# 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:** 2007
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40125 "2020-01-25T00:24:14Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > [https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1220828569661857792?s=20](https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1220828569661857792?s=20) > > (For the non-fans, DI) This response made me laugh: > [@](#): > > Trump admin boldly goes where other logo designers have gone before. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40126 "2020-01-25T01:46:04Z")
[Pompeo doesn’t like interview direction with NPR, storms out, summons reporter a minute later, cusses her out, calls her stupid, tells her that the world will hear about this.](https://www.npr.org/2020/01/24/799244678/pompeo-wont-say-whether-he-owes-yovanovitch-an-apology-i-ve-done-what-s-right) He’s right on that last count: it’s a top story at NPR. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40127 "2020-01-25T01:52:56Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > [Pompeo doesn’t like interview direction with NPR, storms out, summons reporter a minute later, cusses her out, calls her stupid, tells her that the world will hear about this.](https://www.npr.org/2020/01/24/799244678/pompeo-wont-say-whether-he-owes-yovanovitch-an-apology-i-ve-done-what-s-right) > > He’s right on that last count: it’s a top story at NPR. He’s a total piece of scary shit with views to being a succeeding monarch. I’ve long said so. We have to get rid of these Trump people, every single one. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40128 "2020-01-25T02:05:47Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > [Pompeo doesn’t like interview direction with NPR, storms out, summons reporter a minute later, cusses her out, calls her stupid, tells her that the world will hear about this.](https://www.npr.org/2020/01/24/799244678/pompeo-wont-say-whether-he-owes-yovanovitch-an-apology-i-ve-done-what-s-right) > > He’s right on that last count: it’s a top story at NPR. Imagine what happens if - okay, when - Trump gets reelected. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40129 "2020-01-25T02:07:05Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > He’s a total piece of scary shit with views to being a succeeding monarch. I’ve long said so. We have to get rid of these Trump people, every single one. It won’t happen. Democracy depends on active, engaged, civic-minded people who care more about getting their latest fix on YouTube and Netflix. We need to feel the pain first. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40130 "2020-01-25T03:38:56Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > [Pompeo doesn’t like interview direction with NPR, storms out, summons reporter a minute later, cusses her out, calls her stupid, tells her that the world will hear about this.](https://www.npr.org/2020/01/24/799244678/pompeo-wont-say-whether-he-owes-yovanovitch-an-apology-i-ve-done-what-s-right) > > He’s right on that last count: it’s a top story at NPR. Quite the interesting listen, if you’ve got a few minutes; Pompeo seems clearly agitated by Mary Louise Kelly’s questions on just how the administration’s draconian policies toward Iran are supposed to gain their cooperation, and can barely contain himself when the subject turns to Ukraine and his apparent lack of support for former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. The most fascinating bit is right at the end, where Kelly, who remained unflappable throughout, relates how Pompeo, during his post-interview tirade, hauled out an unmarked world map and demanded that Kelly find and identify Ukraine. What the actual fuck? ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40131 "2020-01-25T03:41:13Z")
The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has joined the board of Lockheed. [Former top U.S. general Dunford joining Lockheed Martin's board | Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lockheed-dunford-idUSKBN1ZN2L8)? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40132 "2020-01-25T03:45:47Z")
> **[Trump expands tariffs on steel and aluminum imports](https://thehill.com/policy/finance/479881-trump-expands-tariffs-on-steel-and-aluminum-imports/)** > > President Trump on Friday signed a proclamation expanding tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from some countries.  Yup, got to protect the American workers, even if it means sanctioning our allies. > **[Rusal shares soar, aluminum falls as U.S. lifts sanctions](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions-idUSKCN1PL0S1)** > > U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Sunday lifted sanctions on the core empire of Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, including aluminum giant Rusal and its parent En+, despite a Democrat-led push to maintain them. Ah, yes. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40133 "2020-01-25T03:47:03Z")
I met the enemy this evening. We had a nice conversation. He doesn’t even know we’re enemies. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40134 "2020-01-25T03:48:05Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Quite the interesting listen, if you’ve got a few minutes; Pompeo seems clearly agitated by Mary Louise Kelly’s questions on just how the administration’s draconian policies toward Iran are supposed to gain their cooperation, and can barely contain himself when the subject turns to Ukraine and his apparent lack of support for former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. > > The most fascinating bit is right at the end, where Kelly, who remained unflappable throughout, relates how Pompeo, during his post-interview tirade, hauled out an unmarked world map and demanded that Kelly find and identify Ukraine. What the actual fuck? Assuming it went down how she described–and it almost certainly did, she was going into a space where he could’ve had a recorder and she didn’t, it’d be pointlessly career-ending for her to lie about what happened–it’s an incredible temper tantrum from a powerful figure who can’t take being confronted. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40135 "2020-01-25T03:51:06Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I met the enemy this evening. We had a nice conversation. He doesn’t even know we’re enemies. Cool. But let’s stay more reasonable than sounding like you’re working your way up to putting on your ninja jammies and going to practice some aggravated felonies. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40136 "2020-01-25T03:51:59Z")
