# 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:** 1496
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29905 "2019-01-24T00:19:26Z")
If I were Pelosi I’d be sorely tempted to taunt Donald with information like this. Like, “My chances of being re-elected in 2020 are pretty near 100%. How are your polls looking…_Donald_?” ---
**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 24, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29906 "2019-01-24T00:44:28Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Individual 1 wanted to give NASA **an unlimited amount of money** to send humans to Mars before his term ends. > [Trump Offered NASA Unlimited Funding to Go to Mars By 2020](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/trump-offered-nasa-unlimited-funding-to-go-to-mars-by-2020.html) > [@eschereal](#): > > Meanwhile, NASA is staffed by unpaid volunteers, FTTB. Trump doesn’t care two cents about NASA or its goals. He’s just desperate to get his hands on a big, juicy slush fund. (Bolding mine in the first quote). How can he hold onto power unless he has moolah to spread around where it counts? ---
**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 24, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29907 "2019-01-24T00:52:55Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > The co-author (in actuality, the sole author) of Art of the Deal thinks that [the SOTU is Trump’s biggest weakness.](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-tony-schwartz-art-of-the-deal-shutdown_us_5c484372e4b025aa26be7e3c) He’ll cave on the shutdown rather than miss an opportunity to bloviate in front of an audience, 50% of whom will applaud. What Trump craves more than anything is the show of power inherent in all the frequent pool-shots of Democrats sitting there looking angry and frustrated. They HAVE to sit there because HE is the PRESIDENT and there is NOTHING they can DO about it!!!1!!!1!!! And he will invite GUESTS who will PISS OFF the Democrats, and that will SHOW EVERYONE who’s boss! And Nancy and Chuck will sit there looking angry and they’ll show all the other Democrats he hates sitting there looking angry and it will just be the best thing _ever_!!!1!!! He has been looking forward to this since the one last year. And yes: he may end up caving, in order to get it. (Of course he’ll declare his caving the biggest victory in human history, with himself as the triumphant hero who would _not_ give in, so Nancy had to cave! But it will be Donald who will cave.) The “Nancy” nickname, by the way, is the furthest Trump dares go in disrespecting Pelosi—she has actual power over him, and he knows it. She can make his life miserable with hearings and impeachment votes----or she can go easy on him. He’s still hoping for the latter. ---
**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 24, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29908 "2019-01-24T00:58:40Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > The “Nancy” nickname, by the way, is the furthest Trump dares go in disrespecting Pelosi—she has actual power over him, and he knows it. She can make his life miserable with hearings and impeachment votes----or she can go easy on him. He’s still hoping for the latter. Were I to suspect him of being clever, I would say that the “Madame” Nanci nonsense was pretty close. But, he probably just can’t spel gud. ---
**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 24, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29909 "2019-01-24T01:33:41Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Were I to suspect him of being clever, I would say that the “Madame” Nanci nonsense was pretty close. > > But, he probably just can’t spel gud. We’ve seen a bit of evidence on the spelling question. (And negative evidence on the “clever” question.) ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29910 "2019-01-24T02:34:15Z")
I would love to see Trump try to force his way into delivering the SotU so Pelosi can go on live TV and say “No Means NO!” ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29911 "2019-01-24T02:41:15Z")
I was thinking about the SOTU, should it happen this year. Not a modified one, an alternate one, but a real, traditional one. The last time Trump spoke in front of people who weren’t his base or employed by the government was the UN, right? And they literally laughed at him. Having it be canceled, despite the huge ego blow, could be to his benefit. The Dems are going to loudly laugh at him. He might even get booed. (And anyone who starts yammering about civility can cram it unless they can prove they spoke up with that “YOU LIE!” Rep.) Just on the math alone, the applause will be weaker. 40 seat swing to the Dems means 40 fewer slavish GOPers to gaze adoringly at The Master. The remaining Republican Congress members aren’t all happy with things and I would expect most of them to be generally subdued. Despite their inaction on the shutdown, they all must be privately seething that their seats could be in jeopardy because of his temper tantrum. He should look at not giving the speech as a blessing because I don’t think that should it happen, it’s going to give him what he wants other than the temporarily high of adulation… until the first eye rolls and giggles start ---
