# 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:** 1877
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37525 "2019-10-08T11:39:00Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > ““The President, who allowed Khashoggi to be cut in pieces without any repercussions whatsoever, …” > Oh, so Republicans _ **DO** _ know about that. Anyone notice whether the mandate was written in Sharpie? ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37526 "2019-10-08T12:42:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > OMG! Is God getting ready to dump Former President Trump\*?? God is turning against the physical avatar of the Seven Deadly Sins? Whoda thunk it? ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37527 "2019-10-08T12:45:48Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I think breaking one more of the ten commandments should do it… > [@running\_coach](#): > > He’s only got one left. Well, he has neither the artistic talent nor the industriousness to make a graven image, so that one is safe. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37528 "2019-10-08T12:47:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Well, he has neither the artistic talent nor the industriousness to make a graven image, so that one is safe. Tweeting about how he’s the Chosen One probably qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37529 "2019-10-08T13:03:45Z")
There is no God, and He hates us. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37530 "2019-10-08T13:12:23Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > I grew up in a smaller rural town in northern Pennsylvania and see the same thing happening there. A disturbing article but only the second most this past weekend. Read [this…](https://www.thedailybeast.com/if-trumps-rage-brings-civil-war-where-will-the-military-stand) It reminds me of that small town in Missouri that was in the news after Trump started his “easy to win” trade war with China. There was a factory that made… I forget, barbed wire maybe?.. that had to shut down because they couldn’t afford the steel from China because of the tariffs. And yet many employees (and I think even the owners) were still full-on Trump supporters even though they lost their jobs as a direct result of his policies. Morons. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37531 "2019-10-08T13:20:00Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > It reminds me of that small town in Missouri that was in the news after Trump started his “easy to win” trade war with China. There was a factory that made… I forget, barbed wire maybe?.. that had to shut down because they couldn’t afford the steel from China because of the tariffs. And yet many employees (and I think even the owners) were still full-on Trump supporters even though they lost their jobs as a direct result of his policies. > > Morons. Fuck 'em. They deserve everything that happens to them. Stupidity and spitefulness should hurt. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37532 "2019-10-08T13:30:49Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > …but if Trump and Pence both get booted, Nancy would be eligible to run twice after serving out the remainder of Trump’s term. The gutters would run with blood – from all the exploding conservative heads. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37533 "2019-10-08T13:48:30Z")
[ **Republicans Stand by Trump Because They Like What He Does** _Sometimes, the simplest explanation is the correct one._](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/opinion/republicans-trump-kurds.html?emc=rss&partner=rss) > [@](#): > > Despite his somewhat heterodox campaign, Trump has been a remarkably conservative president. For most Republican lawmakers, to oppose Trump would be to oppose their own interests. > > Most Republican lawmakers were sent to Washington to fight for spending cuts, lower taxes and conservative judges. Why would any of them stand against a president who has delivered on each count? Trump has taken an ax to domestic spending programs for the poor — his Agriculture Department just proposed new cuts to food stamps; he signed a tax cut that funnels trillions to the highest earners; and he stacked the federal judiciary with right-wing ideologues. It’s hard to imagine a better outcome for a conservative politician. > … > > You can read Senator Marco Rubio’s willingness to downplay Trump’s open call to intervene in the 2020 election as a craven surrender, or you can take it at face value: Maybe Rubio just doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal. > > None of this would be out of character for congressional Republicans. These are the lawmakers who refused to fix the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court killed a key provision of the law in 2013. They said nothing when Trump tried to launch a crusade against imaginary “voter fraud.” They are at best indifferent to the restrictive laws and voter purges that keep millions of Americans from the polls. > > Sometimes, the simplest answer is the correct one. Why are most Republicans silent in the face of the president’s attempt to cheat his way to re-election? Perhaps it’s because they don’t think it’s wrong — or because they don’t care if it is. This is the long and short of it. Former President Trump\* represents the Republican Party. He promotes their aims and goals and without going through the motions of having to negotiate and get along with the other side, or indeed, anyone-- the rest of the world community included. He is the heart, face, and blackened soul of the Republican Party. He’s their [del]Golden[/del] Orange-Haired Boy. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37534 "2019-10-08T14:44:37Z")
