# 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:** 2022
**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:** [February 8, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40425 "2020-02-08T03:36:25Z")
> [@jshore](#): > > [“I’m obviously not in favor of any kind of retribution against anyone who came forward with evidence.”](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/07/donald-trump-pressure-impeachment-witness-alexander-vindman-111997) Obviously. Just letting it happen without so much as a blessed mumble. But obviously, not in favor of such disgraceful events, obviously. If only there was something to \*do \*about them. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40426 "2020-02-08T03:37:37Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Well, this is the guy that’s on record as saying that the families of terrorists should be targeted and killed as well, so not totally surprising. > > Maddow tonight led off her show with written assurances made in November and December by both the acting SecDef, and one of his undersecretaries, that retaliation against Vindman would not be tolerated. Not a peep so far by either of them, so far as I can tell. Promises worth the paper they’re printed on, you bet. Not quite. The Secretary of Defense said, “We protect all of our persons, service members, from retribution or anything like that. We’ve already addressed that in policy and other means.” He also said, “We welcome back all of our service members wherever they served, to any assignment they are given.” ---
**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:** [February 8, 2020, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40427 "2020-02-08T04:54:43Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Trumpism is a mental disease. Chump himself is a mental disease. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40428 "2020-02-08T06:07:41Z")
I object to the use of “mental” in conjunction with either “Trumpism” or “Chump”. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40429 "2020-02-08T10:31:54Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Trump’s been put up to it by a group of pearl-clutchers who think that any architecture later than neoclassical is “degraded and dehumanizing” but I’m sure it appeals to his Mussolini-like preference for all things fascistic, dictatorial and overblown. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a way to include literal fasces in new courthouses and federal buildings – axes in, of course – and then point to classical and neoclassical architecture with fasces as an “I’m not touching you” troll-y fig-leaf when people squawk about it. The latin word fasces means a bundle of sticks and there’s an English word for the same derived from the same Latin root. Are you saying that Trump has an admiration for faggots? That he might secretly be a faggot himself? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40430 "2020-02-08T16:00:00Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > The latin word fasces means a bundle of sticks and there’s an English word for the same derived from the same Latin root. Are you saying that Trump has an admiration for faggots? That he might secretly be a faggot himself? Well, he worships himself, so it is not a stretch to say he likes dick. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40431 "2020-02-08T16:09:40Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I think Trumps handlers will do everything they can to make him lay low until the election. And if gets another 4 years, well then we will be truly fucked. It’s a ray of hope, then, because Donny Two-scoops _loves_ campaigning, it’s Presidentin’ he hates. The odds of his handlers getting him to lie low until November is roughly equal to getting him to speak two consecutive sentences without lying. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40432 "2020-02-08T16:33:39Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It’s a ray of hope, then, because Donny Two-scoops _loves_ campaigning, it’s Presidentin’ he hates. He’s loving the Dictatin’ though… ---
**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:** [February 8, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40433 "2020-02-08T18:38:01Z")
During his SOTU speech, Individual 1 mentioned that he was getting a scholarship for a little girl in Philadelphia who goes to a “failing government school.” Note that he couldn’t say public school, because government school just sounds more evil. Turns out the little girl goes to an elite charter school that picks and chooses its students and has an enrollment of 900 students out of 9500 applicants. And before that, she was going to a Christian school where she had to pay tuition, though she was on partial scholarship there. It seems to be a dig at the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, who recently vetoed a bill to allow parents to use tax money to send their kids to private schools. [Trump used a Philly student's story to push school choice. She already attends one of the best charters.](https://www.inquirer.com/news/donald-trump-school-choice-philadelphia-janiyah-davis-mast-charter-20200208.html)? ---
**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:** [February 8, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40434 "2020-02-08T19:26:54Z")
Not sure where to post this… [ **Democrats blast Facebook and Twitter over Pelosi speech-ripping video** _The video posted by President Donald Trump makes it appear as though the speaker tore up the text during heart-warming moments of the State of the Union._](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/07/nancy-pelosi-facebook-twitter-112230) > [@](#): > > House Democrats blasted Twitter and Facebook on Friday for hosting what they called a misleadingly edited video posted by President Donald Trump that features House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up his State of the Union speech. > > The incident is the latest test of the companies’ new policies on manipulated media. > > The video, posted Thursday, splices in footage of Pelosi’s paper-shredding amid moments in which Trump honored the last surviving Tuskegee Airman, announced the reunion of a service member with his family and praised a fallen soldier, among other parts of Tuesday’s address. Pelosi in fact tore up the document at the end of the speech, an action that prompted fierce attacks from Republicans. > > Democrats pounded both social media platforms for not taking down the video, in a dust-up that echoed last spring’s controversy over a video that had been deceptively edited to make Pelosi falsely appear to be drunk. > > “Hey @Twitter, this video is clearly edited in a way that’s intended to mislead viewers," Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) tweeted Friday. “You should take it down.” > … > > Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, also took aim at the companies over the video, tweeting, “The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them — but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same.” > > **But both companies indicated they will not take action against the video.