**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 24, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29912 "2019-01-24T02:49:22Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I would love to see Trump try to force his way into delivering the SotU so Pelosi can go on live TV and say “No Means NO!” I’d like to see him try it so Congress has a chance to do what Parliament did to Charles I when he did the same thing… (Historical hint: They cut off his head. Well, _eventually_.) ---
**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 24, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29913 "2019-01-24T03:05:57Z")
BTW, I hope whoever is his acting Chief of Staff knows that, in the event of a televised speech (that is, broadcast, instead of delivered to the House and Senate), a hard copy of the prepared speech is required to be delivered to the Legislature. Waitaminute. On the other hand, maybe I hope they DON’T, so if a year passes without delivery of the hard copy, they have another Article of Impeachment to present. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29914 "2019-01-24T03:27:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > BTW, I hope whoever is his acting Chief of Staff knows that, in the event of a televised speech (that is, broadcast, instead of delivered to the House and Senate), a hard copy of the prepared speech is required to be delivered to the Legislature. > > Waitaminute. On the other hand, maybe I hope they DON’T, so if a year passes without delivery of the hard copy, they have another Article of Impeachment to present. Skipping a year is hardly an impeachable offense, especially since it’s not Constitutionally required to be done annually. (“From time to time” as I recall). And I say that as some who would support immediate impeachment. ---
**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 24, 2019, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29915 "2019-01-24T06:09:03Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [After House Blocks SOTU, Trump Announces "Alternative" Event](https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/capital-region/politics/2019/01/23/trump-letter-to-pelosi-state-of-the-union) > > But then, she has since sent him another letter saying No. Trump has agreed to do the SOTU after the shutdown is over. Trump is looking like Nancy’s bitch now. The headline on [FoxNews.com](http://FoxNews.com) right now is “TRUMP BLINKS” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29916 "2019-01-24T06:20:29Z")
> [@](#): > > …And I say that as some who would support immediate impeachment. I would see him impeached for moral turpentine. Bogus. And sometime in the future, I would probably feel bad about that. Pretty sure. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29917 "2019-01-24T06:54:36Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Trump has agreed to do the SOTU after the shutdown is over. Trump is looking like Nancy’s bitch now. > > The headline on [FoxNews.com](http://FoxNews.com) right now is “TRUMP BLINKS” 🙂 Don’t you know that’s gonna make his head asplode. He’ll flop tomorrow to try and look tough. ---
**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 24, 2019, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29918 "2019-01-24T07:26:04Z")
Now, now. He might not. Let’s see what Ann Coulter has to say… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29919 "2019-01-24T08:11:21Z")
Two parts banshee, one part harridan, one part screech owl. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29920 "2019-01-24T09:14:04Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I would see him impeached for moral turpentine. Bogus. And sometime in the future, I would probably feel bad about that. Pretty sure. I believe the term is _moral turpitude_, but yeah, ISTM Trump has the same stench as turpentine. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29921 "2019-01-24T12:53:03Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I-1 has recognized the opposition leader as the legitimate President of Venezuela. > > [Juan Guaidó: US backs opposition leader as Venezuela president](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46980913) > > Maduro has ordered all US State department people out of the country. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the\_americas/opposition-launches-protests-to-oust-maduro-as-us-venezuela-tensions-rise/2019/01/22/0416687a-1e4f-11e9-a759-2b8541bbbe20\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/opposition-launches-protests-to-oust-maduro-as-us-venezuela-tensions-rise/2019/01/22/0416687a-1e4f-11e9-a759-2b8541bbbe20_story.html)? At first I thought this was another Trumpish distraction but surprisingly the US is merely lining up with Canada and the OAS on this one, and Maduro is undeniably a corrupt asshole. The Trump administration may have been hamhanded in their execution but it’s a relatively uncontroversial position to take. That Maduro has focused primarily on the US in his reprisals is unsurprising; “Yanqui go home” has a long and cherished history. ---
**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 24, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29922 "2019-01-24T13:09:22Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > As I said in the Elections thread, The Speaker controls the broadcasting so she could let him deliver the SOTU but refuse him a TV audience. > [@jsc1953](#): > > Oh but that would be petty. And hilarious. Especially if she sandbags him. I can see him now, arriving in the chamber with his entourage of lickspittles. “Uh, where are the cameras?” “I never said the speech would be televised, Mr. President.” Just make sure someone has their phone out to record him storming back out. Or his head exploding like that Oregon whale. Edit: Oh, and it being four days past the mid-point of the term and with some 29,900+ posts, I’m putting in to change the thread title from ‘clusterfuck in the making’ to ‘ongoing clusterfuck.’ ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29923 "2019-01-24T13:26:25Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Two parts banshee, one part harridan, one part screech owl. You forgot vodka. Without alcohol it’s just too disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/29924 "2019-01-24T13:43:22Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I believe the term is _moral turpitude_, but yeah, ISTM Trump has the same stench as turpentine. I’m pretty sure the malapropism was intentional. or the Mallomar was international. Take your pick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1495) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1497)