# 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:** 1466
**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, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29305 "2019-01-12T06:42:05Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Obviously they did, as the German/Austro-Hungarian alliance rules Europe from border to bolder to this day. The goal, as stated, was to knock Russia out of the war…? 😕 ---
**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 12, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29306 "2019-01-12T06:47:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Ain’t gonna happen. (Nor should it.) We’ll see. The whole thing gets weirder and weirder. ---
**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 12, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29307 "2019-01-12T07:53:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > We may be moving from whether a sitting president can be indicted to whether a sitting president can receive the death penalty for treason. We aren’t actually. A _sitting_ president can be impeached, and subsequent to conviction, be removed from office; only _THEN_ can he be tried for treason, convicted, and executed. But as **Johnny L.A.** points out, he _shouldn’t_. This is because capital punishment is morally wrong, always and everywhere, and always has been, since the beginning of time. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29308 "2019-01-12T08:02:32Z")
[It’s all a great big lie from the Failing New York Times. Nothing to see here, move along](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/11/trump-fbi-russia-investigation-new-york-times-report-1098635):[ul] [li]Comey is a partisan hack;[/li][li]McCabe is a known liar;[/li][li]Trump has been harder on Russia than any previous President, especially that weakling Obama.[/li][/ul]Now don’t you feel better? Just drink your warm milk and go back to sleep. ---
**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 12, 2019, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29309 "2019-01-12T09:45:47Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > [Frank Figliuzzi](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1083921507158347777), former former Assistant Director for Counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation: > > _“The FBI is privy to all kinds of intel … if you’re going to open a case on the POTUS, you’re going to have more than just unstable behavior … you’re going to have something that gives you at least a reasonable suspicion if not specific and articulable facts.”_ I mean, technically, both he and Cohen were probably already under RICO investigation by Preet Bharara from before he even started running for President. Beyond that, both Manafort and Carter Page had large FBI files against them and had been close to being indicted at varying points in the past. Maybe there’s more that we don’t know, but we have known that there was sufficient reason to open an investigation into Trump himself for 2 years now, just based on that alone. If you further have the Australian Ambassador telling you that Trump’s people were talking about secret Russian hacking, before everyone else knew about it, and that he fired the head of the FBI as soon as he could, you really don’t have to feel that there needs to have been more, before opening a file on the question. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29310 "2019-01-12T10:04:11Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > This is a bombshell because there was sufficient evidence for the FBI to investigate whether the President was working for Russia and a threat to national security. This is much more serious than just investigating his campaign staff. > > On edit, Aspenglow summed it up nicely. Bombshell certainly but at the same time it has a certain familiarity to it which is to say I could swear I read about this months ago. Trump did something absurd, the FBI said “WTF?” and an investigation started. I know there is now about seventeen different variations of this story going on right now but this specific one feels oddly familiar. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29311 "2019-01-12T10:36:23Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Trump is histories first witting and unwitting asset. Schrödinger’s asset. ---
**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, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29312 "2019-01-12T10:46:44Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Bombshell certainly but at the same time it has a certain familiarity to it which is to say I could swear I read about this months ago. Trump did something absurd, the FBI said “WTF?” and an investigation started. I know there is now about seventeen different variations of this story going on right now but this specific one feels oddly familiar. After the firing of James Comey, between the Lester Holt interview and the Oval Office meeting with the Russians (no American press allowed), the FBI opened a _counterintelligence_ investigation to determine if the President is a Russian asset. This is a different investigation than the campaign stuff, the Cohen stuff, etc. This makes 18 investigations. This CI work was folded into Mueller, giving it more protection. This is why Mueller’s order, to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, was so broad - it is a counterintelligence investigation, not just a criminal investigation. And, yes, you’re right… in some ways we “knew” this, but this certifies what we previously pieced together. So, in one week: 1. Manafort gives raw polling data to Kremlin intermediary, 2. Trump is found/confirmed to be the subject of a CI investigation. ---
**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 12, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29313 "2019-01-12T11:33:49Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “Officer, before you go, I’d like to correct that ticket.” “Of course you would. Now piss off.” > [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Schrödinger’s asset. I was wondering how someone could be a witting asset when he’s witless in the first place. ---
**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, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29314 "2019-01-12T11:39:54Z")
I don’t know, this shutdown indicates he is still a witting asset. From our perspective it makes little sense, but if you’re a Russian asset looking to delay the inevitable, why wouldn’t you shut down as much of the government as you can _just when_ the opposition party takes over the House? And you might get to mobilize the military! ---
