# 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:** 2028
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40545 "2020-02-13T17:57:01Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I couldn’t resist giving you a little stick. 🙂 Hope you don’t mind. Could be worse. I once used “reign” for “rein”, but if I ever use “they’re” for “there”, I’m trying to signal for help. ---
**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 13, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40546 "2020-02-13T18:17:40Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Badgers badgers badgers badgers moron! moron!](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/revealed-trump-repeatedly-interrupted-briefings-to-ask-bizarre-questions-about-badgers/)… > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Are you sure we’re not being trolled? From your link: > > From _The Simpsons_: [One of the writers confirms it’s in the book](https://twitter.com/swin24/status/1227619006175174657). ---
**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 13, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40547 "2020-02-13T18:30:23Z")
Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, and Reince Priebus are returning to the administration. > **[Trump rehires Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer to White House roles](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/trump-rehires-reince-priebus-and-sean-spicer-to-white-house-roles/)** > > President Donald Trump has rehired his former chief of staff Reince Priebus and former press secretary Sean Spicer almost three years after both men unceremoniously departed the White House.This article was originally published at... > **[Trump installs loyalists in top jobs after impeachment purge](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/13/hope-hicks-returns-to-white-house-114826)** > > Trusted aide Hope Hicks will return, while Trump’s “body man” Johnny McEntee is getting a promotion. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40548 "2020-02-13T18:33:09Z")
> [@margin](#): > > Could be worse. I once used “reign” for “rein”, but if I ever use “they’re” for “there”, I’m trying to signal for help. LOL, I’ll keep that in mind. But for the record, I think it was the “reign” for “rein” correction that inspired mine above. Wasn’t it **kaylasdad99** who gave you that little yank on your rein? 😉 I’ve learned (painfully) how to ignore the most common errors I see everywhere, including all over this board. I can almost breeze past “your” for “you’re,” “effect” for “affect,” “to” for “too.” I’ve given up my hopes to rehabilitate the perfectly good verb, “give,” merely gritting my teeth at the new verb, “gift.” But deep inside if I’m honest, I’m **DesertDog** ’s guy in his posted link below. > [@DesertDog](#): > > It could [be worse](https://proofreadanywhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/plural.jpg). And by the way, **margin** , I love your rants. They’re chock full of factual data and reach the conclusions of many reasonable people. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40549 "2020-02-13T18:34:41Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, and Reince Priebus are returning to the administration. > > [Trump rehires Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer to White House roles - Raw Story](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/trump-rehires-reince-priebus-and-sean-spicer-to-white-house-roles/) > [https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/13/hope-hicks-returns-to-white-house-114826](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/13/hope-hicks-returns-to-white-house-114826) I think this means no one else would have them and only the dipshit in the Oval wants them. ---
**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 13, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40550 "2020-02-13T18:37:32Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I think this means no one else would have them and only the dipshit in the Oval wants them. And now that he’s been given the go-ahead by the Senate, he has no reason not to. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40551 "2020-02-13T18:38:46Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > And now that he’s been given the go-ahead by the Senate, he has no reason not to. Exactly. ☹ ---
**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 13, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40552 "2020-02-13T19:34:27Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > And this is why I’m sometimes (okay, nearly always) an alarmist. I don’t think nice works with these people. I don’t think democratic socialism works. I think people need to be prepared to be mean, not so much against someone wearing a Trump tee shirt per se, but against Trumpism. I want to see a Democratic candidate who has a fucking mean streak, and I haven’t seen it. > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I agree. > [@Locrian](#): > > I agree with this too. Get someone who can say, “Who is really fucking happy with an administration that hates our allies?”, and they get my vote. Of course, that could be Biden while he’s having a stroke… Well, this did happen while y’all were talking: > [@](#): > > Mini Mike is a 5’4” mass of dead energy who does not want to be on the debate stage with these professional politicians. No boxes please. He hates Crazy Bernie and will, with enough money, possibly stop him. Bernie’s people will go nuts! > To which Bloomberg responds: > [@](#): > > @realDonaldTrump - we know many of the same people in NY. Behind your back they laugh at you & call you a carnival barking clown. They know you inherited a fortune & squandered it with stupid deals and incompetence. > > I have the record & the resources to defeat you. And I will. > > > Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump So, yeah, someone like that… who is an actual Democrat! ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40553 "2020-02-13T19:35:25Z")
Whew! It is quite a relief to learn we are not a banana republic, what with the POTUS tampering not just with the prosecutors in the Stone case, but also the judge and jury as well. A real load off my shoulders. That is not the end of my anxiety though. Would it be asking too much for Trump to deny he is a pig fucker? ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40554 "2020-02-13T19:44:43Z")
