# 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:** 1620
**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:** [May 11, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32385 "2019-05-11T17:40:21Z")
I set me up the bomb! ---
**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:** [May 11, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32386 "2019-05-11T18:10:26Z")
Sadly, All Trump’s base are belong to short-bus. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32387 "2019-05-11T18:13:55Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I set me up the bomb! Franz Liebkind: Gentlemen. Ve have here a technical problem. Hmm? I do not know if vat ve have here is ze quick burning fuse or ze slow buring fuse. Ja, ja, I must find zis out. [snips dynamite fuse] Franz Liebkind: Zis is critical. [lights fuse with match] Franz Liebkind: Ha ha ha, ja ja, you see zis? You see zis here vat I have told you? Yeah, zis is an example of smartness here. I have said that zis is ze quick fuse. Huh? And zis IS ze quick fuse. [pause] All: THE QUICK FUSE! [explosion] ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32388 "2019-05-11T18:51:02Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > A real mental giant is our Rudy. > > [“Rudy Giuliani thinks his own plan to travel to Ukraine was a ‘set-up’”](https://theweek.com/speedreads/840874/rudy-giuliani-thinks-plan-travel-ukraine-setup) > It’s those [del]damn[/del] Dem voices inside his head makin’ him do shit. :dubious: :channeling random Trumpeteer: Obummer and Hitlary brainwashed him! ---
**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:** [May 11, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32389 "2019-05-11T18:56:22Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Giuliani now says he won’t make Ukraine trip, just hours after [dyeing his hair](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_9QDsV7yiU). At least he didn’t use [spray-on hair](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLnHYFTad8I&feature=youtu.be&t=19). Looks like someone talked him out of it. “Uh, you know this might not be legal?” I’m not sure when anyone in those circles started giving a shit about legality, so of course I’m speculating. "Giuliani[told](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/giuliani-says-he-s-going-ukraine-meddle-probes-hopes-helping-n1004291)The New York Times in an interview published Thursday that “we’re not meddling in an election, we’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do,” adding that “there’s nothing illegal about it” even if some people “say it’s improper.” … Murphy (Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) added that he wants to know if the State Department has been briefed on the former New York City mayor’s efforts, if Giuliani’s “private foreign policy engagement” resulted in any official foreign policy decisions and if Giuliani has had any access to classified information and diplomatic cables, among other subjects. “The Senate Foreign Relations Committee should be concerned that the President of the United States is making foreign policy decisions through personal or campaign representatives that do not go through the Department of State, preventing us from exercising our constitutional oversight responsibilities on behalf of the American people,” Murphy said. > **[Sen. Chris Murphy calls for probe into Giuliani's efforts in Ukraine on...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/sen-chris-murphy-calls-probe-giuliani-s-efforts-ukraine-behalf-n1004551)** > > "These actions are entirely improper and could be illegal," Murphy said of Giuliani's reported actions. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32390 "2019-05-12T01:15:57Z")
Not sure wherelse to post this…Sure, I realise Jerry Nadler is obviously fighting the good fight, but Holy Fucking Grandier - what a dry motherfucker he is. Manoman. If he even catches Judy Woodruff asleep, [like here, at 3:39 (to set up his electric, bon vivant delivery),](https://www.njtvonline.org/programs/pbs-newshour/standoff-1557440270/) then, um, yeah - drier than fuck, alright. I’ve never heard her ask anyone to repeat what they just said. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32391 "2019-05-12T02:05:09Z")
She seemed to have stopped paying attention there for a moment, and lost what he said. He’s not eloquent as a speaker, but neither are most people. For example, when compared to Trump, he’s fucking Shakespeare. Can you imagine Trump word salading the following? (From the end of that interview) “We can not back down. To back down would be to admit that the administration may hold all materials secret from congress, so congress might as well go home. And then you have the president as a dictator above the law. We cannot admit that. We rebelled against George the Third two hundred and fifty-odd years ago, and we cannot admit that it was all a waste of time.” ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32392 "2019-05-12T02:39:18Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > He’s not eloquent as a speaker, but neither are most people. Myself - I don’t have a problem with, like, _anyone_ else, perceived eloquence or not. Nadler, though, is on a whole different stratosphere of sensual, histrionic sexiness. