# 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:** 1844
**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:** [September 24, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36865 "2019-09-24T05:37:06Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > I am going to have faith that this is finally the tipping point. Finally, at long last, the tipping point. > > I keep thinking of all those people who say that many Trump supporters are actually decent people. They are our co-workers. They are our friends from school years ago. They are “everyday” people with different backgrounds and beliefs than mine. > > Here is yet another opportunity to prove that what critics think and say about “deplorables” is not true. Not who they really are. Let us see what happens. I salute you. My faith dried up a while ago. There are likely a few “good people” out there - trouble is, the Republican leaders are not among them. And the “good people” will not hear a word of this from their favored news outlets. Even now, they are being told that Biden’s son is some kind of nefarious criminal, and Trump was doing his patriotic duty. And they believe it. Because they may be “good people”, but as Trump supporters they are easily fooled. They WANT to be fooled. Because the alternative is to admit that they were duped by a con man. And nobody wants to admit they were duped. They will double down. Not only does the Emperor have clothes, but they are the BEST clothes, the most WONDERFUL clothes in the WORLD. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36866 "2019-09-24T08:29:27Z")
People support Trump because they are monsters. They want to hurt as many people as possible, as much as possible, as often as possible; and they support Trump because that’s exactly what he gives them. They aren’t going to stop supporting him for doing awful things, because awful things are exactly what they want out of him. He could rape and murder people on nationwide television, and they’d just cheer him on. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36867 "2019-09-24T08:55:35Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > I am going to have faith that this is finally the tipping point. Finally, at long last, the tipping point. You believe Trump supporters give a shit about some place that they don’t know where it is? A foreign place? Full of foreigners? …do you charge for moving mountains, or do you do it for free? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36868 "2019-09-24T09:05:07Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > We here have always known that Trump is consumed with rage that Obama has a Nobel Prize, and he doesn’t. He’s been gnashing his teeth and rending his garments and banging his tiny fists for 10 years now…at least, that’s what we strongly suspect. > > [Well, today he said so out loud.](https://news.yahoo.com/trump-complains-deserves-nobel-prize-181502219.html) In Loser Donald’s world, I imagine that he believes he should get _all_ the Nobel Prizes; Literature: _The Art of the Deal_ is one of the greatest books ever written, aside from the Bible, which is a very tremendous book that many people are finding out about since he started talking about it Economics: Trump is the best at business and has made some of the greatest deals ever Medicine: You might think that his radiant skin, his long, beautiful hair, and his being, like, really smart are on their own worthy of a prize, but those are just testaments to his great genes and very good brain. The fact is that he’s had tremendous success with Opioid, and is looking very strongly at curing cancer and AIDS during his third term Physics: The things he’s found out in terms of Nuclear are like nobody’s ever seen, to say nothing of his knowledge of digital, steam, missiles, wedges, the cyber, and most astonishingly, his discovery that the noise from windmills cause cancer and that you can’t watch television if the wind runs out Chemistry: He has the best chemistry with the most beautiful women (excepting those who are Nasty), to say nothing of his discovering how to wash coal and his dissertation on the very expensive chemicals Crooked Hillary used to get rid of her emails Peace: Aside from singlehandedly preventing nuclear war in Korea, he has made the entire world stop laughing at America, he has established the best friendships and had very beautiful calls from lots of world leaders, and has built **WALL** (which Mexico happily and eagerly paid for in a show of international goodwill), thus saving millions of lives from various bad hombres and diseases that you have to be Albert Einstein to have heard of ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36869 "2019-09-24T09:25:02Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > In Loser Donald’s world, I imagine that he believes he should get _all_ the Nobel Prizes; > > Literature: _The Art of the Deal_ is one of the greatest books ever written, aside from the Bible, which is a very tremendous book that many people are finding out about since he started talking about it > > Economics: Trump is the best at business and has made some of the greatest deals ever > > Medicine: You might think that his radiant skin, his long, beautiful hair, and his being, like, really smart are on their own worthy of a prize, but those are just testaments to his great genes and very good brain. The fact is that he’s had tremendous success with Opioid, and is looking very strongly at curing cancer and AIDS during his third term > > Physics: The things he’s found out in terms of Nuclear are like nobody’s ever seen, to say nothing of his knowledge of digital, steam, missiles, wedges, the cyber, and most astonishingly, his discovery that the noise from windmills cause cancer and