# 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:** 1445
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28885 "2019-01-05T03:28:48Z")
Sidebar, please, for the non-US Dopers. What does a “lottery number” mean in these discussions? Something to do with the draft? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28886 "2019-01-05T03:31:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Jeez, people, you don’t need a special toilet. Just wrap it around your waist a couple of times, like I do. Makes me look fat. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28887 "2019-01-05T03:31:14Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Sidebar, please, for the non-US Dopers. What does a “lottery number” mean in these discussions? Something to do with the draft? 😕 [Feel free to ask for more, if this is insufficient.](https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1) And, yes; it is kind of horrifying. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2019, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28888 "2019-01-05T03:37:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Sidebar, please, for the non-US Dopers. What does a “lottery number” mean in these discussions? Something to do with the draft? 😕 In the days of the draft, every male of draft age got a number, based on their birth date. The Selective Service would then draw numbers to see how many draftees they needed. ---
**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 5, 2019, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28889 "2019-01-05T05:24:27Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I could live with that. As things stand, Trump is all too likely to wreck the US economy–the multiplier effects from the unpaid workers will spread out like ripples, and will affect far more people than Trump’s idiot fans imagine. And the specific jobs going undone—security, disease prevention, etc.—have the potential to create even more economy-wrecking. OTOH, if Individual-1 is actually able to do this, it sets a modern precedent for other forms of military-necessity takings via eminent domain for projects not actually military in nature… like, for example, a future President may be able to decide it’s “militarily necessary” to construct high-speed rail systems throughout the US, and just instructs the Army to take what it needs. With fair compensation of course. 🙂 ---
**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 5, 2019, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28890 "2019-01-05T05:32:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barr) gives his birth date as May 23, 1950. And [SSS records](https://www.sss.gov/Portals/0/PDFs/1970.pdf) list his lottery number as 319. One might think, with a lottery number that high, he decided there was no point in registering because he would never be called. But he would have been obligated to register more than a year and a half before his number was drawn. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28891 "2019-01-05T05:42:32Z")
Interesting stat: In 1989, there were 29 women in congress, with 16 Democrats and 13 Republicans, while today there are 102, with 89 Democrats, and still 13 Republicans. At [35:28.](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/january-4-2019-pbs-newshour-full-episode) Not even…_one_ more, since then? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28892 "2019-01-05T05:50:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Jeez, people, you don’t need a special toilet. Just wrap it around your waist a couple of times, like I do. **Snort** Only a couple of times. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > In the days of the draft, every male of draft age got a number, based on their birth date. The Selective Service would then draw numbers to see how many draftees they needed. It was an annual event and televised. I remember watching one year when the date for the first number, No. 1, was pulled and the announcers covering the event – there were two announcers – saying anyone with that birthdate had better go ahead and pack his toothbrush now. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28893 "2019-01-05T05:59:23Z")
Then there is the story of “McNamara’s Morons”, one of the more polite references to a program to permit the recruitment of soldiers with less cerebral firepower than usually acceptable. What could possibly go right? Well, whatever it was, it didn’t… ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28894 "2019-01-05T06:46:28Z")
Oh right - just after “Hogan’s Heroes”. Rad. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2019, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28895 "2019-01-05T07:32:53Z")
> [@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. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > 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. > > 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. > > 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. > [@Steve\_MB](#): > > **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. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > **kaylasdad99** , thank you for fighting my ignorance. I appreciate you taking the time. > > I guess he really did just forget. Guys, guys, yes he probably just forgot, but there’s another perfectly legit explanation for why he would not have been obligated to register for selective service that you’re all forgetting. It’s possible he’s a trans-man who just hadn’t transitioned yet. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28896 "2019-01-05T07:36:29Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Woody Allen standup from the 60s: > “I’ve uh, been classified 1-H. In the event of war, I’m a hostage.” Yep. I remember that. The only thing the ‘Wall’ is about is trumps ego. That’s it. Full Stop. No reason to debate that he is a narcissistic moron that can’t negotiate or play nicely with others. Trump can’t even get along with his imaginary friends (Kim Jong Un for one, and how every many hookers that are sueing him). I’d like to stick Hobbes on him (of Calvin an Hobbes). Perhaps a stuffed toy animal would give him some insight. Or give us some relief. I won’t even bother with his idiot supporters. But the Senate of the United States is tying to stand behind and support this asshole? Good by. The GOP has been destroyed by Trump. ---
