# 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:** 1427
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28525 "2018-12-25T01:52:28Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Trump says he’s going to pay for the wall with the “savings” from shutting down the government. Doesn’t a shutdown actually cost the government money? I think the only way the shutdown will save money is if they don’t give out retroactive pay for federal employees. :mad: ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28526 "2018-12-25T02:06:19Z")
Oh, for fuck’s sake; [Loser Donald takes a Christmas Eve phone call from a 7-year-old and asks him if he still believes in Santa.](https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1077375011600678912) ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28527 "2018-12-25T02:23:46Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake; [Loser Donald takes a Christmas Eve phone call from a 7-year-old and asks him if he still believes in Santa.](https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1077375011600678912) > [@](#): > > Donald Trump, answering phone call from 7-year-old on Christmas Eve: “Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at seven it’s marginal, right?” [https://t.co/VHexvFSbQ1](https://t.co/VHexvFSbQ1) Just bizarre. He’s done and said a million things way worse, but this is just… like he’s never been around other humans before. I mean, my wife and I don’t do Santa with our kids, but I know enough not to interfere if other parents are doing it with theirs. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28528 "2018-12-25T02:36:25Z")
So, it turns out that the President and First Lady traditionally take some of the calls that come in to NORAD’s “Santa Tracker”. So, the buffoon was taking a call from a kid who obviously believes in Santa, because he was _calling the Santa Tracker_. I’m beginning to think Trump ain’t too bright. I’m sure all the Redhats will merely pronounce this another example of Trump owning the libs and say that belief in Santa is just making our kids weak snowflakes anyway. > **[Trump asks child if he believes in Santa during NORAD calls](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/422805-trump-ends-angry-day-with-norad-santa-calls/amp/?__twitter_impression=true)** > > President Trump and first lady Melania Trump joined the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) call center remotely from the White House on Monday to take questions about S… ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28529 "2018-12-25T03:02:18Z")
I’m wondering what the baffled buffoon’s going to say about the bill he signed [naming a post office after a Muslim](https://apnews.com/fd04695a8adb498baab7e17fb791b610). ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28530 "2018-12-25T04:18:15Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Trump says he’s going to pay for the wall with the “savings” from shutting down the government. Doesn’t a shutdown actually cost the government money? > “The complete Wall will be built with the Shutdown money plus funds already in hand.” > [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1077250139503452162](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1077250139503452162) > [@Railer13](#): > > I just saw this as well. So if the shutdown has saved us a bunch of money, and we already have the rest of the funds, isn’t the problem solved? Let the construction begin! > > He is an absolute fucking moron. He’s a buffoonish (but cunning) Sylvester McMonkey McBean-esque snake oil salesman, with neither the talent or the inclination to act as a responsible steward of our nation’s material and spiritual assets. That said, there are absolute fucking morons in numbers far exceeding my ability to stomach who unblinkingly accept his outrageously poisonous twaddle as received Truth. ☹ ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28531 "2018-12-25T05:00:42Z")
ICE is apparently dumping released immigrants onto the streets of El Paso with no food or shelter. [https://thehill.com/latino/422795-greyhound-sheltered-migrants-in-buses-after-ice-left-them-at-station-police-say](https://thehill.com/latino/422795-greyhound-sheltered-migrants-in-buses-after-ice-left-them-at-station-police-say) ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28532 "2018-12-25T05:47:49Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Trump says he’s going to pay for the wall with the “savings” from shutting down the government. Doesn’t a shutdown actually cost the government money? > “The complete Wall will be built with the Shutdown money plus funds already in hand.” > [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1077250139503452162](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1077250139503452162) I thought he was going to be paying for that stupid wall with money from Mexico? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28533 "2018-12-25T05:54:33Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I thought he was going to be paying for that stupid wall with money from Mexico? Maybe there could be some sort of compromise where New Mexico pays for the wall? ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28534 "2018-12-25T06:21:25Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I think the only way the shutdown will save money is if they don’t give out retroactive pay for federal employees. > > :mad: G-men mostly vote for the D’s. Do you think Thrump is Santa Claus? Do you think he will sign a bill granting these D-voters retroactive pay? No, refusal to pay contractors and workers is precisely what made him such a “successful businessman” — he is eager to demonstrate his business genius as President. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28535 "2018-12-25T07:05:10Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > G-men mostly vote for the D’s. Do you think Thrump is Santa Claus? Do you think he will sign a bill granting these D-voters retroactive pay? No, refusal to pay contractors and workers is precisely what made him such a “successful businessman” — he is eager to demonstrate his business genius as President. Cite? There are no known Democratic Directors of the FBI in its entirety history (even McCabe voted in the 2016 GOP primary, implying that he was a Republican before Trump). The FBI is principally staffed by former military and police, both of which groups tend to lean Libertarian/Republican. I strongly suspect that the FBI is at most evenly split, but likely leaned Republican at least before Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28536 "2018-12-25T08:42:19Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I’m wondering what the baffled buffoon’s going to say about the bill he signed [naming a post office after a Muslim](https://apnews.com/fd04695a8adb498baab7e17fb791b610). My money is on “he’ll try to blame Tom Garrett (VA, R), but mangle the name”. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28537 "2018-12-25T12:38:28Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Trump is taking what was arguably one of the strongest economies in decades and wrecking it almost completely by himself. > > Well done. > > And by the way, he’s a FAKE BILLIONAIRE Not to Godwinize the thread but in his younger years, Adolf Hitler was an [aspiring artist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paintings_by_Adolf_Hitler). He applied at the prestigious Vienna Art Academy but was turned down. > [@John Gunther](#): > > They are prosaic, utterly devoid of rhythm, color, feeling, or spiritual imagination. They are architect’s sketches: painful and precise draftsmanship; nothing more. No wonder the Vienna professors told him to go to an architectural school and give up pure art as hopeless. There has been speculation that had the Academy been able to foresee the future, they might have admitted him and redirected his energies into something besides politics. Imagine if in June, 2015 when Donny Two-scoops announced his run for President, Congress had accurately descried the future and passed a bipartisan bill to give him a billion dollars to go away. It would have been cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28538 "2018-12-25T13:18:19Z")