that you can’t watch television if the wind runs out > > Chemistry: He has the best chemistry with the most beautiful women (excepting those who are Nasty), to say nothing of his discovering how to wash coal and his dissertation on the very expensive chemicals Crooked Hillary used to get rid of her emails > > Peace: Aside from singlehandedly preventing nuclear war in Korea, he has made the entire world stop laughing at America, he has established the best friendships and had very beautiful calls from lots of world leaders, and has built **WALL** (which Mexico happily and eagerly paid for in a show of international goodwill), thus saving millions of lives from various bad hombres and diseases that you have to be Albert Einstein to have heard of Nicely written, and of course I agree – the Orange Peril has been exceptionally innovative in all of those areas. Some of them have been publicly celebrated – _Last Week with John Oliver_ had a nice video clip demonstrating his clean coal initiative, showing a piece of coal being vigorously scrubbed with a kitchen dish brush. But to the Nobel Committee, this sort of genius means nothing (very unfair!). But even they would be unable to deny the obvious if they introduced a new award category: Achievement in Creating Alternate Facts (formerly known as “lying” but now elevated to an art form). ---
**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:** [September 24, 2019, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36870 "2019-09-24T12:06:16Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > He’s going to scream and cry for so long that eventually someone will probably arrange to give him a Nobel. Maybe it could be for holding a grudge the longest. How about a Noble [sic] medal made of gold-plated pot metal? We could award it to him at the Potemkin wall I proposed a few months ago-- the one only a mile long he’ll be taken to to show him it’s been done. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36871 "2019-09-24T12:18:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > In Loser Donald’s world, I imagine that he believes he should get _all_ the Nobel Prizes; > > Literature: _The Art of the Deal_ is one of the greatest books ever written, aside from the Bible, which is a very tremendous book that many people are finding out about since he started talking about it > > … OK, but who gets the Nobel, Trump or the author? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36872 "2019-09-24T12:30:14Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > OK, but who gets the Nobel, Trump or the author? “Look, I can tell you that many people have said that Slippery Bill Ayers wrote Obama’s book, which sold far fewer copies than mine, and the Fake News won’t tell you that. And if there were a fair investigation, I think you’d be very surprised by what you’re going to hear.” ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36873 "2019-09-24T12:34:54Z")
Maybe an Ig Nobel? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36874 "2019-09-24T13:00:46Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > People support Trump because they are monsters. They want to hurt as many people as possible, as much as possible, as often as possible; and they support Trump because that’s exactly what he gives them. They aren’t going to stop supporting him for doing awful things, because awful things are exactly what they want out of him. He could rape and murder people on nationwide television, and they’d just cheer him on. I come from a family of Trump supporters. In my 20s, before something of an epiphany, I would have been one of them. This is a bit off, but not that far off. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36875 "2019-09-24T13:31:12Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > I wonder if this is true? Will it make a difference? > > [https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/politics/trump-ukraine-military-aid-call/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/politics/trump-ukraine-military-aid-call/index.html) Probably, and of course not. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36876 "2019-09-24T14:27:07Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > My bold. > > “Outside advisers” = “Fox News” doesn’t it? It might be even less transparent. For example: [THREE OF TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO BUDDIES ARE SECRETLY RUNNING THE V.A.](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/three-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-buddies-are-secretly-running-the-va) (from just over a year ago) \*A Palm Beach doctor, a lawyer, and the head of Marvel Entertainment have reportedly been calling the shots since Trump was inaugurated. \* > [@](#): > > According to ProPublica, Bruce Moskowitz, a Palm Beach doctor; Ike Perlmutter, the chairman of Marvel Entertainment; and Marc Sherman, an attorney, have essentially been calling the shots at the Department of Veterans Affairs since Trump was inaugurated. What the men lack in any government or U.S. military experience they make up for in being members of the president’s club, which has apparently afforded them the opportunity to “lean on V.A. officials” and “steer policies affecting millions of Americans,” all without “any transparency, accountability, or oversight.” According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former officials, the trio speak with higher-ups at the V.A. on a daily basis, “reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions.” When former V.A. chief David Shulkin, whom the troika installed in 2017, was preparing to make a presentation to the president about a research effort on suicide prevention, officials had to get approval from