# 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:** 1642
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32825 "2019-05-23T20:45:43Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > [Trump Says House Speaker Pelosi Has “Lost It”](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-congress-pelosi-talks/trump-says-house-speaker-pelosi-has-lost-it-idUSKCN1ST2LP?il=0) (Reuters) > > “No, _you’re_ the puppet!!” > > His tactics are so predictable. And pathetic. But just look at his achomlishments. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32826 "2019-05-23T20:49:54Z")
\*\*I am not having a tantrum! You are the one having a tantrum!! \*\* ---
**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 23, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32827 "2019-05-23T20:51:12Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > But just look at his achomlishments. Bravo! Bravo! ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32828 "2019-05-23T20:58:34Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > But just look at his achomlishments. LOL, I take it he had another one of his “oranges” moments? I didn’t watch the presser. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32829 "2019-05-23T21:04:57Z")
> [@](#): > [Trump calls Tillerson ‘dumb as a rock’ and ‘lazy as hell’](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/07/trump-tillerson-dumb-lazy-1051485) [Trump nominates Exxon’s Rex Tillerson as US Secretary of State](https://www.dw.com/en/trump-nominates-exxons-rex-tillerson-as-us-secretary-of-state/a-36748296) > [@](#): > > Trump praised Tillerson’s “deep understanding of geopolitics” but critics have decried his ties with Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32830 "2019-05-23T21:06:46Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > LOL, I take it he had another one of his “oranges” moments? I didn’t watch the presser. Better than that - it’s how he spelled it on his handwritten cheat sheet. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32831 "2019-05-23T21:28:04Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Better than that - it’s how he spelled it on his handwritten cheat sheet. That _is_ better!! 😃 But he’s calling _Rex Tillerson_ dumb as a rock. Trump’s capacity for projection is bottomless. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32832 "2019-05-23T21:29:00Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “Interesting: @KatieHill4CA, who’s in a frontline swing district just told me calls to her office have flipped from being 2 to 1 _against_ impeachment to being 3 or 4 to 1 _for_.” > > [https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1131353752437448704?s=19](https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1131353752437448704?s=19) > > Katie Hill is the Rep for CA25. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > In reddest Orange County. We went all blue in 2018 (in the HoR. They still have a few seats in the Assembly). ---
**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 23, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32833 "2019-05-23T22:08:28Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Asahi is saying it, literally upthread. He’s not the only one. > > I get that harping on this definition is a bit pedantic - you are quite right about that, **ThelmaLou** , but the beginnings of knowledge is the definition of terms… and so far, as his “base”, the following definitions have been used: > > 1. All who voted for him. > 2. Those who currently support him. > 3. Those who will never leave him. > > If ones definition is #3, then discussions as to when his base is going to break away can be answered in one post: Never. It’s literally the definition of his “base”. > > If ones definition is #2, then discussions as to when his base, as set _today_, is going to break away becomes far more nuanced - “What, after all this shit, will it take to convince even more people to break away.” That’s an interesting question, and the usual answer is economic calamities, followed by the death by a thousand cuts theory. > > If ones definition is #1, well, hope this helps: [https://morningconsult.com/tracking-trump/](https://morningconsult.com/tracking-trump/) > > I subscribe to definition 3, that his base are those people who will never leave him. Even Hitler had supporters on May 3rd, 1945, millions of them. > > And since we already know the “base” is going to vote for Dotard, why the hell do we care what they’ll do if he is impeached or not? > > Regardless, let me make my point clear: **Ignore the goddamned “base” and do what is right: To be honorable, one does not need the consent of those with no honor.** Why not re-read what I wrote you fucking moron? Where did I mention that this is all about Trump’s base. FFS, Trump’s base is about 25-30% of the electorate, which is probably what I’ve been saying all along. I am saying that in addition to Trump’s base there are voters who lean Trump. In case you didn’t quite get it in 2016 and even now, there are people who are not predisposed to vote Democratic. They need some coaxing. How else do you explain the fact that in the year after Obama and the Democrats actually voted to expand healthcare coverage, the country voted to remove Democrats from power? What I am trying to explain to your thick-skulled ass is that the majority of this country, whether you like it or not, is conservative - mainly because the majority of this country is white. I tried to explain this to you back in 2016 but you told me to “Dial it back” as I recall. Well, look what happened. Also, you said some crap about how “Oh Donald Trump doesn’t want to be impeached! It’s nonsense to think that he wants to be impeached because, like, press conference.” Yeah well read this: > **[Pelosi tells colleagues Trump is 'villainous' — and that he wants to be...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/pelosi-trump-wants-be-impeached-n1009236)** > > The House speaker's message to Democrats came as vocal support for impeachment rose among lawmakers in the caucus. > [@](#): > > House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told her Democratic colleagues Thursday that President Donald Trump “wants to be impeached” so that he can be vindicated by the Senate. Now who are we going to believe: Nancy Pelosi, 2-time House Speaker, and someone who has decades of experience in power and has been one of the few people who can lay claim to absolutely owning Donald Trump…or John T. LOL! I think we know the answer. