# 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:** 1464
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29265 "2019-01-11T20:23:05Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I heard a story on NPR that the agency that is responsible for approving labeling for beer is shut down. No one can come out with a new beer until the govt re-opens. This is directly affecting a new craft brewery in Kansas City. They’ve got new beers to get labelled, but they can’t get that done because of the shutdown. [Instead, they’re giving away the beer to furloughed federal workers.](https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article224226625.html) > [@](#): > > So Stutsman plans to just give the IPA away at private, ticketed events, including one on Jan. 26. He will invite federal employees affected by the shutdown to come an hour early. > > “At least they can drink a beer on me,” Stutsman said. “Might as well serve it at its prime.” Good for him! ---
**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 11, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29266 "2019-01-11T21:27:34Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > This is directly affecting a new craft brewery in Kansas City. They’ve got new beers to get labelled, but they can’t get that done because of the shutdown. > > [Instead, they’re giving away the beer to furloughed federal workers.](https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article224226625.html) > > Good for him! Classy. 🙂 Something in seriously short supply among Trumpkin Republicans around the country these days. ---
**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 11, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29267 "2019-01-11T21:33:48Z")
Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, says that a lot of federal workers are better off during the shutdown because they were planning on taking vacations anyway. [https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kevin-hassett-federal-employees-better-off?fbclid=IwAR3mHrsSb\_cCfZYrdATUpHKjJJ849JZ9\_pH798gTGMSd4LmTw3r9BNcWUhc](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kevin-hassett-federal-employees-better-off?fbclid=IwAR3mHrsSb_cCfZYrdATUpHKjJJ849JZ9_pH798gTGMSd4LmTw3r9BNcWUhc) ---
**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 11, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29268 "2019-01-11T21:33:57Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Classy. 🙂 Something in seriously short supply among Trumpkin Republicans around the country these days. Trumpkin Republicans do not go to craft breweries. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29269 "2019-01-11T22:01:03Z")
Thought I’d just leave this little nugget right here… [https://www.axios.com/golf-clubs-closures-harm-homeowners-691284ea-f9c2-4f07-9120-5ca16cb46120.html](https://www.axios.com/golf-clubs-closures-harm-homeowners-691284ea-f9c2-4f07-9120-5ca16cb46120.html) > [@](#): > > …Between 1970 and 2010, 950 golf clubs with homes inside or adjacent to their gates were built. In 2017, more than 200 golf courses closed, while only 15 new ones opened. When a golf course closes, prices for nearby homes plummet 25%, or 40–50% if the closure is accompanied by a contentious legal battle, WSJ reports… Gosh, I guess if someone borrowed a buttload of money to build golf courses, he might find himself in a bit of a fiscal bind. Unless, of course, he already paid it all off. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29270 "2019-01-11T22:24:54Z")
I saw this on Twitter and thought it was worth sharing: > [@Someone on Twitter](#): > > Why don’t we protect the border with thoughts and prayers? It’s what we use to protect our schools. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29271 "2019-01-11T23:22:15Z")
Jesus fucking Christ. Ivanka being considered to lead the world bank. > **[Ivanka Trump is reportedly under consideration to lead The World Bank](https://www.businessinsider.com/ivanka-trump-world-bank-candidate-president-report-2019-1)** > > Ivanka previously worked as a vice president of acquisitions at the Trump Organization. She also directed her own fashion line, which was shuttered last summer. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29272 "2019-01-11T23:41:49Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > I saw this on Twitter and thought it was worth sharing: That’s the best one-liner I’ve read since this whole thing started. Love it! ---
**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 11, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29273 "2019-01-11T23:55:34Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Trumpkin Republicans do not go to craft breweries. I know. In my area, they prefer to congregate at the local greasy spoon diner and nurse their cups of coffee along with their perpetual faux outrage all morning long. I’ve noticed they’ve lowered their voices considerably over the past year, at least. Maybe if they had a good craft beer of an evening, it would give them something to smile about! > [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > I saw this on Twitter and thought it was worth sharing: Perfect. I’ll be passing that one along. > [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Jesus fucking Christ. Ivanka being considered to lead the world bank. > > [Ivanka Trump Under Consideration to Lead the World Bank: Report](http://www.businessinsider.com/ivanka-trump-world-bank-candidate-president-report-2019-1) **JohnT** ’s post #29248. 😉 But probably worth noting twice, because it’s easily one of the dumbest ideas promulgated by this “administration.” