# 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:** 1441
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28805 "2019-01-04T04:04:08Z")
[This](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-barr/trumps-attorney-general-pick-says-he-did-in-fact-register-for-draft-idUSKCN1OY02U?il=0)… is just a weird story. (Reuters) > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. attorney general, William Barr, got his nomination off to an awkward start by telling lawmakers he did not register for the military draft during the Vietnam War, before saying on Thursday that he had in fact signed up. > > \ > > Men who do not register for the draft face fines of up to $250,000 and a prison term of up to five years. They also are barred from most federal jobs, according to the Selective Service System, which registers men for possible compulsory service. Is this something a man would forget? I knew a lot of fellows who had to register for the draft. They all knew their draft numbers by heart. Curious. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28806 "2019-01-04T04:17:25Z")
I did not have to register for the draft, but many of my classmates did. I turned 18 a few days before the date that registration was reinstituted. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28807 "2019-01-04T04:50:32Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > [This](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-barr/trumps-attorney-general-pick-says-he-did-in-fact-register-for-draft-idUSKCN1OY02U?il=0)… is just a weird story. (Reuters) > > Is this something a man would forget? I knew a lot of fellows who had to register for the draft. They all knew their draft numbers by heart. > > Curious. 1. First year it was under 300. I considered myself blessed. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28808 "2019-01-04T04:56:10Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > 1. First year it was under 300. I considered myself blessed. And that’s my point. I don’t know _any_ man that registered who didn’t remember his draft number for the rest of his life. I just find it incredible (in the truest sense of the word) that William Barr would have _forgotten_ he actually registered – whenever that occurred. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28809 "2019-01-04T05:21:53Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > [This](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-barr/trumps-attorney-general-pick-says-he-did-in-fact-register-for-draft-idUSKCN1OY02U?il=0)… is just a weird story. (Reuters) > > Is this something a man would forget? I knew a lot of fellows who had to register for the draft. They all knew their draft numbers by heart. > > Curious. Yup. I was born in 1951. Forty-nine years later after it was picked, I remember perfectly well that my lottery number was 90. If I hadn’t had a 2S, I would have gone in 1969 for sure. (By the time I graduated in 1973 and became 1A, it was well above the limit.) Any male eligible for the draft in that era would not only have known if he registered, he would also have known his lottery number. It was the most important number in your life after your Social Security Number. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28810 "2019-01-04T05:30:37Z")
Back to shit that matters: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-03/bad-stuff-the-stock-market-worried-about-is-starting-to-happen](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-03/bad-stuff-the-stock-market-worried-about-is-starting-to-happen) The worst December stock selloff occurred in spite of actual hard data suggesting a recession was possible. Today, the hard data was unveiled for all to see. Apple got crushed. Moreover, China’s worst economic performance in more than a decade has sunk Asian stocks. American stocks vulnerable to Asian disruption are now in danger of pulling back on investment. In short, we have a little recipe for a thing called…contagion. HELLLLL YEAAHHHHH!! BAYBAY!!! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28811 "2019-01-04T08:17:36Z")
Maaaaan, take a breath, brother. Stop Waiting For the Worms. Stock market sucks, tariffs suck, people will learn, etc. Hang in there. Remember, we still haven’t seen the report yet. And the House is requesting evidence on this and that… RELAX. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28812 "2019-01-04T11:35:20Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > And that’s my point. > > I don’t know _any_ man that registered who didn’t remember his draft number for the rest of his life. I just find it incredible (in the truest sense of the word) that William Barr would have _forgotten_ he actually registered – whenever that occurred. Imagine he already had an ‘out’ ready to go — something like unto a ‘bone spurs’ diagnosis, say — which he’d use, with a shrug, if his number came up. In that case, figure he could register, never really thinking it _meant_ anything: with nothing at stake, he just takes a moment to see whether the number he gets is such that he doesn’t actually _bother_ to use the excuse he’s got in his back pocket. In that case, decades later, I could see him briefly forgetting that he was ever on the hook (because, well, he _wasn’t_) but then recalling that he’d registered (though still not recalling the number he got, since it mattered so little). ---
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28813 "2019-01-04T12:31:02Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > There’s really not a lot to explain. “Winter is coming” is a common thing for character to say in the show, the seasons in GoT work differently so they have like 10 years between winters, and the characters will remind each other that they need to be mindful of the coming winter as either a practical matter or for dramatic effect. It’s generally an ominous thing to say. Not exactly. There are regular seasons with snow in the northern regions of the continent but every so often – the last time being so far in the past it has become legend – there is a super winter where everything freezes and ice-zombies come from the north. They were so bad a wall of ice 700 feet high was magicked across the entire continent the last time and staffed by an elite multi-kingdom force called the Night Watch. _Winter is Coming_ is the epithet of the northernmost of the seven great houses but their southern counterparts look at their sunny clime (the show was filmed in Malta) laugh it off. Donny Two-scoops is trying to pass himself as the head of that house, protecting the land from the [del]Russian[/del] ice heathens. “I knew Ned Stark and you, sir, are no Stark!” ---