If you pay the Duncegeld even once, then you pay it forever. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28539 "2018-12-25T16:17:36Z")
Outrageous, stupid and infantile became the norm of Trump, et al. It seems to me that I’ve seen more “Even for Trump, (fill in the blank) is shocking” in the past week or two than ever before. The new norm has gotten even more out there. When will ever end? I’m consistently amazed by people, even friends, who say “But look at what he’s doing for the economy” etc. Is there no sin too grave for Trumpers to say, “Enough!”? This is a rhetorical question, I know. Just venting. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28540 "2018-12-25T16:44:34Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Not to Godwinize the thread but in his younger years, Adolf Hitler was an [aspiring artist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paintings_by_Adolf_Hitler). He applied at the prestigious Vienna Art Academy but was turned down.There has been speculation that had the Academy been able to foresee the future, they might have admitted him and redirected his energies into something besides politics. > > Imagine if in June, 2015 when Donny Two-scoops announced his run for President, Congress had accurately descried the future and passed a bipartisan bill to give him a billion dollars to go away. It would have been cheaper. Or, if the NFL had let Trump have a team. Trump feels snubbed and still holds a grudge. It’s built into his always a victim persona, not being accepted by the elites, whether Manhattan society or NFL owners. **How Trump’s time running a doomed football team fueled his political fight with the NFL** > **[How Trump's time running a doomed football team fueled his political fight...](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/14/trumps-ownership-of-usfls-new-jersey-generals-fueled-anthem-fight-with-nfl.html)** > > Trump's repeated failures to break into the NFL contributed to an animosity toward the league that has lingered for decades, argues Jeff Pearlman, the author of a new book about the USFL. > [@](#): > > As Donald Trump built up a franchise in the short-lived United States Football League, he coveted a bigger prize. > > In 1983, the 37-year-old real estate developer spent less than $10 million to buy the New Jersey Generals, a messy team coming off its first season in the rollicking spring league. > > From the time Trump started running the Generals, those involved with the USFL saw a man fixated on another goal: Owning a team in the National Football League, the pinnacle of the American sport. > > “I don’t know about the rest of you people and I don’t know how much money you guys have, but I have the money to get into the NFL,” Trump told his fellow USFL owners at a meeting in 1984, according to a new book about the league. “And that’s where I plan on being.” > > Trump, who now sits in the White House after a dizzying political rise, never got his wish. His repeated failure to break into the NFL contributed to an animosity toward the league that has lingered for decades. That conclusion is based on the reporting of Jeff Pearlman, a sports journalist and author of “Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL.” The book was published Tuesday, the same day as another Trump-flavored tell-all, Bob Woodward’s “Fear: Trump in the White House.” > > … > > The NFL spurned Trump several times, first in 1981, when he tried to buy the Baltimore Colts. As Trump built a high-priced Generals roster that included Heisman Trophy winners Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie, his critics within the USFL saw an owner hoping the whole time his team would eventually join the NFL. > > Pearlman’s book describes an owner who in private “explained to confidantes that he did not aspire to build a great USFL team — but a great NFL team,” the author said. > > “He would purchase the Generals, build them into the class of the USFL, watch the upstart league either fold or merge with the NFL, and eventually relocate to Shea Stadium [in Queens] until his new facility was constructed in Manhattan,” Pearlman wrote. Some things haven’t changed, like Trump bragging about how much money he has (whether he in fact had NFL money or not). ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28541 "2018-12-25T17:06:24Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > When will ever end? I’m consistently amazed by people, even friends, who say “But look at what he’s doing for the economy” etc. Is there no sin too grave for Trumpers to say, “Enough!”? This is a rhetorical question, I know. Just venting. They’re not trying to defend Trump, they’re trying to defend their own ego. As long as they can convince themselves that Trump is doing something good, anything at all, it means that they don’t have to admit making a mistake in supporting him. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28542 "2018-12-25T17:49:18Z")
I finally got around to reading the NYT article on the Trump family and their money. Its definitely worth the time it takes to read it. His company should be called Trump Smoke and Mirrors. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28543 "2018-12-25T18:32:04Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > I finally got around to reading the NYT article on the Trump family and their money. Its definitely worth the time it takes to read it. His company should be called Trump Smoke and Mirrors. Is it online? Do you have a link? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28544 "2018-12-25T18:46:56Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Worse, he’s figuring government salaries are like the contractors he robs on a regular basis - they’ve already done the work and he can just stiff them afterward. > > The idea of cost ‘savings’ in these terms is a disgusting sentiment in the first place and in the second (and much like just about everything out of his mouth), it’s not even true. Why not? He got away with that all his life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1426) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1428)