# 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:** 1457
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29125 "2019-01-09T20:30:08Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Seriously, what is up with Lindsay Graham lately? He’s being blackmailed. ---
**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 9, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29126 "2019-01-09T20:37:00Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > He’s being blackmailed. This. The Russians hacked his emails, didn’t they? ---
**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 9, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29127 "2019-01-09T20:55:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > He’s being blackmailed. Oh, for crying out loud, Lindsay, _everybody knows already_… ---
**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 9, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29128 "2019-01-09T20:57:07Z")
Schumer says Trump got up and walked out of their shutdown meeting today after Pelosi told him she would not pay for the wall. [Schumer: Trump ‘Just Got Up And Walked Out’ Of Shutdown Negotiation Meeting - TPM – Talking Points Memo](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/schumer-trump-just-walked-out-shutdown-negotiation-wall)? ---
**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:** [January 9, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29129 "2019-01-09T21:03:12Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > He’s being blackmailed. I’ll admit that his conversion to Trump’s side was abrupt, total, and mysterious. While I don’t think that Graham was one of the politicians who accepted goodies from Russia, I do note that he has always pinged my transdar pretty hard, so potentially there’s something there that he would consider blackmail worthy (I don’t). Potentially, we’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29130 "2019-01-09T21:06:19Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Schumer says Trump got up and walked out of their shutdown meeting today after Pelosi told him she would not pay for the wall. > [Schumer: Trump ‘Just Got Up And Walked Out’ Of Shutdown Negotiation Meeting - TPM – Talking Points Memo](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/schumer-trump-just-walked-out-shutdown-negotiation-wall)? It’s amazing watching the deal-maker at work. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29131 "2019-01-09T21:13:57Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Oh, for crying out loud, Lindsay, _everybody knows already_… If he was just gay, sure, no surprise there. If it turned out he was especially gay for \*brown \*dick, though - you think that’ll fly so easily? ---
**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 9, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29132 "2019-01-09T21:16:43Z")
Let’s not forget that the people who aren’t getting their checks this week are the same people [to whom Individual-1 nixed their COLA pay raise](https://thehill.com/policy/finance/404398-trump-nixes-federal-pay-raise) back in August. Meanwhile, billionaires got $1.5 trillion handed to them by the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29133 "2019-01-09T21:35:41Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > It’s amazing watching the deal-maker at work. It’s actually a classic negotiating ploy. It only works if the other party is inclined to (or needs to) meet your current demand, however. Neither applies to Pelosi at this point. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29134 "2019-01-09T21:37:54Z")
Who could be stupid enough to believe anything Trumps says? Well, if internet polls are to be trusted, then it’s my fellow readers at [msn.com](http://msn.com). The poll ‘results’ are skew far to the right. The latest questions such as ’ Do you believe Trumps statements to be factual?’ and ‘Who is more to blame for the shutdown’ have gone Trump’s way better than 50%. They are confessing to trusting the word of a man that the very site they are on shows to be lying. ---
**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 9, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29135 "2019-01-09T21:46:45Z")
Science has shown that internet polls are only slightly more trustworthy than a quoted cite by **Hurricane Ditka** , so I wouldn’t let it worry you too much. ---
**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 9, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29136 "2019-01-09T21:52:00Z")
The Coast Guard suggests that its members hold yard sales to tide them over during the shutdown. > **[Coast Guard families told they can have garage sales to cope with government...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/01/09/coast-guard-families-told-they-can-have-garage-sales-cope-with-government-shutdown/?utm_term=.07630420abef)** > > Coast Guardsmen are working without pay during the shutdown, and thousands of civilians working for the service are furloughed. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29137 "2019-01-09T21:58:32Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > It’s actually a classic negotiating ploy. It only works if the other party is inclined to (or needs to) meet your current demand, however. Neither applies to Pelosi at this point. That’s assuming that the issue is the wall. I continue to believe that the Democratic party and nearly everyone in the world is being impressively obtuse in thinking that Trump cares about the wall or to think that there’s no further reason for him to choose this moment to go all in for it. The shutdown is going to significantly impede the ability of the House to investigate the President. Trump doesn’t care about the effects of the shutdown on society and he doesn’t care about the wall. He’ll sit it out, happily saving himself from public shame, all the while blaming the Democrats