# 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:** 1351
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27005 "2018-11-08T13:58:58Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > No, don’t ask this question. You have no right. “…such a racist question…” ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27006 "2018-11-08T14:19:39Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Food for thought: > > [Adolf Hitler's rise to power - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_rise_to_power) > > The Enabling Act of 1933 allowed Hitler and his Cabinet to rule by emergency decree for four years, though Hindenburg remained President.[85] Hitler immediately set about abolishing the powers of the states and the existence of non-Nazi political parties and organisations. Non-Nazi parties were formally outlawed on 14 July 1933, and the Reichstag abdicated its democratic responsibilities.[86] Hindenburg remained commander-in-chief of the military and retained the power to negotiate foreign treaties. > > The Act did not infringe upon the powers of the President, and Hitler would not fully achieve full dictatorial power until after the death of Hindenburg in August 1934.[87] Journalists and diplomats wondered whether Hitler could appoint himself President, who might succeed him as Chancellor, and what the army would do. Hitler combined the two positions, so that all governmental power lay in his hands. All soldiers took the Hitler Oath on the day of Hindenburg’s death, swearing “unconditional obedience” to Hitler.[88] Can you explain how this is at all relevant when compared with how OUR government works? The last time I checked, the US Constitution cannot be amended simply by Congress passing a law. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27007 "2018-11-08T14:35:09Z")
The caravan was the most important thing in the world a few days ago. Yet, wasn’t mentioned at all yesterday during that press conference yesterday. Wonder why it’s less important today. > [@dasmoocher](#): > > The Young Turks is reporting the White House has revoked Jim Acosta’s press credentials. The White House provided video to support the Acosta assault. [Doctored video.](https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-accused-of-using-doctored-infowars-video-to-justify-acosta-ban) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27008 "2018-11-08T14:38:55Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > The caravan was the most important thing in the world a few days ago. Yet, wasn’t mentioned at all yesterday during that press conference yesterday. Wonder why it’s less important today. Jim Acosta tried to mention it – you see how well that went. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27009 "2018-11-08T15:39:57Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Every single reporter for every single presser from now until Hell is no longer frozen over (it froze over when Trump became president) should ask the exact same questions that Acosta was asking until either (a) they all get barred or (b) they get an actual answer from the ruddy rump. It would be simpler if, the next time a press conference is called, nobody shows up. After all, what purpose do the conferences serve? All they (and we) get is a pack of lies and a generous serving of self-aggrandizement – no news here. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27010 "2018-11-08T16:46:26Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It would be simpler if, the next time a press conference is called, nobody shows up. After all, what purpose do the conferences serve? All they (and we) get is a pack of lies and a generous serving of self-aggrandizement – no news here. I would LOVE to see this happen. Or, better yet, they assemble in the press room and as soon the Huckabee Sanders comes out to start the briefing, they all get up and leave. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27011 "2018-11-08T17:32:41Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It would be simpler if, the next time a press conference is called, nobody shows up. After all, what purpose do the conferences serve? All they (and we) get is a pack of lies and a generous serving of self-aggrandizement – no news here. Nah, that won’t work. They hate having the press briefings anyway, which is why the “daily briefing” only happens once every three weeks or so. It doesn’t punish them to stay away from a party they don’t want you to be at in the first place. They should send just one guy, so that there’s no one else to call on. And to piss them off, it should be [Randy Rainbow](https://www.randyrainbow.com/). ---
**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:** [November 8, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27012 "2018-11-08T17:35:56Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I would LOVE to see this happen. > > Or, better yet, they assemble in the press room and as soon the Huckabee Sanders comes out to start the briefing, they all get up and leave. Yes! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27013 "2018-11-08T18:05:22Z")
Or just stand and turn their backs to her. Preferably while crossing their arms. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27014 "2018-11-08T18:08:39Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I would LOVE to see this happen. > > Or, better yet, they assemble in the press room and as soon the Huckabee Sanders comes out to start the briefing, they all get up and leave. I can’t see how this would accomplish anything. First, I’m sure they’d be happy to just do away with press briefings at all. Second, so, what, you’re just left with administration-friendly media there lobbing softballs and reporting on it? What purpose does that serve? I’m sure this administration and its followers would just _love it_ if the mainstream press said “screw this, I’m going home.” ---
**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:** [November 8, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27015 "2018-11-08T18:14:01Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Nah, that won’t work. They hate having the press briefings anyway, which is why the “daily briefing” only happens once every three weeks or so. It doesn’t punish them to stay away from a party they don’t want you to be at in the first place. > > They should send just one guy, so that there’s no one else to call on. And to piss them off, it should be [Randy Rainbow](https://www.randyrainbow.com/). Would he be asking the question in the form of a song? And even more importantly, would he be getting the answers in the form of a song? ---
**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 8, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27016 "2018-11-08T18:40:11Z")
I think it would be most excellent if the entire press corps just stood there and looked at the press secretary reprovingly with a silence that you could not even cut with a knife. (Not Sanders, so much, since she was rumbling about being not in there soon.) ---
