# 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:** 149
**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:** [April 3, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2961 "2017-04-03T16:10:17Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > While the word is not used in [this article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Service_Fund#Low_income_.28Lifeline.29), it sums up the program that is sometimes referred to as Obamaphones. > > ETA: ninja’d by Aspenglow. Brava! 😉 ---
**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:** [April 3, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2962 "2017-04-03T16:10:45Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What on Earth is an “Obamaphone”? It’s the [Lifeline Assistance Fund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Service_Fund#Low_income_.28Lifeline.29), which provides telephones (and now, as of last year, internet) to poor people, to facilitate job hunting and provide other important functions. It is funded by a tariff on the telecoms providers (who generally pass the cost onto paying customers). The program began under Reagan and was expanded to cellphones under Bush, but because some excited woman was filmed saying that she was going to “get me one of those Obamaphones” when Obama was elected the right have come to believe that the program is an Obama-driven handout to the undeserving. It is yet another successful right-wing lie that has become embedded in the minds of the faithful. ETA: Double-ninja’d! ---
**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:** [April 3, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2963 "2017-04-03T16:24:33Z")
I thought the Obamaphone was how we got a hold of the former president when the [Obama Signal](http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/52000/Bat-Signal-Replaced-by-Obama-Signal-Over-City--52080.jpg) was down. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2964 "2017-04-03T17:03:40Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > She never thought the leopards would eat _her_ face. Because even though it’s called the Leopards Eating Peoples Faces party, everyone “knows” they only eat black people faces! ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2965 "2017-04-03T18:05:34Z")
Receiving government help is only bad in the third person; is perfectly fine in the first person. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2966 "2017-04-03T18:12:03Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What on Earth is an “Obamaphone”? Ringringringringringringringring, Obamaphone! Ringringringringringringringring, Obama_phoooone_! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2967 "2017-04-03T18:22:19Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Ringringringringringringringring, Obamaphone! > Ringringringringringringringring, Obama_phoooone_! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2968 "2017-04-03T18:26:40Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Because even though it’s called the Leopards Eating Peoples Faces party, everyone “knows” they only eat black people faces! And Hispanic people’s faces, and Muslims’ faces, and coastal elites’ faces, and LGBTQ faces, and ‘rootless cosmopolitans’ faces, and the faces of people who say “happy holidays” at Christmas, and… ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2969 "2017-04-03T19:19:50Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > For the voters to turn away from their preferred candidate will take much longer than this, like a couple of years, and they’ll have to be actually, materially damaged by him, not just “this would theoretically hurt me but it hasn’t actually happened yet.” > [@](#): > > Their grandstanding leaders never deliver, their fury mounts and mounts, and nevertheless they turn out every two years to return their right-wing heroes to office for a second, a third, a twentieth try. The trick never ages; the illusion never wears off. Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again; receive deindustrialization. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors; receive electricity deregulation. Vote to get government off our backs; receive conglomeration and monopoly everywhere from media to meatpacking. Vote to stand tall against terrorists; receive Social Security privatization. Vote to strike a blow against elitism; receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetimes, in which workers have been stripped of power and CEOs are rewarded in a manner beyond imagining. — _What’s the Matter with Kansas?_ ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2970 "2017-04-03T20:16:20Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What on Earth is an “Obamaphone”? Chicken. Chicken? [Nope nope nope nope.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KTc3PsW5ghQ) ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2971 "2017-04-03T20:59:01Z")
So Devos’s brother helped set up a backchannel between Putin and Trump. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3\_story.html?utm\_term=.9e510a2018bc](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.9e510a2018bc) > [@](#): > > The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2972 "2017-04-03T21:49:15Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > So Devos’s brother helped set up a backchannel between Putin and Trump. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3\_story.html?utm\_term=.9e510a2018bc](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.9e510a2018bc) My, my, my, my, my. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2973 "2017-04-03T22:15:32Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > So Devos’s brother helped set up a backchannel between Putin and Trump. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3\_story.html?utm\_term=.9e510a2018bc](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.9e510a2018bc) I was wondering what Ms. Devos’ qualifications for Secretary of Education were. I mean, last week, I was thinking “Wait a minute - how can she be appointed by Trump when she has no connection to Russian spies?” ---
**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:** [April 4, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2974 "2017-04-04T03:11:36Z")
[So a study from the University of Helsinki says that Trump won because he’s so handsome.](https://heatst.com/politics/study-donald-trump-won-because-hes-just-so-damned-handsome/) ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2975 "2017-04-04T05:35:59Z")
I’m guessing Trump will try to connect Hillary to Blackwater. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2017, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2976 "2017-04-04T05:42:15Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > I’m guessing Trump will try to connect Hillary to Blackwater. At least she’ll have a matched set. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2977 "2017-04-04T05:57:46Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I thought the Obamaphone was how we got a hold of the former president when the [Obama Signal](http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/52000/Bat-Signal-Replaced-by-Obama-Signal-Over-City--52080.jpg) was down. No, an Obamaphone is when two words that have opposite definitions mean the same thing. Like “atheist” and “muslim.” ---
**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:** [April 4, 2017, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2978 "2017-04-04T09:30:11Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > So Devos’s brother helped set up a backchannel between Putin and Trump. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3\_story.html?utm\_term=.9e510a2018bc](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.9e510a2018bc) Betsy DeVos is Eric Prince’s sister? I can’t think of a epithet strong enough to express my reaction to learning that. > [@](#): > > In a July interview with Bannon, Prince said those seeking forceful U.S. leadership should “wait till January and hope Mr. Trump is elected.” And he lashed out at President Barack Obama, saying that because of his policies “ **the terrorists, the fascists, are winning**.” …says the man with _his own paramilitary with a record of murdering civilians_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2979 "2017-04-04T10:40:54Z")
But he bills for it! The terrorists do it _without proper invoicing_! What do you have against America!!?!?! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/2980 "2017-04-04T11:41:13Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But he bills for it! The terrorists do it _without proper invoicing_! What do you have against America!!?!?! Ha! Exactly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=148) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=150)