# 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:** 1965
**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:** [December 11, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39285 "2019-12-11T01:21:02Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Trump is supposed to sign an EO today making Judaism a nationality. Will Barr now want similar treatment for Catholicism? What nationality though - Italian, Polish, Irish…? > > The EO on Judaism is really something - it appears to mean that anti-Israeli actions are now religious discrimination. Thus federal funds may be withheld under the Civil Rights act. > > Thanks, Jared. Oi vey! this is meshuggeneh! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39286 "2019-12-11T01:51:01Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > In this [Vanity Fair article from Nov. 4 2016,](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/republicans-are-already-talking-about-impeaching-clinton) Republicans were already talking about impeaching not yet elected Hillary Clinton. And refusing to approve any SC nominees until a Republican was elected. Pretty interesting read in light of the Republican talking points we are hearing now. Those Repubs, always planning ahead! And now, they’re beginning impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden already. Louie Gohmert says they already have the paperwork. [Story on Raw Story](https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/louie-gohmert-threatens-to-impeach-joe-biden-in-hearing-meltdown-weve-already-got-the-forms/) [Video from CNN on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wqt7vv1YgY) (5+ minutes.) (ETA: “We have the forms” remark just after about 4:00) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39287 "2019-12-11T01:52:05Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > In this [Vanity Fair article from Nov. 4 2016,](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/republicans-are-already-talking-about-impeaching-clinton) Republicans were already talking about impeaching not yet elected Hillary Clinton. And refusing to approve any SC nominees until a Republican was elected. Pretty interesting read in light of the Republican talking points we are hearing now. It’s just another glaring example of their lying stinking crooked two faced hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39288 "2019-12-11T01:55:29Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Trump is supposed to sign an EO today making Judaism a nationality. Will Barr now want similar treatment for Catholicism? What nationality though - Italian, Polish, Irish…? > > The EO on Judaism is really something - it appears to mean that anti-Israeli actions are now religious discrimination. Thus federal funds may be withheld under the Civil Rights act. > > Thanks, Jared. He probably thinks he can buy their votes that way. They BETTER not forget his talk about the “very fine people”, how he had to be bullied and browbeat into speaking out (weakly) against Nazis, and the appointments of slime like Bannon and Gorka, ---
**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:** [December 11, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39289 "2019-12-11T01:56:29Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Trump is supposed to sign an EO today making Judaism a nationality. Will Barr now want similar treatment for Catholicism? What nationality though - Italian, Polish, Irish…? > > The EO on Judaism is really something - it appears to mean that anti-Israeli actions are now religious discrimination. Thus federal funds may be withheld under the Civil Rights act. Reading this, I doubted that it was a serious story (meaning no disrespect, jasg, but…come on!)—but CNN says otherwise: > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to interpret Judaism as a nationality and not just a religion, a move that the Trump administration believes will fight what they perceive as anti-Semitism on college campuses, a White House official said. > > The impending order was first reported by The New York Times. > It’s an order that would allow Trump to take further steps to combat anti-Israel sentiments and divestment movements on college campuses by requiring colleges and universities to treat those movements as discriminatory in order to keep their funding. > The Times reported the move would trigger a portion of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 that requires educational institutions receiving federal funding to not discriminate based on national origin. [https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/10/politics/trump-order-judaism-nationality/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/10/politics/trump-order-judaism-nationality/index.html) New York Times has: > [@](#): > > …The order to be signed by Mr. Trump would empower the Education Department in such actions. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the department can withhold funding from any college or educational program that discriminates “on the ground of race, color, or national origin.” Religion was not included among the protected categories, so Mr. Trump’s order will have the effect of embracing an argument that Jews are a people or a race with a collective national origin in the Middle East, like Italian Americans or Polish Americans. > > …The American Civil Liberties Union was among the groups that opposed using it in the 2016 legislation, deeming it overly broad. “It cannot and must not be that our civil rights laws are used in such a way to penalize political advocacy on the basis of viewpoint,” the group said in a letter to Congress at the time. … > **[Trump Targets Anti-Semitism and Israeli Boycotts on College Campuses...