# 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:** 1848
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36945 "2019-09-25T02:24:59Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Hold the line, Democrats. Keep on with the hearings; let us know about your court filings; go on calling for more investigation. It’s our only hope. In other words: Benghazi him to death. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2019, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36946 "2019-09-25T04:28:34Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I’d like to propose a new Nobel category for high-profile philandering and whoremongering. Finally, a prize Trump could win! Yeah, since they don’t give out Nobels posthumously, he doesn’t have to worry aBut Epstein eclipsing him. Too soon? ---
**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:** [September 25, 2019, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36947 "2019-09-25T04:33:37Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > It’s a trap. The transcript must not contain any obvious quid pro quo, or Trump wouldn’t have caved in so quickly. > > Which just means that the quid pro quo came in a conversation from Rudy Giuliani. There wouldn’t need to be. Just the fact of asking is heinous and impeachable. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36948 "2019-09-25T11:48:27Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Hold the line, Democrats. Keep on with the hearings; let us know about your court filings; go on calling for more investigation. It’s our only hope. Yes we need the public to see and hear the whistleblowers testify as to what Donald said and did to extort the Ukrainians to manufacture dirt on Joe Biden (who, ironically enough, is looking like he won’t be the nominee). Get these people to testify for an entire day, let them suffer the inevitable character assassinations that the Republicans will try. The witnesses will be credible and compelling and their testimony will be game changing. But let’s not stop with Donald, get Slick Willie Barr and Mike Pence. Get Pompeo as well. Shoot the fucking rats before the ship sinks, then shoot the ship. Burn the wreckage. Destroy this administration and every single person who serves in it. ---
**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 25, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36949 "2019-09-25T11:52:42Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > …the Dem activists were transitioning fast into forgiving Trump anything, … OK, you’ve stumped me. What do you mean by this? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36950 "2019-09-25T12:03:14Z")
Have you always wanted to intimidate the leader of a foreign country? Want to imitate your favorite political leader and bully your way through diplomacy? Then call 1-999-TALK-TUF and threaten a foreign leader with loss of defense funding if he won’t do your bidding! Get political concessions, frame your opponents, or just show off to the world! Call 1-999-TALK-TUF and you can let your narcissistic impulses run free! Call 1-999-TALK-TUF now! Dictators are standing by! ---
**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 25, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36951 "2019-09-25T12:04:20Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > Good point. Do you remember the scene from one of the Pink Panther movies where the waitress has a bra that has spring loaded knives coming out of it? > > They could be something like that. Better yet, Ursula Andress’ bra in _The Tenth Victim_, the one with a [couple pistols](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQ_A8Skzdg) in it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36952 "2019-09-25T12:11:45Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > the one with a [couple pistols](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQ_A8Skzdg) in it. Most. Violent. Friends. Episode. _Ever_. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36953 "2019-09-25T12:24:13Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Better yet, Ursula Andress’ bra in _The Tenth Victim_, the one with a [couple pistols](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQ_A8Skzdg) in it. If he catches wind of this, Donald is going to initiate a braless dress code for White House staff. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36954 "2019-09-25T13:09:37Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yes, Trump’s fans will have no trouble dismissing the reason for the House moving to impeachment proceedings. They will “know” it’s a nothingburger and a partisan hack job. They won’t even question. > > The vast un-involved mass of ‘checked-out’ Americans might be more likely to see this as not being to Trump’s credit—if they ever hear about it. > > Pelosi had to do this, of course: the Dem activists were transitioning fast into forgiving Trump anything, and declaring Pelosi the Font Of All Evil. > > But the only hope, now, of escaping Trump-for-Life is to hold off the vote–hold off sending this to the Senate. Because once the vote is taken and the Senate acquits, there will be no more investigation. There will be no more chance to ‘explain to the American people’ Trump’s crimes. It will be over. > > The pressure to hold the vote NOW will be relentless. “_Don’t you have enough information to vote articles of impeachment? What’s wrong with you? What more do you need?_” this is the new drumbeat. It will be inescapable. It will play without ceasing, day and night, for months to come. > > Hold the line, Democrats. Keep on with the hearings; let us know about your court filings; go on calling for more investigation. It’s our only hope. Hopefully, they don’t waste the hearings grandstanding and preening for the cameras, and instead have someone like Barry Berke, the attorney who pigeonholed Lewandowski, take the lead. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36955 "2019-09-25T13:14:04Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Better yet, Ursula Andress’ bra in _The Tenth Victim_, the one with a [couple pistols](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQ_A8Skzdg) in it. Whenever I think about that scene, it seems to me that the recoil would be a real pain. They can’t switch over the laser-equipped bras fast enough. Apparently there are a lot of movies with Bra-Guns: > **[Bra Guns and Other Bra Weapons in Movies and Videos - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls063189435/)** > > Bra Guns and Other Bra Weapons in Movies and Videos ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36956 "2019-09-25T14:08:00Z")
So what do Ivanka Trump’s nipples showing through her blouse at the United Nations, bra-guns or bras with knives have to do with the clusterfuck that is the Trump administration? I thought we were trying to reduce the level of misogyny on the board. Or have we dropped that and it’s full steam ahead? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36957 "2019-09-25T14:49:44Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > OK, you’ve stumped me. What do you mean by this? The perception that among a faction on the Dem side there is a growing “who cares if it loses us the election or is doomed to fail, Nancy, WE HAVE TO IMPEACH OR WE’RE BAD PEOPLE!” sentiment. Even if we could in fact just Benghazi him from here to the election, it would not be enough. ---