Trump is simply the head of a cult at this point. Cults can have such strong sway over their membership that the cult leader can tell them the most outrageous bullshit and they’ll believe him. The leader can order them to kill themselves and they will do so. This is what we’re dealing with. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37535 "2019-10-08T15:27:55Z")
Apparently we haven’t kowtowed enough to Russia: [Trump apparently wants to pull the U.S. from the Open Skies Treaty, and nobody knows why | The Week](https://theweek.com/speedreads/870300/trump-apparently-wants-pull-from-open-skies-treaty-nobody-knows-why) > [@](#): > > On Monday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) released a letter to National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien expressing his deep concern about “reports that the Trump administration is withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty” and urging the administration to abandon “such a reckless action.” Can any…I mean _ **ANY** _… Trump supporter on this board explain why this would be a good idea? I got nothing. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37536 "2019-10-08T15:36:41Z")
Well, Fiddle Peghead [over here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21904320&postcount=54), suggests the Trump administration isn’t doing any such thing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37537 "2019-10-08T16:13:46Z")
I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong, even if it’s just a Trumpian denial (which proves nothing either way). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37538 "2019-10-08T18:32:10Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Fuck 'em. They deserve everything that happens to them. Stupidity and spitefulness should hurt. Smart privilege? ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37539 "2019-10-08T18:33:41Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Well, he has neither the artistic talent nor the industriousness to make a graven image, so that one is safe. He’s a pro with a Sharpie. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37540 "2019-10-08T18:40:29Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Well, he has neither the artistic talent nor the industriousness to make a graven image, so that one is safe. While we’re exploring that imagery, I like[this letter to the editor](https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/letters/os-op-letters-demings-democratic-talking-points-20191007-dafujf7pbvfptjw7y3kvz62jsm-story.html) from one of the endangered species of normals in The Villages: > [@](#): > > But as his supporters strutted around carrying our nation’s flag, or parading in their golf carts, or even holding (MAGA) signs of support, I was reminded of certain scenes in the long-ago movie, “The Ten Commandments.” You know, where those waiting for Charlton Heston’s Moses to return from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments became so disenchanted that they crafted an idol, a golden calf, and danced and pranced around it as if it was their messiah. We know what happened to it when Moses returned with the tablets. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37541 "2019-10-08T19:38:11Z")
I posted this in the ‘we have betrayed the Kurds’ thread, but I think it’s a big enough Charlie Foxtrot to mention it here. [Trump On Turkey: ‘I Have A Little Conflict Of Interest … It’s Called Trump Towers’](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/conflict-of-interest-donald-trump-syria-kurds-turkey_n_5d9bb7bfe4b0fc935edf5be0) Trump said this in 2015, before he was the president. But he still has a financial interest in Trump Towers Istanbul, right? And he’s just given Turkey what they’ve always wanted, while he holds those financial interests? How is this not a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution? How is it not a criminal violation of federal law (18 U.S. Code § 208.Acts affecting a personal financial interest)? ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37542 "2019-10-08T19:47:57Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Trump is simply the head of a cult at this point. Cults can have such strong sway over their membership that the cult leader can tell them the most outrageous bullshit and they’ll believe him. The leader can order them to kill themselves and they will do so. Ya know, at this point, I kinda wish that he would go ahead and tell 'em that! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37543 "2019-10-08T20:39:10Z")
Trump DOJ lawyers, in a bid to prevent Congress from getting the Mueller grand jury proceedings, argue Nixon was treated unfairly in 1974 Court decision. > [@](#): > > Lawyers from the Justice Department surprised the judge, Beryl Howell, by arguing that the decision by former Chief Judge John Sirica to release normally secret grand jury materials to the House in 1974, when Nixon faced impeachment, was incorrect, and that those materials should have been kept from Congress at the time, according to NBC News. > > Those materials were considered the “roadmap” that led to Nixon’s expected impeachment that year. Nixon ended up resigning after before he was formally impeached. > > “Wow,” Howell said after hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that the Justice Department now disagreed with Sirica’s ruling. > > “As I said, the department is taking extraordinary positions in this case,” Howell said. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/37544 "2019-10-08T20:42:19Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Trump DOJ lawyers, in a bid to prevent Congress from getting the Mueller grand jury proceedings, argue Nixon was treated unfairly in 1974 Court decision. Maybe Nixon is eligible for another term. We can swear him in posthumously. He’d be better than Former President Trump.\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1876) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1878)