# 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:** 1539
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30765 "2019-02-19T21:50:18Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > And leaves us after carving “Trump was here” on a ceiling beam… He’s too short to reach the ceiling without standing on something, like his ego. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30766 "2019-02-19T22:39:10Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > He’s too short to reach the ceiling without standing on something, like his ego. even his ego isn’t strong enough for that - thats why he has to keep stroking it. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30767 "2019-02-20T00:07:32Z")
Attention: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT GO THERE! ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30768 "2019-02-20T00:15:56Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > When this is all over Trump will get a library, they all do. I suggest bolting shelves to the wall and stocking it with Dr. Suess books only in Spanish. > > The Berlin Wall had some great graffiti, but it will be nothing compared to hundreds of miles of painted Trump Tweets. People from all over the world will come and hike The Trail of Laughs. It’ll stimulate the economy and bring us closer together with out neighbors to the south. Isn’t that what that twerp in the White House wants? “Without our neighbors to the south”? Actually, I’d dearly love to see the graffiti on such a wall. But only that put up by the non-trumpeters. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30769 "2019-02-20T00:50:04Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > When this is all over Trump will get a library, they all do. I suggest bolting shelves to the wall and stocking it with Dr. Suess books only in Spanish. > … > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > My hope is that he establishes a prison library…in his prison. I said somewhere on this board that thump’s library will consist of all his tweets on a flash drive, which is kept in an Altoids tin in the janitor’s closet at Trump Tower. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30770 "2019-02-20T01:01:48Z")
[Randy Rainbow channels Madge in his latest on Trumpy-Wumpy’s National Not-So-Emergency.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EInIEuNSMrI) ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30771 "2019-02-20T01:01:49Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Do you not understand that but for McCabe, there would have been no Mueller? > > Andrew McCabe is our version of Christopher Steele in the FBI. He’s a 20-year veteran of counter intelligence operations, an expert in Russia, a former Republican (not that his political affiliation should matter one whit). He was the one who opened the counter intelligence investigation into Trump and his campaign, then took every step he could think of to ensure what they were finding would not be disappeared. > > McCabe lost his job – and his retirement pension – owing to the fact that he threw himself on the grenade to protect the investigation. As a former civil servant who collects a pension myself, I can tell you this is a big-ass deal to both McCabe and his family. I am quite sure he did not envision his post-FBI career as an author, but you know, a guy’s gotta eat. > > His book was scrubbed for accuracy by Mueller’s team and to make certain it did not reveal anything Mueller wasn’t ready to reveal. For all you know, Mueller is glad to have someone speaking up in defense of the FBI, the actions it took after Comey was fired and most importantly, why. > > My guess is, the FBI has no problem with McCabe writing a book to recoup some measure of financial security in his retirement years after a long, distinguished career in service, to make up for was taken from him by Trump. If he is able to say some of the things that Mueller can’t yet say, so much the better. Thank you for this. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30772 "2019-02-20T01:21:47Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Lindsey Graham’s response to McCabe’s book is a threat to hold hearings, to get to the bottom of the whole 25th Amendment discussion. To which I say: is that a promise? I’d love to give McCabe an opportunity to discuss just what he thinks of Trump. > \*\*And Graham describes it as an “administrative coup”. \*\* Well, isn’t that what the 25A is for? There are 2 possible explanations for what happened: > > 1 - a cabal in the Justice Dept/FBI is discussing the (extremely long-shot) possibility of using the 25A to get rid of a president they don’t like; or > 2 - a group of patriots is horrified at the thought that the President is a Russian spy, and are looking for a way out. > For some reason Graham thinks option 1 is the problem that needs to be investigated. Whatever Graham thinks, the Trumpist talking point that McCabe and Rosenstein were participating in an “administrative coup” is exploded as fiction by the fact that \*\*_Congressional Republicans_ were informed that the investigation was taking place. \*\*\*This happened nearly two years ago: > [@](#): > > Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Tuesday that **no congressional leaders voiced objections** when he told them in May 2017 that the bureau had opened a counterintelligence investigation into President Donald Trump. > > … Pressed by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on whether any member of the group objected, McCabe said that none of them had. > > “That’s the important part here, Savannah. **No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds, and not based on the facts** ,” McCabe said. > > On the Senate side, the group of lawmakers at the time were Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va. > > The House members were then-Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as well as former House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and then-ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif. [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/andrew-mccabe-no-one-in-gang-of-8-objected-to-fbi-investigation-of-trump.