**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 25, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36958 "2019-09-25T14:51:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So what do Ivanka Trump’s nipples showing through her blouse at the United Nations, bra-guns or bras with knives have to do with the clusterfuck that is the Trump administration? I thought we were trying to reduce the level of misogyny on the board. Or have we dropped that and it’s full steam ahead? Dude, it’s not misogyny when everyone is saying “WTF”. How about this: Ivanka is a noted fashion expert. She should, as a professional, know how to dress in the United Nations. Better? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36959 "2019-09-25T14:59:20Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I told him I thought the tax cuts were a bad idea because it was saddling our children with an extra trillion dollars a year in federal deficits that they’d eventually have to figure out how to pay back, and he literally told me “I don’t care as long as my taxes go down.” The Republicans at least used to _talk_ about fiscal responsibility. The Democrats had the reputation of tax-and-spend, but now the Republicans are the party of cut-and-spend. > [@jsc1953](#): > > It’s a trap. The transcript must not contain any obvious quid pro quo, or Trump wouldn’t have caved in so quickly. > > Which just means that the quid pro quo came in a conversation from Rudy Giuliani. Everyone needs to keep in mind that an explicit quid-pro-quo is not required, because even though it may have been only implied, it was blindingly obvious to everyone involved that there was money sitting approved to help Ukraine defend itself, Trump had delayed the payment, and now he’s leaning hard on the Ukranian president to help Trump win an election. No matter what the transcript says, there is no doubt about any of that. The only thing we need the transcript for is to show Trump repeatedly asking for the Bidens to be investigated. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36960 "2019-09-25T15:17:50Z")
But it won’t be about Biden. Biden’s name will never be mentioned, instead he will say “The US doesn’t feel confident sending you all this money unless you investigate all of the \*\*Corruption \*\* that went on in your country”. Giuliani already laid the groundwork so that Zelensky knows the code. Everyone know the code. Its will be as subtle as a mob boss telling his Capo that there is a rat problem at the Casino and so they should call the exterminator. But it will provide enough of a fig leaf that all the MAGA hats will be able to say that its just another witch hunt and Trump did nothing wrong. ---
**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 25, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36961 "2019-09-25T15:18:38Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > TThe only thing we need the transcript for is to show Trump repeatedly asking for the Bidens to be investigated. And it does. What now? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36962 "2019-09-25T15:20:06Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > The Republicans at least used to _talk_ about fiscal responsibility. The Democrats had the reputation of tax-and-spend, but now the Republicans are the party of cut-and-spend. > > Everyone needs to keep in mind that an explicit quid-pro-quo is not required, because even though it may have been only implied, it was blindingly obvious to everyone involved that there was money sitting approved to help Ukraine defend itself, Trump had delayed the payment, and now he’s leaning hard on the Ukranian president to help Trump win an election. No matter what the transcript says, there is no doubt about any of that. The only thing we need the transcript for is to show Trump repeatedly asking for the Bidens to be investigated. …and now we have that: > [@](#): > > “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great,” Trump said, according to the notes and recollections of Situation Room duty officers and National Security Council policy staff released Wednesday. He repeatedly suggested Zelensky speak about the matter with Attorney General William Barr and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. > > Trump went on, per the summary: “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you could look into it … it sounds horrible to me.” > **[Trump Pressured Ukraine To Probe Biden While Discussing Military Aid](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-releases-ukraine-call-summary_n_5d88f15ee4b0d269465251ea)** > > "Do us a favor, though," the president said, according to a call summary released by the White House. HuffPo even headlined the story (on its main page, anyway): **Call Summary Released – Trump brought up Biden again and again!** You can read the transcript on that page. ---
**Author:** ![Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambrosio_Spinola)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36963 "2019-09-25T15:20:19Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Everyone needs to keep in mind that an explicit quid-pro-quo is not required, because even though it may have been only implied, it was blindingly obvious to everyone involved that there was money sitting approved to help Ukraine defend itself, Trump had delayed the payment, and now he’s leaning hard on the Ukranian president to help Trump win an election. No matter what the transcript says, there is no doubt about any of that. The only thing we need the transcript for is to show Trump repeatedly asking for the Bidens to be investigated. I think it’s also useful because it shows how far down the rabbit hole these people are if they really believe this edited memorandum is _exonerating_. Even over and above pressuring a foreign leader to investigate his political rival, Trump is demanding that the President of Ukraine chase down Infowars-level conspiracy theories about a DNC server somewhere in Ukraine! That’s pants-on-head level nuts. ---
**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 25, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/36964 "2019-09-25T15:20:55Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > But it won’t be about Biden. Biden’s name will never be mentioned, instead he will say “The US doesn’t feel confident sending you all this money unless you investigate all of the \*\*Corruption \*\* that went on in your country”. Trump did mention Biden in the phone call. By name. And said he wanted him investigated. Trump also mentioned he wanted “a favor” from the Ukrainian president immediately after the subject of military aid is raised. But I’m sure the Trumpers will attempt to spin this away. Somehow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1847) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1849)