**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:** [November 8, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27017 "2018-11-08T18:52:59Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I think it would be most excellent if the entire press corps just stood there and looked at the press secretary reprovingly with a silence that you could not even cut with a knife. > > (Not Sanders, so much, since she was rumbling about being not in there soon.) Maybe they could use the time to work on their fruit ninja scores. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27018 "2018-11-08T19:19:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I can’t see how this would accomplish anything. First, I’m sure they’d be happy to just do away with press briefings at all. Second, so, what, you’re just left with administration-friendly media there lobbing softballs and reporting on it? What purpose does that serve? I’m sure this administration and its followers would just _love it_ if the mainstream press said “screw this, I’m going home.” C’mon. Even FOX would lead with the video of it. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27019 "2018-11-08T20:32:02Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Every single reporter for every single presser from now until Hell is no longer frozen over (it froze over when Trump became president) should ask the exact same questions that Acosta was asking until either (a) they all get barred or (b) they get an actual answer from the ruddy rump. The White House press corps should learn a lesson from the journalists in the Netherlands. The idiot Trump appointed to be the ambassador had claimed that there were no-go Muslims controlled zones in some cities and that politicians had been burned alive. \*\*US ambassador’s awkward press conference President Donald Trump’s new US Ambassador to the Netherlands held his first press conference with Dutch media at The Hague on Wednesday, and it was awkward.\*\* [https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/01/12/us-netherlands-ambassador-press-conference-ejk-lon-orig.cnn](https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/01/12/us-netherlands-ambassador-press-conference-ejk-lon-orig.cnn) This is what our press should do. It would actually be funny, except this guy is an example of who Trump wants in our government. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27020 "2018-11-08T22:18:49Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > The White House press corps should learn a lesson from the journalists in the Netherlands. The idiot Trump appointed to be the ambassador had claimed that there were no-go Muslims controlled zones in some cities and that politicians had been burned alive. > > \*\*US ambassador’s awkward press conference > > President Donald Trump’s new US Ambassador to the Netherlands held his first press conference with Dutch media at The Hague on Wednesday, and it was awkward.\*\* > > [https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/01/12/us-netherlands-ambassador-press-conference-ejk-lon-orig.cnn](https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/01/12/us-netherlands-ambassador-press-conference-ejk-lon-orig.cnn) > > This is what our press should do. It would actually be funny, except this guy is an example of who Trump wants in our government. This was last January. It was a little unclear to me. The quote from the original story says Wednesday. I think the press has begun to treat politicians who routinely lie with less respect. I am all for this. Trump deserves no respect. He acts like an asshole, he gets treated like an asshole. However, the 40% of Americans who blindly believe people like him, don’t see it that way. We really could use some more Mueller indictments. Now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27021 "2018-11-08T22:43:06Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > The White House press corps should learn a lesson from the journalists in the Netherlands. The idiot Trump appointed to be the ambassador had claimed that there were no-go Muslims controlled zones in some cities and that politicians had been burned alive. > > \*\*US ambassador’s awkward press conference > > President Donald Trump’s new US Ambassador to the Netherlands held his first press conference with Dutch media at The Hague on Wednesday, and it was awkward.\*\* > > [https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/01/12/us-netherlands-ambassador-press-conference-ejk-lon-orig.cnn](https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/01/12/us-netherlands-ambassador-press-conference-ejk-lon-orig.cnn) > > This is what our press should do. It would actually be funny, except this guy is an example of who Trump wants in our government. From this thread, almost a year ago: > [@naita](#): > > Do ambassadors count as administration? Already posted this link in Elections. Pete Hoekstra embarrassing himself and the US on Dutch news: [https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/943991312570822656](https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/943991312570822656) Do try and keep up. Spoiler: he fires Sessions. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27022 "2018-11-08T23:54:21Z")
I know it’s old. I think I posted somewhere here at the time. I didn’t want to alter the headline. I posted it as an example of how I’d like to see our press act. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27023 "2018-11-08T23:55:01Z")
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is exploring job opportunities with Fox News. > **[Zinke prepares to leave Trump’s Cabinet](https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/11/08/ryan-zinke-fox-news-956537?__twitter_impression=true)** > > The news comes just a day after Trump told reporters that word on Zinke's fate may come "in about a week." ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/27024 "2018-11-09T00:29:56Z")
Remember when Keith Olbermann [was suspended from MSNBC](https://www.politico.com/story/2010/11/olbermann-suspended-after-donations-044734) for contributing to Democratic candidates and that was evidence of bias. Now, in Republican circles there is a direct line from the administration to Foxnews and back again. With the pundits appearing with the candidates at political rallies. But, yeah, tell me again how Foxnews and MSNBC are opposite but equal entities. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1350) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1352)