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/andrew-mccabe-no-one-in-gang-of-8-objected-to-fbi-investigation-of-trump.html) \*Democrats, too. But the point is: if the Republicans felt anything “coup”-like was happening, they had every opportunity to do something about it. They were in full charge of both houses of Congress at the time. (All emphasis is mine.) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30773 "2019-02-20T01:40:16Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Whatever Graham thinks, the Trumpist talking point that McCabe and Rosenstein were participating in an “administrative coup” is exploded as fiction by the fact that \*\*_Congressional Republicans_ were informed that the investigation was taking place. \*\*\*This happened nearly two years ago: > > [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/andrew-mccabe-no-one-in-gang-of-8-objected-to-fbi-investigation-of-trump.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/andrew-mccabe-no-one-in-gang-of-8-objected-to-fbi-investigation-of-trump.html) > \*Democrats, too. But the point is: if the Republicans felt anything “coup”-like was happening, they had every opportunity to do something about it. They were in full charge of both houses of Congress at the time. > (All emphasis is mine.) Wonder why they weren’t concerned about the investigation before, but they are now. Look at Lindsey Grahm, new Trump boot licker. I think, it comes down to - Oh, shit… me too. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30774 "2019-02-20T14:41:47Z")
**[Putin: Russia will target US if it deploys missiles in Europe](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBTQlUK?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare)** > [@](#): > > MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will respond to any U.S. deployment of short or intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe by targeting not only the countries where they are stationed, but the United States itself, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. > > In his toughest remarks yet on a potential new arms race, Putin said Russia was not seeking confrontation and would not take the first step to deploy missiles in response to Washington’s decision this month to quit a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty. > > But he said that Russia’s reaction to any deployment would be resolute and that U.S. policy-makers, some of whom he said were obsessed with U.S. exceptionalism, should calculate the risks before taking any steps. > … To which thump will probably reply, “Ah, no…Vlad and I are buds! We’re bros. He’d never do that. He likes me. We’ve even kissed on the mouth. At least I \*think \*that was him.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30775 "2019-02-20T15:09:42Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [Randy Rainbow channels Madge in his latest on Trumpy-Wumpy’s National Not-So-Emergency.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EInIEuNSMrI) Mike Pence loves Madonna! ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30776 "2019-02-20T16:03:58Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [Randy Rainbow channels Madge in his latest on Trumpy-Wumpy’s National Not-So-Emergency.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EInIEuNSMrI) “Madge?” I half expected to see the American-hating fuckstick waist-deep in a vat of raw sewage (bearing a label that reads “BULLSHIT”), and Randy saying “You’re soaking in it.” Couldn’t figure out how he’d work that into a song, though. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30777 "2019-02-20T17:02:23Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Whatever Graham thinks, the Trumpist talking point that McCabe and Rosenstein were participating in an “administrative coup” is exploded as fiction by the fact that \*\*_Congressional Republicans_ were informed that the investigation was taking place. \*\*\*This happened nearly two years ago: > > [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/andrew-mccabe-no-one-in-gang-of-8-objected-to-fbi-investigation-of-trump.