**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 12, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29315 "2019-01-12T13:52:05Z")
Hillary Clinton called Trump a Russian puppet during one of their debates. This was no secret. The FBI’s investigation is huge news, and not surprising news. Almost half of the voters voted for him anyway. Welcome to America, land of the dipshit. ---
**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 12, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29316 "2019-01-12T14:12:28Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Schrödinger’s asset. I think that the ‘et’ is superfluous. ---
**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 12, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29317 "2019-01-12T14:31:52Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 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. That’s why I think the tipping point will be a massive disaster of epic proportions. Trump has the senate. He has the courts. He’s undermining the executive bureaucracy and trying to make it less independent. Some people who voted for Trump voted to shock the system. They’re going to get their wish. ---
**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, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29318 "2019-01-12T16:09:03Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Obviously they did, as the German/Austro-Hungarian alliance rules Europe from border to bolder to this day. It took “the Russian steamroller” out of the war. ---
**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, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29319 "2019-01-12T16:14:18Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > …Chump will no doubt claim politics and anger at the Comey firing… If anything like that occurs, he will fall back onto his tried and true defense of lying about it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29320 "2019-01-12T16:21:52Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Some people who voted for Trump voted to shock the system. They’re going to get their wish. We may all get their wish. Many already are. Of course, according to Trump, they like not getting paychecks. I think they should camp out on his golf courses. I think that one way out of this is that Trump supporters (except for the top 1%) are going to get hit the hardest. They will, or course, continue to avoid those nasty things called facts. I suspect that if Trump makes it to 2020, they will simply not vote. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29321 "2019-01-12T16:35:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [etymology - What is the origin of the idiom "jig is up"? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/261702/what-is-the-origin-of-the-idiom-jig-is-up) > ETA: [Secondary cite](https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/55/messages/720.html) > > > [@](#): > > > > “The expression suggests that the dance is over and that the time has come to pay the fiddler. However, its derivation is more complicated. ‘Jig’ is a very old term for a lively dance, but in Elizabethan times the word became slang for a practical joke or a trick. ‘The jig is up’ - meaning your trick or game is finished, has been exposed, we’re onto you now - derives from this obsolete slang word, not the ‘jig’ that is a lively dance.” From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson [Yabbut](https://www.quora.com/Which-is-correct-The-jig-is-up-or-The-gig-is-up): > [@](#): > > Although “the gig is up” could mean a short-term job (“gig”) has come to an end, it sounds more natural to say, “The gig is over.” In this new gig economy, where people work short-term, part-time jobs, often without benefits such as vacation, pension, overtime, or full-time status, we may hear “the gig is up” (or “over) many times in our lifetimes! Since we’re talking about Cheetolilni’s short-term job coming to a conclusion, we could say, “the gig is up.” 😃 ---
**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 12, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29322 "2019-01-12T17:13:10Z")
A gig is also the captain’s dinghy. When the gig is down (in the water), the captain is off somewhere else; when the gig is up, the captain is back onboard and you better be behaving yourself again. ---
**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 12, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29323 "2019-01-12T17:51:46Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > An “asset” is not _necessarily_ a willing co-conspirator. True. It can also be a person who is subject to blackmail because of a tape of him consorting with prostitutes, or because the blackmailer with one phone call to the right oligarch can have all of the blackmailee’s lines of credit cancelled. ---
**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 12, 2019, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29324 "2019-01-12T17:56:03Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I think they should camp out on his golf courses. Or an Occupy Mar-a-Lago? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1465) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1467)