# 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:** 1583
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31645 "2019-04-04T10:54:31Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > That’s the civics class answer for “What is the point of a political campaign?” The actual answer, contrary to your opinion and mine sadly, is “To get the rubes to vote for me because they hate the other person more”. Agreed, but there again I reckon that’s a black mark on both journalists and the opposition. They do this because they get away with it, time and again. Nobody bothers correcting, nobody bothers _opposing_. Not to the opponent’s face, anyway. It’s all bubble-based and impotent. It shouldn’t. People shouldn’t let them do this shit unchecked. The “fourth branch” is an absolute joke, presumably because they, too, have become so thoroughly corrupt and money-driven that they do what clickbait sells (to advertisers) rather than follow principles and do their fucking job. Fuck them. (but of course, this in turn is transitive to the public, who couldn’t be arsed to demand better journalism or better reps; nor elevate what few Hunter S. Thompsons are still out there to the forefront… Fuck \*\*all \*\*of y’all, is what I suppose I’m saying). ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31646 "2019-04-04T11:59:02Z")
We haz the best cybers?? WTF?? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31647 "2019-04-04T12:20:54Z")
what? ---
**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:** [April 4, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31648 "2019-04-04T12:55:47Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Only if you own major shares in a toxic waste dispocal corporation, of course. DeVos is not just abysmally incompetent and ill-suited to running a taco stand, let alone the DoE ; she might also be \*\*the most transparently corrupt and self-enrichment-driven-fuck-everything-else \*\*of the bunch now that Scott Pruit is out. And that’s no mean feat, considering… yes. That’s essentially what the entire Trump administration is. That’s partly - a large part - of what Trumpism is, and what it means for American “democracy,” particularly considering how the entire Republican party is so goddamn craven that the only way they can challenge Trump is to retire from office, and even those who do are so fucking terrified of being cockblocked from cushy lobbying gigs or jobs on conservative propaganda outlets that they’re pretty circumspect even in condemning Trump’s most egregious offenses. I bolded that specific passage for a reason: we’ve been flirting with oligarchy and plutocracy for probably a good couple of decades now, and to some extent, one could argue that anti-democratic (oligarchal, plutocratic, kleptocratic) pressure’s always present and applying pressure to any democratic system. But we’ve now crossed the threshold into open corruption in plain view, which is a feature of failing democracies or, simply put, non-democracies. It’s difficult to overstate just how alarming this development is, because what it means is that transparent corruption is competing in the political marketplace against political parties and factions that are trying to represent the public interest - or at least presume to do so. What would it mean, then, if the party of Devos and Pruitt were to win not only the presidency, but keep the Senate and retake the House? It would mean people support corruption and don’t care enough to stop it, or they are so discombobulated and misled by the media that they’re simply too checked out to bother with factual rigor. Either way, it would be one step closer toward the end of American democracy as we’ve known it - a reversal of the franchise. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31649 "2019-04-04T13:39:05Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Or, it doesn’t work because opposing him would mean siding with people who think Republicans are ‘little fascists’. In my post before the one you quoted, I mentioned it’s not a liberal vs. conservative issue. It’s entirely a Shit Gibbon issue, and yes, any who openly support the Shit Gibbon support fascism, and those in the Republican party who enable Shit Gibbon for their own benefit even while holding their own noses are still supporting fascism. If one doesn’t want to be called a fascist, don’t fucking support fascism. Don’t enable fascism. It’s as fucking simple as that. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31650 "2019-04-04T15:37:40Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > There were no Democratic candidates chanting anything equivalent to “Lock her up!”. Or spreading Birtherism. Or calling immigrants rapists. Or anything at all close to that. Trump is much, much worse than anything prominent Democrats have ever done in this regard. Orders of magnitude worse. But… but… Shrillary called Trump supporters a '[basket of deplorables](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables)"!!!1!! Far, far worse than _anything_ Dear Leader has ever done! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31651 "2019-04-04T15:50:29Z")
Truly, she is History’s Greatest Monster. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31652 "2019-04-04T16:06:21Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > But… but… Shrillary called Trump supporters a '[basket of deplorables](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables)"!!!1!! Far, far worse than _anything_ Dear Leader has ever done! Actually she called half of the Trump supporters a basket of deplorables (which even at the time admitted was a gross generalization), in a speech that was actually intended to say that her supporters shouldn’t automatically think all Trump supporters are bad people. > [@Clinton](#): > > You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic – you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America." > > "But the other basket – and I know this because I see friends from all over America here – I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas – as well as, you know, New York and California – but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. This has got to be one of the most egregious examples in history of someone being tarred for a quote taken out of context. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31653 "2019-04-04T18:53:04Z")