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/andrew-mccabe-no-one-in-gang-of-8-objected-to-fbi-investigation-of-trump.html) > > \*Democrats, too. But the point is: if the Republicans felt anything “coup”-like was happening, they had every opportunity to do something about it. They were in full charge of both houses of Congress at the time. > > (All emphasis is mine.) I think you’re confusing two different things: the counterintelligence investigation, and the suggestion that the FBI should coordinate removal under the 25th. A counterintelligence investigation of the President is unprecedented, but it’s within the FBI’s mandate. Disclosing that investigation to the Congressional oversight was very important and correct. But I don’t see anything in that article that suggests that McCabe told the oversight committee that the FBI was starting to speculate on which Cabinet members might be amenable to a 25th Amendment solution. That’s not part of the FBI’s criminal/counterintelligence mandate. That’s pure politics. Unless there is evidence that McCabe and Rosenstein disclosed that to the oversight committee, I think it’s highly appropriate that Graeme start an investigation. The 25th Amendment solution is something for Congress to consider, not a supposedly non-partisan law enforcement agency. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30778 "2019-02-20T17:22:11Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The 25th Amendment solution is something for Congress to consider, not a supposedly non-partisan law enforcement agency. Well… yes, but no. Congress is empowered by the 25th to make laws concerning what governmental “body” other than the principle officers of the Executive branch may declare that the POTUS is unfit to serve. So far as I know, there is no law designating a different body to do so, other than the Cabinet officers. (One of whom is the Attorney General of the United States, as head of the Justice Department.) Only after such a declaration is made does Congress consider the solution. And a conversation regarding the possible use of the 25th Amendment between two high ranking staff members of a Cabinet department does not rise to the level of “administrative coup.” If Graham has any reason to suspect Rosenstein and McCabe were conspiring to in some way compel or extort a decision by the AG and at least 7 other Cabinet officers _and_ Vice President Pence, then he ought to share those reasons before calling for a show inquiry in the Senate. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30779 "2019-02-20T17:26:08Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The 25th Amendment solution is something for Congress to consider, not a supposedly non-partisan law enforcement agency. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the FBI wasn’t doing the speculating, it was Rod Rosenstein, the dep AG. I suppose Rosenstein wouldn’t have a vote (it would have been his boss, Sessions), but it doesn’t seem all that unusual that he would discuss this with the acting head of the FBI considering the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30780 "2019-02-20T17:29:11Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but the FBI wasn’t doing the speculating, it was Rod Rosenstein, the dep AG. I suppose Rosenstein wouldn’t have a vote (it would have been his boss, Sessions), but it doesn’t seem all that unusual that he would discuss this with the acting head of the FBI considering the circumstances. Exactly. Lindsay Graham’s concerns are political, not procedural/constitutional. If he has problems with what Rosenstein & McCabe were discussing then he has problems with the 25th Amendment. If there was a scenario where 2nd-level cabinet officials were concerned that the President of the United States might be a Russian spy…this is exactly how the process of removing him would work. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30781 "2019-02-20T17:34:38Z")
Graham is just spouting off. He certainly must know that an actual investigation into why the 25th was ever actively considered would simply lay those reasons out for the public to consider and digest - and that would not be helpful to Trump. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30782 "2019-02-20T18:11:33Z")
Graham sure seems defensive anymore. Worried, even. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30783 "2019-02-20T19:18:16Z")
Bill Barr, Trump’s new Attorney General, who swore before the Senate committee that he would not interfere in the Mueller investigation, is now running around telling people the Mueller investigation will wrap up by the end of next week. > **[Justice Department preparing for Mueller report as early as next week | CNN...](https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politics/special-counsel-conclusion-announcement/index.html)** > > Attorney General Bill Barr is preparing to announce as early as next week the completion of Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, with plans to submit to Congress soon after a summary of Mueller's confidential report ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/30784 "2019-02-20T19:30:44Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Bill Barr, Trump’s new Attorney General, who swore before the Senate committee that he would not interfere in the Mueller investigation, is now running around telling people the Mueller investigation will wrap up by the end of next week. > [https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politics/special-counsel-conclusion-announcement/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politics/special-counsel-conclusion-announcement/index.html) Which may not be interference, just a good source. > [@](#): > > The preparations are the clearest indication yet that Mueller is nearly done with his almost two-year investigation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1538) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1540)