**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 5, 2019, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28897 "2019-01-05T13:28:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > In Malta, Spain, Iceland, Spain, Croatia, Spain, Mali… 😛 GoT offers subtitles in Catalan on any platform and country as part of the deal which got them to turn Girona into a playground several times, including parts of Cersei’s Walk of Shame (that one was shared by several locations); it’s also been Braavos. They’ve recorded in Bardenas and Monegros as well (mainly with Dothraki). Ya left out Ireland as well. 🙂 I should have said _that part_ of the show was filmed (for a while) in Malta, trying to point out to folks unfamiliar that the climate was pretty pleasant for some, not so much for others. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The expensive stuff is wasted on him. [He likes his steaks well-done. _With ketchup_.](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-presidents-eat-steak-2018-2) > > I mean, what sort of monster … I have friends who like their steaks well-done which I look a little askance at but if they started glopping on ketchup, we couldn’t be friends any more. > [@eschereal](#): > > Here is a bit more of the ongoing treasonous crazy, > _**The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. [COLOR=“Black”]They were right to be there. The problem is, it was a tough fight.**_[/COLOR] > > ShitGibbon defending Commies. sigh A (nominal) Republican defending Godless Commies – truly we are living in Bizarro-world. Gen. Jack D. Ripper is rolling over in his grave. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I had to register (1979) but there was no threat of being drafted, so I have no idea what my number was, nor even if I even had a number. The you-have-to-register-but-won’t-get-drafted meme lasted until at least 1984. I remember because at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in July one of the guest speakers was a nineteen-year-old who had not registered and was speaking up about it. He said, judging by his peers, if you failed to register but kept your mouth shut nothing much would happen, unlike him who was receiving attention. City buses had been rented to ferry us around to off-site functions and one evening I took one that had an ad based on [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufrebMMSdC4) PSA which was running at the time. Somehow it came loose and I gave it to the guy the next morning saying, “I saw this and thought of you.” He was delighted. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28898 "2019-01-05T14:01:25Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Good, needs to happen. > > Down with the sickness!!! > > Ohh ah ah ah ah! Trump needs a new poster in the GoT design. “Sickness Is Coming” ---
**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:** [January 5, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28899 "2019-01-05T15:09:28Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > [Feel free to ask for more, if this is insufficient.](https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1) I have to say that is one of the most convoluted things I can imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28900 "2019-01-05T15:21:31Z")
[Sounds like yesterday morning’s meeting with Congressional leaders was a real head-scratcher.](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/423990-trump-in-profanity-laced-meeting-with-lawmakers-said-he-preferred-the) > [@The Hill](#): > > President Trump reportedly opened a meeting Friday with congressional leaders with an incendiary rant before saying he preferred the word “strike” to refer to the ongoing government shutdown, according to multiple reports. Does this mean he’s going to attempt spinning this as a worker-organized work stoppage? Or is he just too stupid to know what a strike is? > [@The Hill](#): > > The Daily Beast reported that Trump also blamed Pelosi, without being prompted, for freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) vowing at a party on Thursday that House Democrats would “impeach the mother f—er.” > > … > > Pelosi, in response, told the president that they were gathered to discuss the shutdown, which entered its 14th day Friday, not his impeachment, sources told CNN. > > The president reportedly used the word “f—” during the meeting, according to multiple reports. > … > > A source said Democrats in Friday’s meeting were shaking their heads at the president’s behavior. > > Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (K.Y.) — one of the Republicans in the room — did not speak much during the meeting, The Daily Beast reported. These are the actions of an unwell and scared man. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28901 "2019-01-05T15:45:57Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > [Feel free to ask for more, if this is insufficient.](https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1) > > And, yes; it is kind of horrifying. So men with low lottery numbers were likely to be drafted in that year? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28902 "2019-01-05T15:48:40Z")
> [@The Hill](#): > > President Trump reportedly opened a meeting Friday with congressional leaders with an incendiary rant before saying he preferred the word “strike” to refer to the ongoing government shutdown, according to multiple reports. I’ve never heard of a strike where the workers were required to keep working without getting paid. I would think it’s the type of strike employers would love to have. ---
**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 5, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28903 "2019-01-05T15:49:17Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [Sounds like yesterday morning’s meeting with Congressional leaders was a real head-scratcher.](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/423990-trump-in-profanity-laced-meeting-with-lawmakers-said-he-preferred-the) > > Does this mean he’s going to attempt spinning this as a worker-organized work stoppage? Or is he just too stupid to know what a strike is? > > These are the actions of an unwell and scared man. Maybe he’s trying to lay the groundwork for an insanity defense, or at least an argument that he should not be tried as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/28904 "2019-01-05T15:49:20Z")
And seriously delayed income tax refund checks? Won’t that unsettle his base? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1444) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1446)