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32834 "2019-05-23T22:24:01Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Better than that - it’s how he spelled it on his handwritten cheat sheet. The one he wrote for his impromptu press conference. ---
**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 23, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32835 "2019-05-23T22:28:14Z")
“WhErE dId I sAy It WaS aBoUt ThE bAsE?” > [@asahi](#): > > I don’t see moral cowardice. It’s not like the House isn’t trying to do its proper oversight; it’s just that he’s basically saying “Fuck you! Come and get me.” There’s no question there’s a case for impeachment - there was the first week he was in office. It’s a much stronger statement for a democracy if people auditioning to be tyrants can be thrown out of power by 65 million people saying “No, fuck YOU!” rather than a few hundred representatives whose sentiments may or may not be in alignment. > > People want to view this as a moral struggle, and I agree that it is. But who put Trump in power in the first place? Was it Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, or was it millions of deplorables. **Sorry, bud, but it’s the deplorables we have to defeat as much as, maybe more than, Trump himself.** Maybe not defeat so much as convince that they made the wrong choice in the last election. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32836 "2019-05-23T22:58:03Z")
I said earlier in the thread that one day Trump was going to have a complete meltdown in public. Today was pretty bizarre but it’s only going to get crazier and more pathetic. He’ll be shouting insults soon instead of just tweeting them. ---
**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 23, 2019, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32837 "2019-05-23T22:58:26Z")
(I can do that all night, Asahi) ---
**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 23, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32838 "2019-05-23T22:59:35Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “WhErE dId I sAy It WaS aBoUt ThE bAsE?” Yes, and what about what I wrote was wrong? Is it Trump or Trump’s voters who are the problem in this country? I’ll try again: some people - an Arkansas couple, to be exact - tried to reform healthcare and tried to restrict psychos’ access to guns in the 1990s, and we got rewarded with a Republican nutjob congress. We got jobbed by an interventionist SCOTUS justice who overturned an election in Florida and got George W Bush. We got blatantly lied to about bullshit WMDs and bullshit Al Qaida connections (FFS the Bush and Cheney families had closer ties with Al Qaida than Saddam Hussein) and we got an invasion of Iraq - and the fuckers still got re-elected. We got a massive recession, the worst economic crisis in 80 years, and 2 fucking years later we replaced the party actually trying to do something about the corruption and greed, and actually trying to reform healthcare. And then there’s 2016. Mate, it’s not Trump. It’s the American imbecile that needs fixing. The white, insecure, male American imbecile. Trump is the symptom. Not the disease. The sooner that you and your kind can fucking rub some brain cells together and figure it all out, the better. In the meantime, I will take a pragmatist who lives in and deals with political reality instead of a bunch of upstarts who live in a parallel universe and pretend that their passions about creating a progressive universe will be so infectious that it rubs off on everyone else. Accept it: most of the country right now is completely, totally fine with Donald John Trump as their president, even though you and everyone you know and everyone else who posts here hates his ass (not saying it’s not with good reason, mind you). ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32839 "2019-05-23T23:01:03Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Why doesn’t he just spread around all of the Trump Tariff Money that we’ve been raking in? [He claims he is.](https://www.npr.org/2019/05/23/726117690/white-house-to-announce-16-billion-in-aid-to-farmers-hurt-by-trade-war-with-chin) > [@](#): > > While Trump has repeatedly suggested that China will be paying for the aid in the form of tariff revenue, the CCC’s fund does not receive any direct payments from tariffs. Of course, he’s still pretending that China pays the tariffs, not us. ---
**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 23, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32840 "2019-05-23T23:01:15Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > I said earlier in the thread that one day Trump was going to have a complete meltdown in public. Today was pretty bizarre but it’s only going to get crazier and more pathetic. He’ll be shouting insults soon instead of just tweeting them. It won’t be just Trump having meltdowns. He has supporters. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32841 "2019-05-23T23:01:16Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > This latest press conference is _insane_. I think Trump has called on no fewer than 6 people to testify how calm he was yesterday, including Larry Kudlow and Sarah Fuckabee Slanders, and it’s still going on. That was pretty funny and crazy in equal measure! It kind of had the feel of an SNL cold open. Can be watched [here](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1131658573300359169). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32842 "2019-05-23T23:15:42Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > This latest press conference is _insane_. I think Trump has called on no fewer than 6 people to testify how calm he was yesterday, including Larry Kudlow and Sarah Fuckabee Slanders, and it’s still going on. And it’s all in an attack on a straw man. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone describe his behavior in the 3-minute infrastructure meeting as the tantrum – it’s the Rose Garden appearance afterwards that was appalling, and it was right there on camera for all to see. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32843 "2019-05-23T23:26:05Z")
David Jolly put it very succinctly (paraphrasing): Trump wants the political fight. He’s terrified of the legal fight. That’s why Pelosi is trying to keep things in the legal realm for as long as she can. ---
**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 23, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/32844 "2019-05-23T23:50:26Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > It won’t be just Trump having meltdowns. He has supporters. So fucking what? What are they going to do? March across my yard carrying backyard tiki torches? Fuck those idiots. They might find out the hard way different places you can fit a tiki torch without extinguishing it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1641) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1643)