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/politics/trump-antisemitism-executive-order.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur)** > > The president’s order would allow the government to withhold money from campuses deemed to be biased, but critics see it as an attack on free speech. So everyone identifying as Jewish is now officially ‘from the Middle East’? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39290 "2019-12-11T01:56:39Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Those Repubs, always planning ahead! And now, they’re beginning impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden already. Louie Gohmert says they already have the paperwork. > > [Story on Raw Story](https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/louie-gohmert-threatens-to-impeach-joe-biden-in-hearing-meltdown-weve-already-got-the-forms/) > > [Video from CNN on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wqt7vv1YgY) (5+ minutes.) (ETA: “We have the forms” remark just after about 4:00) Oh jesus christ. Those fuckers. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39291 "2019-12-11T01:59:51Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Oh jesus christ. Those fuckers. This country is fucked, and it’s fucked because while a fact is a fact is a fact…“truth” isn’t so objective. You can have one set of facts, and multiple truths. And that’s the time in which we now live. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39292 "2019-12-11T02:12:11Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Reading this, I doubted that it was a serious story (meaning no disrespect, jasg, but…come on!)—but CNN says otherwise: > > [https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/10/politics/trump-order-judaism-nationality/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/10/politics/trump-order-judaism-nationality/index.html) > > New York Times has: > [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/politics/trump-antisemitism-executive-order.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/politics/trump-antisemitism-executive-order.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur) > > So everyone identifying as Jewish is now officially ‘from the Middle East’? Seriously? How does this not run afoul of the 1st? ---
**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:** [December 11, 2019, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39293 "2019-12-11T02:30:30Z")
What Aspenglow said - nice post. > [@River\_Hippie](#): > > In this [Vanity Fair article from Nov. 4 2016,](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/republicans-are-already-talking-about-impeaching-clinton) Republicans were already talking about impeaching not yet elected Hillary Clinton. And refusing to approve any SC nominees until a Republican was elected. Pretty interesting read in light of the Republican talking points we are hearing now. This is what I’ve been seeing (and saying). Republicans are a minority rule party, and they know that the only way they can continue to hold power is to use undemocratic means to keep power. One way to do that is to obstruct and disrupt. What they want is for the average voter, the middler voter in particular, to check out. They want the middler voter to say “They all suck. Fuck voting.” ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39294 "2019-12-11T02:36:05Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Reading this, I doubted that it was a serious story (meaning no disrespect, jasg, but…come on!)—but CNN says otherwise: Well, I did mess up the date - so, Fake News! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39295 "2019-12-11T06:24:16Z")
Here is [a weird thing](https://secondnexus.com/donald-trump-campaign-thanos-video) (spoiler alert: spoilers down the link. The Orange “CREEP” has put out a video that depicts Individual-ONE in the role of Thanos from the latest Avengers movie. Thanos (whose name sounds troubling close to the Greek word for “death”) kills very many people and is rather unmistakably the movie’s villain. Which, of course, leads to the best part, I mean, given Hollywood formula, it is not much a surprise thathe loses What were they thinking? Were they thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39296 "2019-12-11T11:57:49Z")
Thanos is big and tough and… what was the question again? ---
**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:** [December 11, 2019, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39297 "2019-12-11T12:10:41Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Here is [a weird thing](https://secondnexus.com/donald-trump-campaign-thanos-video) (spoiler alert: spoilers down the link. The Orange “CREEP” has put out a video that depicts Individual-ONE in the role of Thanos from the latest Avengers movie. Thanos (whose name sounds troubling close to the Greek word for “death”) kills very many people and is rather unmistakably the movie’s villain. Which, of course, leads to the best part, I mean, given Hollywood formula, it is not much a surprise thathe loses > What were they thinking? > > Were they thinking? Obviously they wish Trump would snap his fingers as an order to cull half the country. No points for guessing which half. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39298 "2019-12-11T14:19:43Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Point taken. But impeachment wasn’t drastic enough for those lying bastards, they wanted no less than for her to be locked up. Trump called for her to be assassinated if she “stole” the election, at least twice. No wonder he was outraged-----how much or what did he give Putin for that election? He also surrounds himself with assholes like Nugent, who’s threatened both Hillary and Obama. Draft-dodging pants shitters got to stay together. Then there’s Al Baldasaro, who called for Hillary to be put in front of a firing squad. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39299 "2019-12-11T19:51:11Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > How about …never?? > > They are driven by spite, bigotry and hate. As long as he fucks the same people they always wanted to fuck, as long as he is stickin’ it to the people they wanted to stick it to, as long as he panders to their supremacist and dominionist fantasies, they will love him… even as he fucks them TOO. During the campaign, I made the observation that there probably are Trump supporters that would gladly let Trump shit in their mouth if it triggered a “liberul”. They don’t seem to mind being fucked in the ass by Trump as long as they think they’re getting a reach around. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39300 "2019-12-11T21:47:22Z")
Ethics, that is for _other people_, right? Eric, Ivanka & Triggered-Jr [are now being forced, _forced_, to take classes](https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/trumps-children-must-undergo-mandatory-training-to-learn-how-to-avoid-defrauding-charities/) in how to not rip off charities. Hard stuff, really hard to understand, I wish them luck. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2019, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39301 "2019-12-11T22:51:52Z")
Trump is now pretty much laying down the foundation to assert that he might need to turn the U.S. into a dictatorship. > **[Trump’s speech in Hershey revealed a presidency off the rails](https://www.vox.com/2019/12/11/21010774/trump-hershey-pennsylvania-rally)** > > It was one of his ugliest rallies yet — and put the stakes of 2020 in sharp relief. Again, I know you think I’m being alarmist, drunken Asahi, but you’re wrong. We’re heading into the abyss, and impeachment and post-impeachment experience will exemplify this once and for all. I’ll remind you that the president already has the tools in place to essentially create his own emergency rule of law, and usurp congress – it was ironically congress that gave him that authority in the mid 2000s. But even if you find that to by hyperbolic, an even worse scenario is that the voting public re-elects him on the strength of economic prosperity and validates his style of governance. The country won’t survive as a democracy for another 4 years - that I think we all know. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39302 "2019-12-11T22:57:15Z")
Peer into the mind of Trump, a pit of stinky, writhing, squamous horrors… I don’t think he’s “laying the foundation” for dictatorship. He already thinks it is. He sincerely believes that if the President does it, its not illegal. And, in all morbid fascination, he has a point. Reagan sold arms to a _hostile_ foreign power, in order to raise money to support the Contras. Which Congress specifically and explicitly said he could not do. And he skated. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39303 "2019-12-11T23:07:24Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Peer into the mind of Trump, a pit of stinky, writhing, squamous horrors… > > I don’t think he’s “laying the foundation” for dictatorship. He already thinks it is. He sincerely believes that if the President does it, its not illegal. And, in all morbid fascination, he has a point. Reagan sold arms to a _hostile_ foreign power, in order to raise money to support the Contras. Which Congress specifically and explicitly said he could not do. > > And he skated. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems that something changed between Watergate and Iran-Contra, and impeachment became a threat only on paper. It’s likely we’ll never see a bipartisan impeachment effort. If the President’s party controls the House, no one will ever be impeached again. If he controls at least 1/3 the Senate, no one will ever be convicted. If the opposition controls the House we may get political theater & grandstanding, a la Clinton. We’ve been living in a quasi-dictatorship for 35 years and have been fortunate that it’s been mostly benevolent. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/39304 "2019-12-11T23:53:01Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Peer into the mind of Trump, a pit of stinky, writhing, squamous horrors… > > I don’t think he’s “laying the foundation” for dictatorship. He already thinks it is. He sincerely believes that if the President does it, its not illegal. And, in all morbid fascination, he has a point. Reagan sold arms to a _hostile_ foreign power, in order to raise money to support the Contras. Which Congress specifically and explicitly said he could not do. > > And he skated. You have a point - right up until the plausible deniability part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1964) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1966)