** > … > > Facebook and Twitter recently unveiled rules to crack down on altered media and so-called deepfakes, but the policies stop short of outright banning doctored videos. Facebook said its policies won’t apply to parody or satirical videos, and Twitter said it may not remove videos that aren’t deceptively shared or likely to cause harm to users. > … Donnie’s followers, of course, will believe that Nancy is actually capable of this-- after all, their Dear Leader ridiculed a Gold Star family (brown people) and mocked a guy with cerebral palsy. And they believed that Hillary was running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor. So why not? Glad I’ve never been on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40435 "2020-02-08T23:57:54Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I think Trumps handlers will do everything they can to make him lay low until the election. And if gets another 4 years, well then we will be truly fucked. I wish they would but … they won’t and can’t and AREN’T. He’s ranting about “photoshop” today and not his clearly declining eyesight allowing him to leave the house looking like he switched out orange for black in an old timey minstrel show. The firings, the “I don’t like people who use religion to excuse what they do when they know it’s wrong/pray for me” crap… He’s not dialing it back. And his instincts have always been right on how fucking dumb 51% of the likely voters in key places are. They should tranquilize him and just have him do silent Ronnie Reagan waves from a distance, but he just needs the attention. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40436 "2020-02-09T00:17:12Z")
> [@Revelation 13:5-7](#): > > 5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. It’s been 37 months, so just another five months… ---
**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:** [February 9, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40437 "2020-02-09T01:00:14Z")
So, what, Jesus returns on the 4th of July? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40438 "2020-02-09T01:48:46Z")
I don’t see Trump changing his behaviour. Republicans think he’s the second coming, so why change what works. [Trump Job Approval at Personal Best 49%](https://news.gallup.com/poll/284156/trump-job-approval-personal-best.aspx) > [@](#): > > Trump’s approval rating has risen because of higher ratings among both Republicans and independents. His 94% approval rating among Republicans is up six percentage points from early January and is three points higher than his previous best among his fellow partisans. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40439 "2020-02-09T02:03:36Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I don’t see Trump changing his behaviour. Republicans think he’s the second coming, so why change what works. > [Trump Job Approval at Personal Best 49%](https://news.gallup.com/poll/284156/trump-job-approval-personal-best.aspx) That’s because they look at politics like football - in terms of winners vs losers instead of right vs wrong. They look at Trumps impeachment escape like their favorite team making a good trade. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40440 "2020-02-09T02:49:50Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Republicans think he’s the second coming… Which is why I call Him **The Messiah**. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40441 "2020-02-09T04:44:18Z")
Andrea Goldstein is a staffer for Representative Mark Takano (D-Calif.). Takano is the Chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Robert Wilkie is the VA Secretary. Goldstein, a former Navy intelligence officer, reported that she had been sexually assaulted in the main lobby of the VA Hospital in DC. Wilkie responded by thoroughly investigating the incident and making sure women are safe in VA facilities. Nah! I’m just pulling your leg! Wilkie began asking around about Goldstein’s service record and tried to discredit her. Then Wilkie: > [@Washington Post](#): > > issued a public letter to Takano referring to “unsubstantiated claims raised by you and your staff” that “could deter our veterans from seeking the care they need and deserve.” Those Republicans, always supporting our troops and veterans, not like those mean old Democrats. > **[VA chief Wilkie sought to dig up dirt on woman who complained of sexual...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/va-chief-wilkie-sought-to-dig-up-dirt-on-woman-who-complained-of-sexual-assault-agency-insiders-say/2020/02/08/c5823e44-49e1-11ea-9164-d3154ad8a5cd_story.html)** > > The inspector general is reviewing a request from a House leader to investigate allegations that Secretary Robert Wilkie sought information on one of the congressman’s aides. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40442 "2020-02-09T17:43:04Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I object to the use of “mental” in conjunction with either “Trumpism” or “Chump”. OK. He’s …ly Ill. It needs the mental in there. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40443 "2020-02-09T18:13:11Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > OK. He’s …ly Ill. > > It needs the mental in there. I once saw this heap of slag that used to be a device used in psychiatric medicine. It seems doctors had tried to treat Individual-ONE with Electroshock Therapy but the lack of resistance cause the machine to short itself out so badly that it melted into a shapeless mass. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2020, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40444 "2020-02-10T09:37:54Z")
Individual 1 once more hinting at staying more than two terms. > **[Trump says supporters could 'demand' he not leave office after two terms](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/16/trump-says-supporters-could-demand-he-not-leave-after-two-terms/1471915001/)** > > The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution explicitly states that "no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice." [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2021) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2023)