# 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:** 184
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3661 "2017-04-27T13:47:24Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Can Shit For Brains really [Break Up](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/330757-trump-says-hes-absolutely-considering-breaking-up-court-that-blocked) the 9th Circuit Court? If so, what happens next? The [number of federal circuits, their composition](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/41), and [the number of appellate judges authorized for each circuit](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/44) are all set by law, in accordance with [Article Three of the Constitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Three_of_the_United_States_Constitution) which gives Congress the authority to create federal courts below the Supreme Court. The only power the president has regarding federal courts is the power to nominate federal judges at each level (district, circuit, and Supreme Court) and to propose legislation that might affect any particular court, like FDR’s (abandoned) Supreme Court-packing bill. Breaking up the 9th Circuit has some support among Republicans in some of the western states, such as Arizona, that are in the 9th Circuit. Though they are always quick to claim that the real basis for their proposal in creating a new circuit from western landlocked states that are red/purple such as Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana is primarily due to case backlogs and not because of ideological disagreements with 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ rulings. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3662 "2017-04-27T16:53:29Z")
The inevitable response to the modern-day version of _Der Sturmer_’s “Jewish Crime” propaganda: > [@](#): > > [Callers swamp Trump’s immigration crime hotline with UFO reports](http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article147102759.html) > > A newly unveiled federal hotline intended to collect reports of crimes committed by immigrants has instead been inundated by accounts of UFOs, killer robots and Superman… > > It didn’t take long for non-fans of President Donald Trump to come up with ways to register their disapproval of the whole idea… > > [QUOTE=Alexander McCoy , via Twitter] > Wouldn’t it be a shame if millions of people called this hotline to report their encounters with aliens of the UFO-variety. And the internet rose to the, well, call… [/QUOTE] ---
**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 27, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3663 "2017-04-27T18:11:15Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > 1. They bussed the entire Senate to the White House for a North Korea briefing. As expected, it was a waste of time for everyone involved. I’m tickled pink imagining a scene where a very proud Trump takes the stage in front of his captive audience and goes “So I’ve learned a lot today, and you guys need to know this stuff, it’s so great. Did you guys know there were actually two Koreas ? Blew my mind. It’s confusing to be sure, but I’ll tell you a way to tell which is which : one is up, and one is down. Unless you’re holding the map upside down, but they’ve taught me how to not do that any more, there’s also a trick to it, it’s great. Anyway, so what I’ve learned is that Up Korea, as I like to call it, is actually not a very great place…” ---
**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 27, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3664 "2017-04-27T18:13:53Z")
(and, much like when Kevin regales the family with long rambling explanations on What I Learned Today Wot I’m Going To Teach You, everyone in the room suppresses a deep-seated impulse to yell “yes, WE KNOW, shut the fuck up !” and instead goes “Nooo ? And then what happened ?”) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3665 "2017-04-27T18:44:12Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I’m tickled pink imagining a scene where a very proud Trump takes the stage in front of his captive audience and goes “So I’ve learned a lot today, and you guys need to know this stuff, it’s so great. Did you guys know there were actually two Koreas ? Blew my mind. It’s confusing to be sure, but I’ll tell you a way to tell which is which : one is up, and one is down. Unless you’re holding the map upside down, but they’ve taught me how to not do that any more, there’s also a trick to it, it’s great. Anyway, so what I’ve learned is that Up Korea, as I like to call it, is actually not a very great place…” Maybe he can get Rudy Giuliani to [help get him oriented.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gDR2p4KhAXs&t=0m59s) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3666 "2017-04-27T19:29:23Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The inevitable response to the modern-day version of _Der Sturmer_’s “Jewish Crime” propaganda: I’m going to call in and report that a suspicious looking man with a wife that sounds like she doesn’t belong here has hijacked my country. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3667 "2017-04-27T19:39:58Z")
[Some of the things that Trump’s executive orders have done](http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article146867634.html): two regulations issued by Obama that dramatically lowered legal limits on workers’ exposure to silica and beryllium, both cancer-causing toxins. In both cases, the Trump administration pushed back the deadlines for companies to comply with the new safety measures. Employers can no longer be held accountable for keeping accurate workplace injury records for at least five years. ▪ Student loan companies can levy hefty fees on borrowers trying to get out of default. ▪ Internet service providers can collect and sell information about customers’ browsing habits without their permission. ▪ About 75,000 mentally ill people determined by the Social Security Administration to be incapable of handling their own finances won’t be barred from purchasing guns. ▪ Coal companies don’t have to obey new restrictions on pollution, nor do they have to monitor water quality in nearby streams. ▪ Federal contractors won’t have to disclose safety, health and labor violations prior to being awarded government contracts, a requirement companies have criticized as a “blacklisting rule.” ▪ Publicly traded oil, gas and mining companies won’t have to disclose payments to foreign governments. ▪ Financial advisers get a reprieve from stricter standards designed to prevent conflicts of interest when they make investment recommendations to people saving for retirement. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3668 "2017-04-27T20:30:00Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Everything Trump does is for “optics.” It’s the one consistent thing about him. > [@jsc1953](#): > > You’d think he’d be better at it, then. He can’t do simple things like host an Easter egg roll or award a Purple Heart without looking stupid. Practice doesn’t always make perfect. You have to have something to work with. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3669 "2017-04-27T20:51:25Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Can Shit For Brains really [Break Up](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/330757-trump-says-hes-absolutely-considering-breaking-up-court-that-blocked) the 9th Circuit Court? If so, what happens next? > [@Monty](#): > > When he finds out he cannot break up the court, no doubt he will then threaten to cut off their funding. No idea what he will do when he finds out he cannot cut their money either. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > Maybe he can ask Putin for suggestions. Certainly there are plenty of tall buildings–with windows–in San Francisco. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3670 "2017-04-27T20:59:14Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > They bussed the entire Senate to the White House for a North Korea briefing. As expected, it was a waste of time for everyone involved. > > [http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/25/politics/trump-senators-north-korea-briefing/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/25/politics/trump-senators-north-korea-briefing/index.html) Did Trump’s staff have custody of the cell phones of all those Senators during the no-obvious-content meeting? Of course this sounds rather CT, but—_did_ Trump’s staff have custody of their phones? If so, it might explain the weird and unprecedented request that the Senators take busses to a make-shift SCIF under Trump’s control, as opposed to meeting in one of the established SCIFs at the Capitol. It’s not difficult to imagine Trump musing that he’d like to know what certain Senators were saying–for example, those charged with investigating him. And cell phones can be…messed with. What I haven’t been able to find is reporting that says the Senators did have to put their cell phones into the custody of Trump’s staff; all I can find is general information about what generally happens if you go into a SCIF: > [@](#): > > As we all know, if you work in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) cell phones are a prohibited item due to the ability for someone to use it to take pictures of classified information or to record classified conversations. Additionally, our adversaries have the ability to remotely manipulate your cell phone to surreptitiously turn it on and monitor your conversations without you knowing it. The no-cellphone rule addresses both the insider threat and espionage by outsiders. [No Cell Phone Rule Should Apply to All Sensitive Meetings | ClearanceJobs Blog](https://clearancejobsblog.com/no-cell-phone-rule-apply-sensitive-meetings/) I’m not sure how authoritative that blog may be. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3671 "2017-04-27T21:03:24Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Can Shit For Brains really [Break Up](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/330757-trump-says-hes-absolutely-considering-breaking-up-court-that-blocked) the 9th Circuit Court? If so, what happens next? It’s been discussed for years, since the 9th Circuit is so large. (caseload and geographically). Other circuits have been split before (5th became the 5th and 10th IIRC). There are pros and cons, but it’s not a huge deal. He’d just have two circuits he’s pissed off at. ETA: the former 5th became the new 5th and 11th. Not 10th. ---
**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 28, 2017, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3672 "2017-04-28T00:52:05Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > What I haven’t been able to find is reporting that says the Senators did have to put their cell phones into the custody of Trump’s staff; all I can find is general information about what generally happens if you go into a SCIF: > > [No Cell Phone Rule Should Apply to All Sensitive Meetings | ClearanceJobs Blog](https://clearancejobsblog.com/no-cell-phone-rule-apply-sensitive-meetings/) > > I’m not sure how authoritative that blog may be. Makes sense. I worked in a SCIF in the era before cell phones, but cameras were forbidden, as what a lot of other stuff. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3673 "2017-04-28T01:05:01Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > What I haven’t been able to find is reporting that says the Senators did have to put their cell phones into the custody of Trump’s staff; all I can find is general information about what generally happens if you go into a SCIF: What is this nonsense? Where’s this coming from? What happens in general when you go into a SCIF is that you don’t bring your phone. Leave it in your office, leave it in your car, leave it with your personal assistant, lock it up in one of the boxes specifically provided for that purpose outside the SCIF door and take the key with you. ---
**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 28, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3674 "2017-04-28T03:18:35Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Some of the things that Trump’s executive orders have done](http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article146867634.html): > > two regulations issued by Obama that dramatically lowered legal limits on workers’ exposure to silica and beryllium, both cancer-causing