# 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:** 1709
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34165 "2019-07-06T06:49:53Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > …So he was like driving up the 101 to San Fran and somehow ended up on Jupiter. Cognitive macramé. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2019, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34166 "2019-07-06T11:00:45Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Someone needs to grow a pair and tell Trump he lost this case, he’s not going to win by flipping off the Chief Justice and he’ll just have to rely on the Russians and the Saudis for Ivanka’s election efforts in 2024. > > If Trump openly defies a SCOTUS ruling, the percentage of Americans who support impeachment and removal – now at 45% – may continue to grow as a result. Let’s hope. I don’t know if people understand how potentially dangerous it would be if Trump ignored the Court and ordered the census to be printed with the question on it. Doing so would be more than a constitutional crisis; it would be a political crisis. Proportional representation is one of the cornerstones of our republican form of government. Any census with that constitutionally-invalid question will be challenged by Democrats and other special interest groups. We’re talking about potentially years of going back and forth, debating which census is or is not valid, and thus what we’re really talking about is which congressional map is or is not valid. Not just in 2021, but beyond. This is an explosive situation. I’ve been cautious about suggesting impeachment, but if Trump ignores the Court, then House Democrats must start impeachment proceedings immediately. And I would agree with you that this would make their case and their coalition stronger. They wouldn’t be prosecuting the president solely based on the 2-year investigation that many people either don’t understand or don’t seem to care about; they would be impeaching him to save the Constitution. It would also remove the tensions between the liberal democrats and the more moderate wing. They might have to ‘sell’ their case to moderates, but they simply need to point out that what’s at stake here is not just the ability of the Court to render independent verdicts but also their own ability to participate in elections and to be represented fairly. It’s a pretty big deal, and I’m astounded that we’re two days removed from the president’s tweets about the citizenship question and I’ve not heard a single democrat talk about impeachment and I’m similarly surprised by how little coverage this issue has received. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34167 "2019-07-06T11:48:04Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > It’s a pretty big deal, and I’m astounded that we’re two days removed from the president’s tweets about the citizenship question and I’ve not heard a single democrat talk about impeachment and I’m similarly surprised by how little coverage this issue has received. Just guessing, but I’d say that’s a combination of a) holiday weekend and b) Trump hasn’t actually taken action as yet. I reckon this story will get more play after Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34168 "2019-07-06T15:48:34Z")
[Trump’s pick for the FAA is jerkish](https://apnews.com/5e90eee1396842c585d6eec38108c97d). > [@](#): > > Trump’s nominee, Stephen Dickson, is under growing criticism from Senate Democrats over his initial failure to disclose his involvement in the case of the whistle-blowing pilot, who was grounded a few weeks after she raised safety issues to Dickson and other Delta executives. > > Dickson authorized grounding the pilot for a psychiatric evaluation. Outside doctors later cleared her, and she has since returned to flying at Delta. > > Dickson testified before the Senate Commerce Committee in May, and the committee is scheduled to vote on his nomination Wednesday. The FAA has been without a permanent administrator since January 2018. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34169 "2019-07-06T21:16:04Z")
**‘A willingness to fight’: Win or lose, Trump’s push for a citizenship question in the census is red meat for his base** > **[‘A willingness to fight’: Win or lose, Trump’s push for a citizenship...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-willingness-to-fight-win-or-lose-trumps-push-for-a-citizenship-question-in-the-census-is-red-meat-for-his-base/2019/07/06/4950889c-9f5c-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70_story.html)** > > While Trump’s combative strategy has yielded mixed results, it allows the president to cast himself as a relentless change agent — an image that has become central to his reelection bid. > [@](#): > > The government had begun printing census forms, the Commerce Department had publicly announced its legal surrender, and Justice Department lawyers had rested their case in court. But President Trump wasn’t ready to give up the fight. > > With a tweet that sent much of his administration scrambling over the Fourth of July holiday, Trump decided to unilaterally revive the government’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. > > It’s a move that fits into a long pattern of Trump going to the mat — and occasionally overruling his own administration — to force a fight over polarizing issues. While the strategy has so far yielded mixed results, it nonetheless allows Trump to cast himself as a relentless change agent — an image that has become central to his reelection bid. > … > > “We’re fighting very hard against the system, that’s a very difficult system but we’ll make a decision,” Trump told reporters Friday, adding that he was “thinking of” issuing an executive order to add the citizenship question to census forms. > … > > Despite