price contract, which means the US Government told the Cairo folks what they wanted and the Hotel said "we need $95,000 to do what you want) and the US contracted for that amount exactly. If the hotel had higher costs, then they ate it. What we don’t have is the Statement of Work, or Request for Proposal; in other words, we don’t know what the hotel was asked to do. Maybe they had to shut off access to parts of the hotel or dining areas that cost them money, or close sections for Security reasons that cost them money; we simply don’t know. And without that knowledge, we can’t say if this was a farcial expense or not. End of line. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26886 "2018-11-05T22:23:33Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Sometimes I think Trump sprinkles these sorts of inconsequential lies into his speeches as test cases just to see how far he can go and still have people believe him. In the Oprah case, it seems likely to me that Loser Donald _believes_ what he’s saying, out of a combination of narcissism and dementia; 1. I, Donald Trump, was on Oprah awhile back 2. I was the most important guest on the show, because I’m Donald Trump 3. I, Donald Trump, heard on TV that Oprah’s show ended a little while later 4. I must’ve been on one of the very last episodes, because I’m the most important guest she’s ever had, because I’m Donald Trump 5. People aren’t talking about my big beautiful appearance on Oprah as bigly as they should be, considering that it should have had tremendous ratings, because I’m Donald Trump 6. Therefore Oprah must have burned the tapes because she is a hater who is jealous of me, Donald Trump ---
**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:** [November 5, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26887 "2018-11-05T22:47:08Z")
**Smapti** , you left stupidity out of that combination. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26888 "2018-11-06T00:38:03Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > **Smapti** , you left stupidity out of that combination. “Stupid” — or the appropriate variant thereof — should always be assumed whenever CFSG’s name crops up. Specifying it separately may get one in trouble with the Department of Redundancy Department. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26889 "2018-11-06T01:14:49Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Trump spent 130k for a night - once. More like 20 minutes. That includes the dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26890 "2018-11-06T01:22:39Z")
Your guess is as good as anybody’s on [this one;](https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1059539993427873793) > [@](#): > > Trump on his time in Ohio as a young business guy: “I won’t tell you…but I on occasion would be known to sneak into Kentucky, because I liked Kentucky. I like Kentucky for all the wrong reasons, but I like Kentucky. I like 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:** [November 6, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26891 "2018-11-06T01:27:55Z")
**Asahi** , this is for you. [Paul Krugman of the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/opinion/midterms-trump-republicans-autocracy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss): > [@](#): > > **Last Exit Off the Road to Autocracy** > > Whatever happens in the midterms, the aftermath will be ugly. But the elections are nonetheless a fork in the road. If we take one path, it will offer at least a chance for political redemption, for recovering America’s democratic values. If we take the other, we’ll be on the road to autocracy, with no obvious way to get off. > > It’s a near-certainty that Democrats will receive more votes than Republicans, with polling suggesting a margin in votes cast for the House of Representatives of seven or more percentage points — which would make it the biggest landslide of modern times. However, gerrymandering and other factors have severely tilted the playing field, so that even this might not be enough to bring control of the chamber. > > And even if Democrats do climb that tilted slope, anyone expecting Republicans to accept the result with good grace hasn’t been paying attention. Remember, Donald Trump claimed — falsely, of course — that millions of immigrants voted illegally in an election he won. Imagine what he’ll say if he loses, and what his supporters will do in response. And if and when a Democratic House tries to exercise its powers, you can be sure it will be met with defiance, never mind what the Constitution says. > > But ugly as the scene will be if Democrats win, it will be far worse if they lose. **In fact, it’s not hyperbole to say that if the G.O.P. holds the line on Tuesday, it may be the last even halfway fair elections we’ll ever have.** > … My bold. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26892 "2018-11-06T01:27:56Z")
Something to do with the age of consent? A favourite brothel near the state line? Bit of both? ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26893 "2018-11-06T01:29:41Z")
Um, that’s in regards to der Obergropenfuhrer’s fondness for Kentucky, not Paul Krugman’s column in which he finally figures out what’s going on. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26894 "2018-11-06T01:35:20Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > **Asahi** , this is for you. > > [Paul Krugman of the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/opinion/midterms-trump-republicans-autocracy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss):My bold. The thing is, the fight is not over even if the Dems take the House. In fact, it could make Trump stronger in some ways. What I’ll be looking at as a barometer of this election cycle isn’t just the mid-term federal elections, but also the state and local elections. Fer chrissake, people, please, for the love of God, get out there, take your friends and family to the polls with you, and stoke them up to vote down ballot -and I mean, like, way down to the state and local level. This is where the neo-fascists and neo-confederates have been kicking our asses the last 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26895 "2018-11-06T01:56:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > 1. Therefore Oprah must have burned the tapes because she is a hater who is jealous of me, Donald Trump If Oprah wants to prove this isn’t true all she has to do is produce the tapes. 😉 ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26896 "2018-11-06T02:03:01Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Um, that’s in regards to der Obergropenfuhrer’s fondness for Kentucky, not Paul Krugman’s column in which he finally figures out what’s going on. “Finally”? Oops, you just gave away the fact that you don’t read him regularly. That’s okay. He \*does \*use a lot of big words. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26897 "2018-11-06T02:39:41Z")
I wasn’t exactly hiding it and big words don’t scare me. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26898 "2018-11-06T03:04:55Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > If Oprah wants to prove this isn’t true all she has to do is produce the tapes. 😉 With contemporary video manipulation software, it just might be possible for someone to convincingly gin them up. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26899 "2018-11-06T03:24:28Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Something to do with the age of consent? A favourite brothel near the state line? Bit of both? I think you may be on to it. My first thought was something to do with bourbon, but since Trump doesn’t drink, that’s probably not it. That would seem to leave “sex” as the wink-wink reason you’d cross state lines. Strangely, he was in Cleveland when he made the remark. Cleveland rocks, but it’s not all that close to Kentucky. Perhaps Trump thought he was in Cincinnati. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26900 "2018-11-06T03:36:35Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Does Semiramis Int’l Cairo have a guest laundromat? You know, like, to put money into? Oh, that’s it! At 20$/sock plus 10$ per folded pair plus urgent rates, do full laundry for a couple of guests and yeah. That’s per sock, not per pair of socks. And if the problem was that someone negotiated badly, well, that someone still needs smacking. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26901 "2018-11-06T06:37:05Z")
I can’t believe Trump didn’t stiff the Hotel. SAD Loser ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26902 "2018-11-06T06:45:04Z")
Hey, be fair. The hotel’s expecting a hyuuuuge loss of future business. I mean, would you want to touch, let alone sleep in, the same bed Trump or any of his family (or “partners”) slept (or whatever) in? ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26903 "2018-11-06T06:48:06Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I can’t believe Trump didn’t stiff the Hotel. SAD Loser It wasn’t his money. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2018, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/26904 "2018-11-06T08:06:47Z")
Shit, el-Sisi probably got the bulk of it and has agreed to reciprocate by having his whole entourage regularly stay in Trump’s hotels. That’s the Occam’s Razor explanation, anyway. Banana Republic SOP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1344) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1346)