the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd” first. “Everything needs to be run by them,” a former official told ProPublica. “They view themselves as making the decisions.” And if anyone dare resist? > > _Perlmutter has a powerful ally: the President of the United States. Trump and Perlmutter regularly talk on the phone and dine together when the president visits Mar-a-Lago. “On any veterans issue, the first person the president calls is Ike,” another former official said. Former administration officials say that V.A. leaders who were at odds with the Mar-a-Lago Crowd were pushed out or passed over._ > > That’s a problem not just from an ethical standpoint, but from a practical one, given that no member of the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd” seems to have the faintest clue how the government works: > > _At times, Perlmutter, Moskowitz, and Sherman have created headaches for V.A. officials because of their failure to follow government rules and processes . . . The Mar-a-Lago Crowd bombarded V.A. officials with demands, many of them inapt or unhelpful. On phone calls with V.A. officials, Perlmutter would bark at them to move faster, having no patience for bureaucratic explanations about why something has to be done a certain way or take a certain amount of time, former officials said._ > [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > Maybe an Ig Nobel? Personally, I’d like to see Trump win a Darwin Award. ---
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36877 "2019-09-24T14:32:02Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > How about a Noble [sic] medal made of gold-plated pot metal? We could award it to him at the Potemkin wall I proposed a few months ago-- the one only a mile long he’ll be taken to to show him it’s been done. Couldn’t we just give him a stick of dynamite and call it a day? ---
**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:** [September 24, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36878 "2019-09-24T14:53:26Z")
Tell him that they gave one to Obama who was unable to light his. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36879 "2019-09-24T14:56:48Z")
Lol, Greta Thurnberg will win the Nobel Peace, and heads will simply asplode. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36880 "2019-09-24T15:08:06Z")
There is no bottom. Every new low is seen as a [challenge.](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-greta-thunberg-climate-change-sarcasm_n_5d8a0f9de4b0938b59347e92) This individual makes me ashamed to be the same species as he is. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36881 "2019-09-24T15:32:35Z")
> [@Swampwolf](#): > > There is no bottom. Every new low is seen as a [challenge.](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-greta-thunberg-climate-change-sarcasm_n_5d8a0f9de4b0938b59347e92) > > This individual makes me ashamed to be the same species as he is. And he is LOVING it! He loves a fight. He loves to shock, outrage, infuriate, and disgust people. It’s what he does best. He’s playing all of us like fiddles. \*See what a bad boy I am! And nobody can stop me! \* ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36882 "2019-09-24T15:54:42Z")
More apparent spite from the Trump admin: [Trump officials threaten to withhold highway funds from California for its ‘chronic air quality problems](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/09/24/trump-officials-threaten-withhold-highway-funds-california-its-chronic-air-quality-problems/)’ _Move could put billions of federal transportation dollars in jeopardy._ > [@](#): > > Trump administration officials threatened this week to withhold federal highway funds from California, arguing that it had failed to show what steps it is taking to improve its air quality. The move by the Environmental Protection Agency escalates the fierce battle between President Trump and the left-leaning state, and could put billions in federal funds in jeopardy. > > … > > California officials have repeatedly argued that they have sought to impose stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles as part of a broader effort to tackle air pollution in their state. The vehicle standards the Trump administration is blocking, CARB chairwoman Mary Nichols said last week, “are necessary to protect the public health standards and welfare.” > > … > > Bill Becker, president of Becker Environmental Consulting, said in a phone interview that it did not make sense for the administration to punish California for failing to address air pollution in the state when it was simultaneously blocking its efforts to cut down on these emissions. > > “Isn’t it ironic that EPA is taking away some of the important regulatory tools for meeting the federal health-based standards, and then sanctioning California?” Becker said. “It’s like the kid killing his parents, and then pleading for mercy because he’s an orphan.” Maybe California should build some “clean coal” power plants and investigate Biden. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36883 "2019-09-24T16:01:08Z")
California has failed to show that they are addressing air quality issues? At the same time that Team Imbecile wants to strip them of their right to tougher vehicle emissions/fuel economy standards?? How fuckin stupid are Republicans, anyway??? (There aren’t enough slap yourself in the face emoticons for this one.) :smack: ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36884 "2019-09-24T16:04:07Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Lol, Greta Thurnberg will win the Nobel Peace, and heads will simply asplode. Please Dear Lord let this happen! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1843) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1845)