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28814 "2019-01-04T13:53:33Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > [This](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-barr/trumps-attorney-general-pick-says-he-did-in-fact-register-for-draft-idUSKCN1OY02U?il=0)… is just a weird story. (Reuters) It gets even deeper into theater of the absurd: > [@](#): > > “I have not served in the U.S. Military. I was born in 1950 and was not required to register for selective service,” he initially wrote on a questionnaire released by the committee. Now, I’ve forgotten a lot of the calculus and advanced statistics and whatnot from college, but I’m pretty sure that somebody who was born in 1950 would have turned 18 in 1968. Likewise, my historical knowledge is missing some of the details of the XYZ Affair and Jay’s Treaty, but I have a pretty good recollection that the draft was something of a Big Deal in 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28815 "2019-01-04T14:29:31Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Now, I’ve forgotten a lot of the calculus and advanced statistics and whatnot from college, but I’m pretty sure that somebody who was born in 1950 would have turned 18 in 1968. Likewise, my historical knowledge is missing some of the details of the XYZ Affair and Jay’s Treaty, but I have a pretty good recollection that the draft was something of a Big Deal in 1968. Since 1940, all males over the age of 18 have had to register for the draft (with the exception of the period 1975-1980). Those subject to actually be drafted varied, but you always had to at least register. Even if for some obscure reason he actually was exempt from registration he had to know this was unusual and would require some explanation. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28816 "2019-01-04T14:30:27Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > _Winter is Coming_ is the epithet of the northernmost of the seven great houses but their southern counterparts look at their sunny clime (the show was filmed in Malta) laugh it off. The King’s Landing scenes were shot in Dubrovnik, Croatia. You can take a walking tour there, where your guide will show you stills from the series (Cersei’s walk of shame, for example) at the site where filmed. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28817 "2019-01-04T14:46:55Z")
Something non-Clustery: [Jim Webb is in the running for SecDef](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/03/jim-webb-defense-secretary-1060169). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28818 "2019-01-04T15:02:42Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Something non-Clustery: > > [Jim Webb is in the running for SecDef](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/03/jim-webb-defense-secretary-1060169). Oh no, that’s still a cluster. Webb is not a stable person. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28819 "2019-01-04T15:07:00Z")
Huh. Did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28820 "2019-01-04T15:07:31Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Something non-Clustery: > > [Jim Webb is in the running for SecDef](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/03/jim-webb-defense-secretary-1060169). That’s a surprisingly non-horrible idea. While I’ve generally been opposed to Webb running for the Democratic presidential nomination for various reasons (and I concur that he’s generally not the most well-balanced person), this is an area of strength for him and he seems like someone who could keep things within the SecDef portfolio “within normal parameters” (to borrow PJ O’Rourke’s turn of phrase), something the current WH is desperately in need of. Naturally, since it’s a non-horrible idea it won’t happen unless Webb can get the crucial \*Fox and Friends \*endorsement. And even if it does, Webb will be out with a knife in his back within a year. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28821 "2019-01-04T15:22:07Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Imagine he already had an ‘out’ ready to go — something like unto a ‘bone spurs’ diagnosis, say — which he’d use, with a shrug, if his number came up. In that case, figure he could register, never really thinking it _meant_ anything: with nothing at stake, he just takes a moment to see whether the number he gets is such that he doesn’t actually _bother_ to use the excuse he’s got in his back pocket. > > In that case, decades later, I could see him briefly forgetting that he was ever on the hook (because, well, he _wasn’t_) but then recalling that he’d registered (though still not recalling the number he got, since it mattered so little). But that’s the thing. Young men having an ‘out’ was a big deal, too, in those days. With all the coffins coming back to US soil week after week after week (we didn’t hide the return of the dead in those days), we were constantly reminded of the true high cost of war. Even someone who had an exemption could not help but be regularly reminded that he was one of the rare lucky ones. > [@Steve\_MB](#): > > It gets even deeper into theater of the absurd: > > Now, I’ve forgotten a lot of the calculus and advanced statistics and whatnot from college, but I’m pretty sure that somebody who was born in 1950 would have turned 18 in 1968. Likewise, my historical knowledge is missing some of the details of the XYZ Affair and Jay’s Treaty, but I have a pretty good recollection that the draft was something of a Big Deal in 1968. It really was. I was 11 in 1968, but throughout those formative years from age 11-18 (1968-1975), the draft was on the mind of every young male I knew. As **Colibri** points out, it simply defies credulity that a young man turning 18 in 1968 – the year of the Tet Offensive – would somehow not remember the details surrounding his service – or non-service, as the case may be. > [@Colibri](#): > > Since 1940, all males over the age of 18 have had to register for the draft (with the exception of the period 1975-1980). Those subject to actually be drafted varied, but you always had to at least register. > > Even if for some obscure reason he actually was exempt from registration he had to know this was unusual and would require some explanation. Exactly. Maybe it is something that can be easily explained, but I’m having a hard time coming up with what it could be. I’ll be watching his confirmation hearing, for sure. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28822 "2019-01-04T15:46:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Even if for some obscure reason he actually was exempt from registration he had to know this was unusual and would require some explanation. **The Other Waldo Pepper** offers the only remotely plausible explanation (other than a serious neurological condition\*) for being unclear on this bit of personal history – he knew his family connections would guarantee him a safe National Guard billet or a convenient bone-spur diagnosis or some other escape from conscription, so he didn’t have to think about the matter long and hard enough to form any long-term memories. \*Even that is an unlikely explanation – setting aside the fact that he shows no obvious symptoms, conditions like Alzheimer’s tend to leave old memories intact while impairing the ability to form/access new ones. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28823 "2019-01-04T15:58:16Z")
Just to remind all of us what [a Very Stable Genius](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-appeals-for-border-wall-in-new-years-eve-fox-interview-it-is-not-old-fashioned-its-like-the-wheel/)looks like: > [@](#): > > The wall is part of border security. I hear about the wall is old fashioned. It is not old fashioned. It is 100% foolproof. You look at the wheel. I guess they would say the wheel is old fashioned. It’s been around for a long time. The wall is the only way to do it. Technology – nobody knows more about technology than me – technology is just the bells and whistles on the wall. If you don’t have the wall, you are going to have people coming in. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28824 "2019-01-04T16:07:33Z")
[Due a tax refund? LOL.](https://www.wtae.com/article/the-irs-cant-pay-out-tax-refunds-due-to-the-government-shutdown/25747047) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1440) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1442)