One advantage Drumpf has over his opponents is that it’s hard to take a quote out of context when there isn’t any context to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31654 "2019-04-04T19:31:49Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > One advantage Drumpf has over his opponents is that it’s hard to take a quote out of context when there isn’t any context to begin with. Like obstruction, it’s not stealing if you do it out in the open. Which I’m doing with this line. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31655 "2019-04-04T19:51:27Z")
In a development that comes as a surprise to no one, Trump sends out the punt team, and [gives Mexico a one-year warning](https://www.npr.org/2019/04/04/709933534/trump-walks-back-threat-to-close-u-s-border-giving-mexico-a-1-year-warning?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news) before he closes the border. I like how part of the threat involves Mexico shutting down the flow of drugs. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a country being responsible for inspecting its exports at the border. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31656 "2019-04-04T19:55:55Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Oh, you mean she won the election by 3 million votes but was prevented from taking office due to a technicality? Even you know that’s very disingenuous. C’mon trelmalou do better. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31657 "2019-04-04T20:01:45Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > In a development that comes as a surprise to no one, Trump sends out the punt team, and [gives Mexico a one-year warning](https://www.npr.org/2019/04/04/709933534/trump-walks-back-threat-to-close-u-s-border-giving-mexico-a-1-year-warning?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news) before he closes the border. Hah ! I just realized - that threat implicitly assumes he gets re-elected. Or it presumes he won’t, and then he won’t have to make good on his threat. Either way, hahahahahahahah. Oh, you fucknocker, you. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31658 "2019-04-04T20:03:47Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > This has got to be one of the most egregious examples in history of someone being tarred for a quote taken out of context. It is like you left your fly open. “_You were flashing your dick!_” ‘No, you just saw my fly open, nothing was ever actually exposed.’ She should not have used that language. At all. It tinted her with arrogance, established her as divisive. The fact that they used that phrase out of context is her own fault, for laying the phrase out in the open. Cuss the cusses out all you want, she gave them low-hanging fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31659 "2019-04-04T20:07:05Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > In a development that comes as a surprise to no one, Trump sends out the punt team, and [gives Mexico a one-year warning](https://www.npr.org/2019/04/04/709933534/trump-walks-back-threat-to-close-u-s-border-giving-mexico-a-1-year-warning?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news) before he closes the border. So we can just wait a year before we do something about a “National Emergency”? ---
**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 4, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31660 "2019-04-04T20:12:55Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > So we can just wait a year before we do something about a “National Emergency”? Silly you. Haven’t you heard? Wall™ has already been built while you were kibbitzing about whether or not we should close the border! ---
**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:** [April 4, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31661 "2019-04-04T20:17:47Z")
DON’T stay on the top floor of one of his hotels. He’s got such a relaxed sense of what “EMERGENCY” means that he’ll send an assistant manager up with a set of keys to unlock the Emergency Exit for you. And of course the assistant manager will be using the stairs. Everybody knows you don’t use an elevator in an emergency… ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31662 "2019-04-04T20:39:20Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > DON’T stay on the top floor of one of his hotels. He’s got such a relaxed sense of what “EMERGENCY” means that he’ll send an assistant manager up with a set of keys to unlock the Emergency Exit for you. Not if it’s on one of the unsprinklered floors during a fire. Well, _maybe_ if he’s got an undocumented worker he can send. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31663 "2019-04-04T21:26:33Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > Not if it’s on one of the unsprinklered floors during a fire. Well, _maybe_ if he’s got an undocumented worker he can send. Or a full-bladdered Russian prostitute. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31664 "2019-04-04T21:37:56Z")
“… the good news is we’re sending a Russian prostitute with a full bladder up to your room!” “What? What’s the _bad_ news then?” “Well, she’s only allowed to urinate on the bed.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1582) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1584)