the legal setbacks, the president can still tell voters he is fighting as hard as possible for his priorities, said Doug Heye, a former spokesman for Republican House leadership and the Republican National Committee. > > “For a big part of the base, activity is achievement,” he said. “Demonstrating a willingness to fight is not just as important but, to a big part of the base, more important than having a cohesive strategy to win.” > … > > Heye said Trump will not hesitate to use negative court rulings to his political advantage, by casting himself as a victim of an unfair system. > > “If you’re in Trump’s base, everything that he does reinforces his central argument that the system is rigged,” he said. “So if the court rules in his favor, it’s a big victory for Trump. If the court rules against him, Trump can say, ‘This is how rigged the system is against you.’ Win or lose, he still can move that argument forward.’’ > … Winning, or being able to claim that you’re winning-- that’s what it’s all about. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34170 "2019-07-06T21:16:19Z")
Interesting [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eUxMoL49As) illustrating the cognitive dissonance of a Trump supporter: [ul]Socialism is when you bring down your own race.[/ul] [ul]It’s Fake News that Trump ever said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave.[/ul] [ul]All Democrats are liars.[/ul] [ul]Joe Biden is a socialist because he’s all about the money and power.[/ul] [ul]Joe Biden is a billionaire.[/ul] [ul]Trump didn’t go bankrupt.[/ul] [ul]Trump is a great businessman.[/ul] [ul]Fake News that Trump has hired undocumented immigrants.[/ul] [ul]As a white woman, the interviewer has never experienced anything bad in her life.[/ul] All this and the video is only about 3:30 min. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34171 "2019-07-06T22:49:50Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I don’t know if people understand how potentially dangerous it would be if Trump ignored the Court and ordered the census to be printed with the question on it. Doing so would be more than a constitutional crisis; it would be a political crisis. Proportional representation is one of the cornerstones of our republican form of government. Any census with that constitutionally-invalid question will be challenged by Democrats and other special interest groups. We’re talking about potentially years of going back and forth, debating which census is or is not valid, and thus what we’re really talking about is which congressional map is or is not valid. Not just in 2021, but beyond. This is an explosive situation. > > I’ve been cautious about suggesting impeachment, but if Trump ignores the Court, then House Democrats must start impeachment proceedings immediately. And I would agree with you that this would make their case and their coalition stronger. They wouldn’t be prosecuting the president solely based on the 2-year investigation that many people either don’t understand or don’t seem to care about; they would be impeaching him to save the Constitution. It would also remove the tensions between the liberal democrats and the more moderate wing. They might have to ‘sell’ their case to moderates, but they simply need to point out that what’s at stake here is not just the ability of the Court to render independent verdicts but also their own ability to participate in elections and to be represented fairly. > > It’s a pretty big deal, and I’m astounded that we’re two days removed from the president’s tweets about the citizenship question and I’ve not heard a single democrat talk about impeachment and I’m similarly surprised by how little coverage this issue has received. The problem of the inevitability of Senate acquittal remains. Of course Trump deserves to be impeached. He deserves it a million times over. But if the result of impeaching him is to strengthen him, how is that good? As I said in an Elections thread: even if the majority of Democrats decided to go forward with impeachment, drafting the articles of impeachment would necessarily be a long and involved process—there’s so much to include. Writing the articles will take a lot of time and negotiation among Democrats. Why not draft a one-issue, targeted Motion to Censure when (if?) Trump instructs his officials to ignore the Supreme Court ruling? Make the Republicans put themselves on the record—for or against defying the Supreme Court. eta: A motion to censure would not preclude impeachment, if and when there’s a chance that the Senate won’t acquit. It’s not either/or. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34172 "2019-07-07T00:00:12Z")
Censure could be like mod warnings. Get enough and you’re banned. Really, life should work like that. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34173 "2019-07-07T00:38:04Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Interesting [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eUxMoL49As) illustrating the cognitive dissonance of a Trump supporter: > > [ul]Socialism is when you bring down your own race.[/ul] > [ul]It’s Fake News that Trump ever said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave.[/ul] > [ul]All Democrats are liars.[/ul] > [ul]Joe Biden is a socialist because he’s all about the money and power.[/ul] > [ul]Joe Biden is a billionaire.[/ul] > [ul]Trump didn’t go bankrupt.[/ul] > [ul]Trump is a great businessman.[/ul] > [ul]Fake News that Trump has hired undocumented immigrants.[/ul] > [ul]As a white woman, the interviewer has never experienced anything bad in her life.[/ul] > > All this and the video is only about 3:30 min. Cloth-eared bint. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34174 "2019-07-07T00:57:41Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Cloth-eared bint. She knows she’s completely full of shit. The problem, in her mind, is that the reporter didn’t ask the right questions. Their America, and everyone else’s America are two different things. The only way these people will be reached - and many won’t no matter what - is to somehow show them that their zero-sum view of America isn’t going to work for anyone except those who have the most power. They have to get to the point where they say “Maybe life under that Black guy wasn’t really…_that_ bad.” As I’ve been saying all along, Trump will have to royally fuck shit up first before people get it. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2019, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34175 "2019-07-07T04:58:20Z")
Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who escaped prosecution on child assault charges in Florida because he made a deal with the then-federal attorney, Alex Acosta, now Individual 1’s Secretary of Labor, has been charged with multiple counts by the Southern District of New York. > **[Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein arrested for alleged sex trafficking](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/billionaire-sex-offender-jeffrey-epstein-arrested-alleged-sex-trafficking-n1027126)** > > Epstein was the subject of a sweetheart prosecution deal after authorities investigated alleged sex with underage victims. One of Epstein’s earliest jobs was as a teacher at the posh Dalton School, where he taught math even though he didn’t have a degree. He was also only 20 years old.The headmaster of the school was Donald Barr, father of Attorney General Bill Barr. > **[The Ties That Bind Jeffrey Epstein, William Barr & Donald Trump -...](https://hillreporter.com/the-ties-that-bind-jeffrey-epstein-william-barr-donald-trump-34107)** > > During Attorney General, William Barr’s confirmation hearing, he was mostly peppered with questions about how he would handle the Mueller Report. Senator Ben Sasse’s (R-NE) questioning, however, diverged from the pack. Sasse asked Barr about the... In 2002, Individual 1 said, "I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” > There is also an unproven Prince Andrew connection. Andrew is a friend of Epstein’s, and one of Epstein’s accusers claims she was passed around to several of Epstein’s friends, including “royalty”, though unnamed. > **[Jeffrey Epstein: inside the decade of scandal entangling Prince Andrew](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/10/jeffrey-epstein-decade-scandal-prince-andrew)** > > How a telephone call set off a cascade of FBI investigations, secret plea deals and lawsuits from Palm Beach, Florida, to Buckingham Palace as questions resurface over whether the disgraced financier used his wealth and power to elude justice ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34176 "2019-07-07T05:16:28Z")
Another good bit of reporting. > **[Dershowitz v. Boies: Jeffrey Epstein case unleashes war between two legal...](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232312102.html)** > > It’s a high-stakes war between two of the country’s most powerful lawyers. Their feud, simmering for years, involves accusations of extortion, surreptitious recordings, unethical conduct and underage sex trafficking. > **[Jeffrey Epstein arrested on sex trafficking charges](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232374872.html)** > > More than a decade after receiving one of the most lenient sentences for a serial sex offender in U.S. history, multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested outside of New York, sources confirmed to the Miami Herald Saturday night. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34177 "2019-07-07T05:19:18Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Another good bit of reporting. > > [https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232312102.html](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232312102.html) > > [https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232374872.html](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232374872.html) The Miami Herald got into this story early on. The Miami-Dade police were the original investigators, but Alan Dershowitz began doxxing them so they turned it over to the feds. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2019, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34178 "2019-07-07T07:43:44Z")
I made a promise to myself a few months ago to stop watching the news, other than things not related to Trump, and to stop reading this thread for the latest idiocy of Trump, hoping that finally he would cross a line that even his MAGA haters could not support. There is nothing that could cause that to happen, and not just among his hard core supporters. As long as the economy stays like it is , he will have a 42% approval rating. He could kill and eat babies on 5th Avenue and it would not make any difference. And it is driving me nuts. How blind can people be? Every fucking day I check in on CNN, the Guardian, The Washington Post, this forum, others, hoping for some “good” news - undisputable evidence that he sucked Putin’s cock, anything. I can’t do it anymore. Every time I see this motherfucker’s face I want to scream. And I can’t live like that. How do I get banned from reading this forum LOL? Because like a train wreck of our country, I can’t look away. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34179 "2019-07-07T12:58:56Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > I made a promise to myself a few months ago to stop watching the news, other than things not related to Trump, and to stop reading this thread for the latest idiocy of Trump, hoping that finally he would cross a line that even his MAGA haters could not support. There is nothing that could cause that to happen, and not just among his hard core supporters. As long as the economy stays like it is , he will have a 42% approval rating. He could kill and eat babies on 5th Avenue and it would not make any difference. And it is driving me nuts. How blind can people be? Every fucking day I check in on CNN, the Guardian, The Washington Post, this forum, others, hoping for some “good” news - undisputable evidence that he sucked Putin’s cock, anything. I can’t do it anymore. Every time I see this motherfucker’s face I want to scream. And I can’t live like that. > > How do I get banned from reading this forum LOL? Because like a train wreck of our country, I can’t look away. I absolutely feel your pain. ☹ For myself, I don’t watch ANY TV news. I get all my news online (including from this board). So that’s something… But you are so right. I can’t make myself look away from the dumpster fire. Maybe I need to start small… you know, avoid online news and the SDMB political threads for [del]a weekend[/del], a day at a time? Like go the rest of today, Sunday, with no political news of any kind. But the trouble with that is that sometimes I’ve been away from the board for a whole day, 'cause I was at the dentist or something, and then when I check back in, there are three new threads that have already gone to 5+ pages over some outrageous thing that has happened. I dunno. I just want to say that I completely understand what you’re going through. That’s all I got. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34180 "2019-07-07T14:15:43Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > I made a promise to myself a few months ago to stop watching the news, other than things not related to Trump, and to stop reading this thread for the latest idiocy of Trump, hoping that finally he would cross a line that even his MAGA haters could not support. There is nothing that could cause that to happen, and not just among his hard core supporters. As long as the economy stays like it is , he will have a 42% approval rating. He could kill and eat babies on 5th Avenue and it would not make any difference. And it is driving me nuts. How blind can people be? Every fucking day I check in on CNN, the Guardian, The Washington Post, this forum, others, hoping for some “good” news - undisputable evidence that he sucked Putin’s cock, anything. I can’t do it anymore. Every time I see this motherfucker’s face I want to scream. And I can’t live like that. > > How do I get banned from reading this forum LOL? Because like a train wreck of our country, I can’t look away. There are a good number of things that he has done that would bother most MAGAs. They aren’t aware of it because the news aren’t giving most of it much coverage, let alone the rightist news. Lefties don’t understand righties, so they don’t emphasize the right things. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34181 "2019-07-07T15:16:27Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > There are a good number of things that he has done that would bother most MAGAs. They aren’t aware of it because the news aren’t giving most of it much coverage, let alone the rightist news. > > Lefties don’t understand righties, so they don’t emphasize the right things. What specific things do you feel are not getting the appropriate amount of emphasis? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34182 "2019-07-07T15:17:20Z")
[The UK has had their own internal version of this thread, and now the public knows about it.](https://apnews.com/ab18df496fba48b2a57a581ed1684ba8)😃 > [@](#): > > Leaked diplomatic cables reveal that Britain’s ambassador to the United States regards President Donald Trump’s administration as inept, hobbled by infighting, and unlikely to improve. > > The memos published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper contain highly critical comments from Ambassador Kim Darroch about the current state of Trump’s government, providing a rare look at how a senior British diplomat views the government of Britain’s closest ally. > > “We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept,” Darroch wrote in one of a series of leaked documents covering the period from 2017 to the present. > > Britain’s Foreign Office did not challenge the authenticity of the leaked documents. It called the leak “mischievous behavior” and said the public expects diplomats to provide honest assessments of the politics in the countries where they are posted. > > Justice Secretary David Gauke called the leak “disgraceful” but said Britain “should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it.” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34183 "2019-07-07T16:55:53Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [The UK has had their own internal version of this thread, and now the public knows about it.](https://apnews.com/ab18df496fba48b2a57a581ed1684ba8)😃 Well, she (he?)'s not saying anything anybody who’s paying attention wouldn’t have said. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/34184 "2019-07-07T17:42:05Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I can’t make myself look away from the dumpster fire. Maybe I need to start small… you know, avoid online news and the SDMB political threads for [del]a weekend[/del], a day at a time? Like go the rest of today, Sunday, with no political news of any kind… This thread, and the Pit in general, helps. I know I can ignore the news, knowing that if something big happens I’ll see a couple new pages here. I even call it “Checking in on the Clusterfuck.” I get the news curated for me, some commentary from smart people, and I don’t actually hear That Guy’s voice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1708) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1710)