for endangering the country, and he won’t care a fig that all government services are shutting down and making life difficult for everyone. Eventually, the Democrats will knuckle under and offer him $5b for the wall, and Trump will tell them, “You should have done that back when you were in my good graces. Now it’s $50b and I want to be able to start executing people who come into the country illegally.” Or whatever it is that he knows that they won’t accept. He’s playing for time. To the extent that there are any other angles, it’s to use it as an advertising opportunity, to fundraise or - should the wall ever actually get funded - to skim money off from the construction into sham businesses that he owns or is friends with. Dealing with the wall negotiations as though the issue was immigration is only going to be a loser. Trump wins in all cases. The only way to come out ahead is to go into it knowing that it’s a sham, and throwing that back on him. They have to show that the emperor has no clothes, and ignore the immigration debate; tell the people that Trump will embezzle the money, point out how he’s not doing anything about prosecuting companies who hire illegals, and rejecting all solutions that have been offered that would actually be productive in stopping illegals. Shame the man, and either he’ll give in or the Republicans will vote to circumvent him and reopen the government. You have to attack his motives, not debate immigration. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29138 "2019-01-09T22:10:29Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The Coast Guard suggests that its members hold yard sales to tide them over during the shutdown. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/01/09/coast-guard-families-told-they-can-have-garage-sales-cope-with-government-shutdown/?utm\_term=.07630420abef](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/01/09/coast-guard-families-told-they-can-have-garage-sales-cope-with-government-shutdown/?utm_term=.07630420abef) They could start by selling some of the confiscated drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29139 "2019-01-09T22:32:16Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > That’s assuming that the issue is the wall. > > I continue to believe that the Democratic party and nearly everyone in the world is being impressively obtuse in thinking that Trump cares about the wall or to think that there’s no further reason for him to choose this moment to go all in for it. > > The shutdown is going to significantly impede the ability of the House to investigate the President. Trump doesn’t care about the effects of the shutdown on society and he doesn’t care about the wall. I believe that Trump may believe that, but I certainly don’t. I assume that Congress and its staff are fully funded. The people in charge of telling Trump “hell no” on the wall (in the House, that would be Pelosi) are not the people that will be investigating him. And I’m guessing that most of the people in the Executive branch that they might want to talk to are not the people involved in saying “but we really need the wall”. So the two things can happen together. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29140 "2019-01-09T22:41:17Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > They could start by selling some of the confiscated drugs. I find your ideas intriguing, and would like to inquire about a newsletter. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29141 "2019-01-09T22:56:15Z")
So [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called Trump a racist](https://thehill.com/homenews/house/424435-ocasio-cortez-trump-is-racist-and-that-should-make-you-uncomfortable). The White House has responded with, “President Trump supported and passed historic criminal justice reform … and … has repeatedly condemned racism and bigotry in all forms.” Is it just me, or is there an…unsavory implication in that response? Your first instinct when challenged about racism is to essentially say you’re making prisons nicer for them, for when, you assume, they’ll commit crimes? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29142 "2019-01-09T22:59:25Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > So [url=[https://thehill.com/homenews/house/424435-ocasio-cortez-trump-is-racist-and-that-should-make-you-uncomfortable](https://thehill.com/homenews/house/424435-ocasio-cortez-trump-is-racist-and-that-should-make-you-uncomfortable)]The White House has responded with, “President Trump supported and passed historic criminal justice reform … and … **has repeatedly condemned racism and bigotry in all forms.** ” Repeatedly? :dubious: Like when? ---
**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:** [January 9, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29143 "2019-01-09T23:06:11Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I believe that Trump may believe that, but I certainly don’t. I assume that Congress and its staff are fully funded. The people in charge of telling Trump “hell no” on the wall (in the House, that would be Pelosi) are not the people that will be investigating him. The data processor who needs to run down to the IRS vaults to get Trump’s tax returns probably isn’t getting paid. The clerks who would be handling the petitions in court cases related to the Executive branch refusing to turn over requested documents to Congress are probably not getting paid. The head of the monster is mostly useless when its feet and fingers are cut off. Adam Schiff can’t go to the IRS and run down to the vault himself. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29144 "2019-01-09T23:06:37Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Repeatedly? :dubious: Like when? Late at night, when no one is around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1456) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1458)