I actually don’t mind the Space Force using a portion of NASA’s logo. In an ideal world they would work together. Stealing the Star Trek logo OTOH… However, people here are missing the big problem. What is to become of the Pentagon? How can we make the US military truly great with an awesome Space Force if they are working from a pentagon and not a hexagon. Will Trump find the billions of dollars to reconfigure the building? Will he fix the parking situation there? Most important, how will it affect my daily commute? These are the things that keep me up at night (or at least keep me awake behind the wheel as I sit in Pentagon-adjacent traffic). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40137 "2020-01-25T03:58:26Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > I actually don’t mind the Space Force using a portion of NASA’s logo. […] > However, people here are missing the big problem. What is to become of the Pentagon? You’ve made me realize what Trump’s big plan was all this time: Sextagon Regrettably… ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40138 "2020-01-25T04:12:46Z")
Rethuglicans are fucking animals. Rodents. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40139 "2020-01-25T04:17:28Z")
The fact of the matter is that the Nazi-Republican Party must be outlawed the same as the Nazi Party is outlawed in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40140 "2020-01-25T04:18:06Z")
🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀 > [@asahi](#): > > rodents. 🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀 ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40141 "2020-01-25T04:43:49Z")
As the Handmaid’s Tale surges onward, President Suppurating Abcess [adressed some anti-abortion idiots](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/watch-live-trump-becomes-1st-sitting-president-to-speak-at-anti-abortion-rally) in Washington today. > [@](#): > > Past presidents who opposed abortion, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, steered clear of personally attending the march to avoid being too closely associated with demonstrators eager to outlaw the procedure. They sent remarks for others to deliver, spoke via telephone hookup or invited organizers to visit the White House. > > Over the last 10 years, however, the Republican Party has undergone a “revolution,” displaying a new willingness to “embrace the issue as not only being morally right but politically smart,” said Mallory Quigley, a spokeswoman for the Susan B. Anthony List and Women Speak Out PAC. The group is planning to spend $52 million this cycle to help elect candidates opposed to abortion rights. Its president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, will serve as national co-chair of a new campaign coalition, “Pro-life Voices for Trump.” ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40142 "2020-01-25T05:25:44Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > The most fascinating bit is right at the end, where Kelly, who remained unflappable throughout, relates how Pompeo, during his post-interview tirade, hauled out an unmarked world map and demanded that Kelly find and identify Ukraine. What the actual fuck? This is an extreme example of something that happens fairly often, if you look for it. Guys like Pompeo think that everybody else is stupid – that’s why they can lie so shamelessly. A corollary is that if a questioner calls them on something, it can’t be because the average person is smart enough to know X, it’s because the questioner is parroting a script written for him by one of the few smart liberals, e.g. George Soros. So they try to expose this by testing them – not usually this blatantly, but the principle is the same. I remember when James Inhofe agreed to be interviewed by Rachel Maddow during a publicity tour for a book he wrote about the global warming “hoax,” and out of nowhere, asked her about some innocuous anecdote, to prove she hadn’t actually read the book. She had actually read the book, and correctly answered his question. I also remember when Rumsfeld went to Iraq, and agreed to take questions from the troops. One of them asked about why they didn’t have proper equipment, and appeared to read the question from notes (as many people do when given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask a bigwig a question). The question was perfectly audible and understandable, but Rumsfeld asked the soldier to restate it, hoping he would be unable to do anything but reread the question word for word, and thus reveal that it was a put-up job. Instead, the soldier ignored his notes and gave a very articulate description of the problem, to Rumsfeld’s disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40143 "2020-01-25T09:27:14Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > As the Handmaid’s Tale surges onward … Interesting. When I watched _Handmaid’s Tale_ Season 1, I was strongly reminded of modern Republicanism, despite that the details of the GOP’s preferred dystopia may not resemble _Handmaid’s Tale_ at all. > [@TonySinclair](#): > > This is an extreme example of something that happens fairly often, if you look for it. Guys like Pompeo think that everybody else is stupid – that’s why they can lie so shamelessly. I’ve observed a general tendency for people to impute their characters to others. Liars think others are lying; ignorant people think others are ignorant; and so on. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2020, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40144 "2020-01-25T11:34:37Z")
A brilliant point, wittily stated! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2006) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2008)