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32393 "2019-05-12T02:43:25Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Not sure wherelse to post this…Sure, I realise Jerry Nadler is obviously fighting the good fight, but Holy Fucking Grandier - what a dry motherfucker he is. Manoman. > If he even catches Judy Woodruff asleep, [like here, at 3:39 (to set up his electric, bon vivant delivery),](https://www.njtvonline.org/programs/pbs-newshour/standoff-1557440270/) then, um, yeah - drier than fuck, alright. I’ve never heard her ask anyone to repeat what they just said. I saw that as he is trying to avoid what she is obviously getting at - the recourse for congress is impeachment. First, of the Attorney General for refusing to cooperate with congress. Then, the President. The reason, I believe, that he doesn’t want to say that is because that they don’t have the votes in the senate. So, the plan is to first seek a court order while they try to court public opinion in order to sway the senate vote (I.e. if the public is sufficiently outraged, Senators would be compelled to convict). ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32394 "2019-05-12T03:04:31Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Because it’s **HIS ENTIRE SCHTICK**. He expresses this defeatist attitude in just about every post he makes. > > Maybe I can come over to your house and bang on the same piano key, over and over, all day long. > In any event I see Trump as simply shining a beam into the dark corners of the right wing, causing all sorts of things to scuttle out and be noticed. The more conservative people in this country will be forced to examine themselves and their beliefs, sooner or later. And we don’t necessarily need them all to do so (and recent polls are showing that enough are doing so). AND THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT HAD TO HAPPEN so that the Old Order would finally die, once and for all (and change into something else). Trump was simply the most convenient way to pull it off. > > As far as Mueller is concerned specifically, under what mechanism do you see it all just fading into nothing? Someone pointed out that the investigation would continue even if he is canned. > > I guess I am by nature an optimist. So sue me. Doesn’t mean that I am all eyes wide shut when it comes to the shite I see him and his cronies and fans doing on a daily basis. I’m simply saying that it is an unstable house of cards that will inevitably collapse at some point. Just thank Og that it was Trump and not someone who actually has a clear and coherent plan like ol’ Adolf did. Let’s be honest. Everyone who nodded their heads in agreement with this post a year ago - and I know it was the overwhelming majority of this website - now understands that I wasn’t being chicken little, and alarmist. We all acknowledge now that this country is in very deep shit. No amount of optimism is going to change shit. You all now know this. Do you understand now? “OMG, Asahi, why are you digging up a year-old thread?” Because people ridicule me and then they leave, and then they completely fail to understand that the big picture that I see takes time to develop. They can just shit post and leave and not stick around to be held accountable. I’m here to tell you: it’s going to get worse. Take your sunglasses off, or if you want, go retire in some central american country and sip on mixed drinks on the beach. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32395 "2019-05-12T03:27:20Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I’m here to tell you: it’s going to get worse. Take your sunglasses off, or if you want, go retire in some central american country and sip on mixed drinks on the beach. If you want credit for your prescience, you are going to have to be a lot more detailed in your predictions. Will immigrants be machine-gunned at the border? Will the 2020 election be cancelled? Will Democrats be rounded up and sent to gulags? Because that’s the level of dystopia you are conjuring, Casandra. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32396 "2019-05-12T03:38:59Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I saw that as he is trying to avoid what she is obviously getting at - the recourse for congress is impeachment. First, of the Attorney General for refusing to cooperate with congress. Then, the President. > The reason, I believe, that he doesn’t want to say that is because that they don’t have the votes in the senate. So, the plan is to first seek a court order while they try to court public opinion in order to sway the senate vote (I.e. if the public is sufficiently outraged, Senators would be compelled to convict). The current pessimist\* in me says in that situation there would be still too large (35%?) a fucked-up electorate to sway the senate vote to convict. With Nadler, though, I’m confident that - despite it taking 8? 16? 22? more months to resolve - he will quietly soldier on and bring Trump and the GOP to full, 100% account. Of this I’m entirely convinced. I cannot see him not eventually succeeding. \*yeah ok then a long-term optimist, then, whatever. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32397 "2019-05-12T03:55:08Z")