toxins. In both cases, the Trump administration pushed back the deadlines for companies to comply with the new safety measures. > > Employers can no longer be held accountable for keeping accurate workplace injury records for at least five years. > > ▪ Student loan companies can levy hefty fees on borrowers trying to get out of default. > > ▪ Internet service providers can collect and sell information about customers’ browsing habits without their permission. > > ▪ About 75,000 mentally ill people determined by the Social Security Administration to be incapable of handling their own finances won’t be barred from purchasing guns. > > ▪ Coal companies don’t have to obey new restrictions on pollution, nor do they have to monitor water quality in nearby streams. > > ▪ Federal contractors won’t have to disclose safety, health and labor violations prior to being awarded government contracts, a requirement companies have criticized as a “blacklisting rule.” > > ▪ Publicly traded oil, gas and mining companies won’t have to disclose payments to foreign governments. > > ▪ Financial advisers get a reprieve from stricter standards designed to prevent conflicts of interest when they make investment recommendations to people saving for retirement. This is the mostly-invisible erosion of our democratic processes and policies that will hurt a lot to rectify when we finally put this loathsome pretend president out on his ass and into custody, preferably for good and all. Most folks aren’t even aware that these travesties have occurred. Thank you for listing them. ---
**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 28, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3675 "2017-04-28T03:25:17Z")
[Looks like he’s really getting a grasp on the job, too](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-100days-idUSKBN17U0CA?il=0). Jeebus. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3676 "2017-04-28T05:04:26Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > We could just build a wall around Gary, Indiana, and dump them over the side, starting with Flynn and Bannon. And this time, instead of sending in Kurt Russell to rescue the president, we’ll send in Jared Kushner armed with a Super Soaker. > > Stranger Good choice. That’s where Michael Jackson was born, wasn’t it? Gary deserves this just for that atrocity alone. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3677 "2017-04-28T05:09:40Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > [Looks like he’s really getting a grasp on the job, too](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-100days-idUSKBN17U0CA?il=0). Jeebus. I’m not sure what caused more of a 😕:eek::smack:…the headline, or this passage… > [@](#): > > Midway through a discussion about Chinese President Xi Jinping, the president paused to hand out copies of what he said were the latest figures from the 2016 electoral map. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3678 "2017-04-28T08:16:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Good choice. That’s where Michael Jackson was born, wasn’t it? Gary deserves this just for that atrocity alone. When are you going to stop beating up on Michael Jackson? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3679 "2017-04-28T08:52:18Z")
One of the funniest critiques of the President’s philosophy of life, or lack thereof, that I’ve read recently: [https://politicsmeanspolitics.com/this-is-what-makes-my-head-spin-f5542c493384](https://politicsmeanspolitics.com/this-is-what-makes-my-head-spin-f5542c493384) > [@](#): > > The president is not a moral figure in any idiom, any land, any culture, any subculture. I’m not talking about the liberal enlightenment that would make him want the country to take care of the poor and sick. I mean he has no Republican values either. He has no honor among thieves, no cosa nostra loyalty, no Southern code against cheating or lying, none of the openness of New York, rectitude of Boston, expressiveness and kindness of California, no evangelical family values, no Protestant work ethic. No Catholic moral seriousness, no sense of contrition or gratitude. No Jewish moral and intellectual precision, sense of history. He doesn’t care about the life of the mind OR the life of the senses. He is not mandarin, not committed to inquiry or justice, not hospitable. He is not proper. He is not a bon vivant who loves to eat, drink, laugh. There’s nothing he would die for—not American values, obviously, but not the land of Russia or his wife or young son. He has some hollow success creeds from Norman Vincent Peale, but Peale was obsessed with fair-dealing and a Presbyterian pastor; Trump has no fairness or piety. He’s not sentimental; no affection for dogs or babies. No love for mothers, “the common man,” veterans. He has no sense of military valor, and is openly a coward about war. He would have sorely lacked the pagan beauty and capacity to fight required in ancient Greece. He doesn’t care about his wife or wives; he is a philanderer but he’s not a romantic hero with great love for women and sex. He commands loyalty and labor from his children not because he loves them, even; he seems almost to hate them—and if one of them slipped it would be terrifying. He does no philanthropy. He doesn’t—in a more secular key—even seem to have a sense of his enlightened self-interest enough to shake Angela Merkel’s hand. Doesn’t even affect a love for the arts, like most rich New Yorkers. He doesn’t live and die by aesthetics and health practices like some fascists; he’s very ugly and barely mammalian. ---
**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 28, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/3680 "2017-04-28T13:11:28Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > What happens in general when you go into a SCIF is that you don’t bring your phone. Leave it in your office, leave it in your car, leave it with your personal assistant, lock it up in one of the boxes specifically provided for that purpose outside the SCIF door and take the key with you. This. I’ve never had to give my phone to some strange person at a SCIF. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=183) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=185)