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29274 "2019-01-12T00:16:33Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, says that a lot of federal workers are better off during the shutdown because they were planning on taking vacations anyway. > [WH Economist: Fed Workers Actually ‘Better Off’ - TPM – Talking Points Memo](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kevin-hassett-federal-employees-better-off?fbclid=IwAR3mHrsSb_cCfZYrdATUpHKjJJ849JZ9_pH798gTGMSd4LmTw3r9BNcWUhc) Ummm… UNPAID vacations? ---
**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:** [January 12, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29275 "2019-01-12T00:26:37Z")
[Talk about “precious bodily fluids”;](https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/01/11/social-security-official-married-working-mothers-hurt-society-condoms-rob-women-remarkable-chemicals/222474) > [@](#): > > Before joining President Donald Trump’s administration, right-wing commentator Robert W. Patterson argued against contraceptives because “condom use robs” women of the “remarkable chemicals” in semen… > > Patterson is now the acting associate commissioner at the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Strategic and Digital Communications. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29276 "2019-01-12T00:47:34Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Yeah but, the bills passed by the Democrats in the House \*are \*the bills passed by the Senate _that were written by Republicans_. They’re the same bills. They didn’t even have to go through committee hearings to try to reconcile them. The Senate voted Yes unanimously on those bills back in December. If the Senate passed them (again) and sent them on to Trump, even if he vetoes the bills, there are enough votes to override the veto. At least in the Senate and I bet Pelosi is certain of getting the votes in the House or she wouldn’t have passed them in the first place. > > The only thing keeping the government shut, at this point, is McConnell’s refusal to bring the bills to a vote because he “knows the President won’t sign them.” He’s refusing to use the power granted to the legislative branch. ^This. Too many media figures are going with “Trump versus Pelosi” as the ratings-grabbing story. The actual story is that McConnell, by refusing to act on his oath of office, is almost single-handedly responsible for the continuance of this debacle. > [@Morgyn](#): > > I wish most of these old fatheads could be immediately removed from Congress. They have to be hopelessly compromised. This may be part of what’s going on with McConnell–if he’s not personally compromised, his wife may be. (my emphasis) ---
**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:** [January 12, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29277 "2019-01-12T01:00:30Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > This may be part of what’s going on with McConnell–if he’s not personally compromised, his wife may be. > (my emphasis) Run that by again? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29278 "2019-01-12T02:15:29Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Run that by again? McConnell is married to Elaine Chao, Trump’s Secretary of Transportation (and Dubya’s former Secretary of Labor). ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29279 "2019-01-12T02:22:42Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > McConnell is married to Elaine Chao, Trump’s Secretary of Transportation (and Dubya’s former Secretary of Labor). She sounds like the most experienced person in the executive right now. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29280 "2019-01-12T02:29:44Z")
Bombshell: F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia > **[F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html)** > > The investigation, whose fate is unclear, led counterintelligence investigators to consider an explosive question: whether the president’s actions constituted a possible threat to national security. ---
**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 12, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29281 "2019-01-12T02:31:29Z")
In April, 1917, in an attempt to knock Russia out of WW1, Germany transported Vladimir Lenin from exile in Zurich to the Russian border, and let him go. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Trump is Putin’s revenge on the West, revenge for damage done by Lenin to Russia. ---
**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 12, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29282 "2019-01-12T02:41:40Z")
I can’t help but wonder how many people still believe the election of Trump was as a result of a legitimate election. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29283 "2019-01-12T03:11:22Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Bombshell: F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html) MSNBC, for sure, is treating this like some sort of major scoop. I’m happy to be schooled if I’m missing something obvious, but what makes this such a ‘bombshell’? That is, the article mostly just reports on the existence of this enquiry, and does not clearly state how far the enquiry proceeded and what the results might have been except that, apparently, elements of the enquiry eventually were rolled into the Special Counsel’s investigation, once he had been appointed. Don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t find any of this especially surprising or earth-shattering. Yes, I am aware that much is being made in the press at this moment of the President’s name (supposedly) being referenced in the subject line of electronic communications on this matter, as that presumably is rather unprecedented, but I’m not clear how the mere knowledge of the existence of such an enquiry is of great significance when Mueller, has been plowing the same ground for a couple of years now. I’ll hang up and listen. ---
**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 12, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29284 "2019-01-12T03:15:04Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I can’t help but wonder how many people still believe the election of Trump was as a result of a legitimate election. More than the tipping point number, apparently, as he seems to still be POTUS. I spend a lot of time imagining a day when we go over the tipping point, tho, and his jig is up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1463) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1465)