And the award for whiny self-congratulations goes to… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32398 "2019-05-12T06:37:49Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > And the award for whiny self-congratulations goes to… It’s an honor just to be nominated. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32399 "2019-05-12T06:50:11Z")
It was a valiant effort to be sure, but our 3-year running champ seems to have a lock on this one. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32400 "2019-05-12T13:11:51Z")
Trump the genius negotiator applies the late night infomercial “act now” strategy with China. …(p)resident [Donald Trump](https://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/) on Saturday called for [China](https://www.cnbc.com/china/) to act now on trade or risk facing a worse deal if negotiations continue into a possible second term after the 2020 presidential election. Trump claimed China was ‘beaten so badly’ in recent trade negotiations that Beijing wanted to wait until after the 2020 election in the hope a Democrat would win the White House and offer them a better deal. " > **[Trump tells China to 'act now' on trade or face a 'far worse' deal in his...](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/11/trump-tells-china-to-act-now-on-trade-or-face-a-far-worse-deal-in-his-second-term.html)** > > Chinese and U.S. negotiators held trade talks in Washington on Friday after Trump more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32401 "2019-05-12T13:17:53Z")
There is nothing that Trump or any US president can do to stop China from overtaking the US as the world’s most powerful country. In fact, what we’re doing now, not just with China but with bilateral behavior with other countries, ensures that our decline relative to China will occur more rapidly. What would be wiser instead would be to coordinate with other countries and gang up on China, and force their economy and their society to be more open and transparent. To be fair, I don’t think Trump is the only president to have missed opportunities with China, but he’s the only one who is delusional enough to believe that we have the power to prevent China from becoming a global equal to the United States – that is laughably insane thinking. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32402 "2019-05-12T13:29:12Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Nitpick: Milo Minderbinder Ya know, I found the link, said to myself, “Huh. It’s _binder_,” then forgot to change the link text! :smack: ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32403 "2019-05-12T17:29:41Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Trump the genius negotiator applies the late night infomercial “act now” strategy with China. > …(p)resident [Donald Trump](https://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/) on Saturday called for [China](https://www.cnbc.com/china/) to act now on trade or risk facing a worse deal if negotiations continue into a possible second term after the 2020 presidential election. > Trump claimed China was ‘beaten so badly’ in recent trade negotiations that Beijing wanted to wait until after the 2020 election in the hope a Democrat would win the White House and offer them a better deal. " > [Trump tells China to 'act now' on trade or face a 'far worse' deal in his second term](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/11/trump-tells-china-to-act-now-on-trade-or-face-a-far-worse-deal-in-his-second-term.html) “Operators are standing by to take your call!” ---
**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:** [May 12, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32404 "2019-05-12T18:41:11Z")
[“Is there anything Trump could do to lose the support of Republican senators? SNL has the answer.”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/05/12/is-there-anything-trump-could-do-lose-support-republican-senators-snl-has-answer/?utm_term=.6f7d8154c169) I read this at a fast food restaurant and laughed so loudly that I made a spectacle of my self. (Glad I didn’t pee in the booth.) It’s a mock Meet the Press sketch with mock McConnell, Collins, and Graham. The whole [short] article is hilarious, but this is the part that did it for me. > [@](#): > > …Finally, exasperated by the line of questioning, Todd [the interviewer] voiced the question point blank — is there absolutely anything Trump could do to lose your support? > > His guests thought about the query. > > “Let’s say hypothetically he got gay married,” McConnell said. > > “Yeah, to the leader of ISIS,” Graham clarified. > > “And they had matching diapers fashioned out of the original constitution,” Collins chimed in. > > Then? > > “Oh heck, who are we kidding?” McConnell said. “We’ll always be ride or die.” Funny? Yeah, but probably not too far from the truth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1619) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1621)