Irredeemable fucking scumbag Devin Nunes and his GOP toddler flunkies on the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee [have taken their hockey net home and refused to attend a subcommittee hearing on technology and national security on Wednesday,](https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/politics-news-pmn/in-wake-of-impeachment-trump-allies-boycott-house-intelligence-tech-hearing) citing some nothingburger-y shite along the lines of it being “a publicity event”. Fucking hypocritical dipshits: tail-legging their way out of a hearing on technology and national security IS the publicity event, kinda. For feces n’laughter, I checked out [glurg-source National Review](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/house-intel-committee-republicans-boycott-hearing-due-to-schiffs-refusal-to-address-fisa-abuses/) to see how they’d try to spin it, and sure enough: > [@](#): > > Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee boycotted a hearing on Wednesday, complaining that the committee’s Democratic chairman Adam Schiff has neglected proper oversight of the intelligence community by failing to hold a hearing on the Justice Department inspector general’s report detailing the FBI’s FISA abuses. (Their wonderfully dickish headline: “House Intel Committee Republicans Boycott Hearing Due to Schiff’s Refusal to Address FISA Abuses”) Oh just fuck so entirely the fucking fuck off with the FISA guttersniping. Let’s see how dysfunctional and broken things continue to get. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40555 "2020-02-13T20:13:01Z")
Donnie is having a no-good very-bad day. [ul] [li]Former Chief of Staff John Kelly is saying mean things about him in public, including defending Col. Vindman.[/li] [li]The Senate just voted to require that he get congressional approval before doing anything stupid in Iran. 8 Republicans crossed party lines to vote Yes.[/li] [li]A judge just ruled in favor of Amazon (Trump’s nemesis) and ordered work to halt on Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar defense contract.[/li] [li]And the DOJ / Roger Stone shit-show keeps on rolling.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40556 "2020-02-13T20:15:28Z")
> [@Tweeter-in-Chief](#): > > Mini Mike is a 5’4” mass of dead energy who does not want to be on the debate stage with these professional politicians. No boxes please. Every debate in modern history has employed height-leveling devices – “boxes”, if you will. If Trump and Bloomberg ever debate then they will either be seated, or will appear to be the same height. Donnie will just have to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40557 "2020-02-13T20:18:43Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Well, this did happen while y’all were talking: > > [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227946304057364481](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227946304057364481) > > To which Bloomberg responds: > > [https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1227951551068721154?s=20](https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1227951551068721154?s=20) > > So, yeah, someone like that… who is an actual Democrat! Ya know, I heard about some comment his campaign manager made about Trump that was pretty wicked too. That was a few days or a week ago, maybe. And yeah, I thought it was encouraging, just like that comment you noted is encouraging. Let’s see what happens in the next 2-3 months. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40558 "2020-02-13T21:42:34Z")
Holy crap. Even Bill Barr has a limit for how much shit he’ll put up with. > [@the AG to ABC News via NY Times](#): > > In an extraordinary rebuke of President Trump, Attorney General William P. Barr said on Thursday that Mr. Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department had made it “impossible for me to do my job” and asserted that “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.” Or the cynical response is he’s just asking that the dirty deeds be done more quietly. Ix-nay on the eets-tway. ---
**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 13, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40559 "2020-02-13T21:45:03Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Holy crap. Even Bill Barr has a limit for how much shit he’ll put up with. > > Or the cynical response is he’s just asking that the dirty deeds be done more quietly. Ix-nay on the eets-tway. Okay, **eets-tway** made me laugh right out loud. Well done. 😃 ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40560 "2020-02-13T21:45:28Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Holy crap. Even Bill Barr has a limit for how much shit he’ll put up with. > > Or the cynical response is he’s just asking that the dirty deeds be done more quietly. Ix-nay on the eets-tway. The cynical me says “I’m saying this to the press to try and get infront of the blindingly obvious”. We’ll know if he’s being honest depending on Trump’s Twitter feed and/or if he is fired. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40561 "2020-02-13T21:45:32Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Holy crap. Even Bill Barr has a limit for how much shit he’ll put up with. > > **Or the cynical response is he’s just asking that the dirty deeds be done more quietly. Ix-nay on the eets-tway.** There ya go. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40562 "2020-02-13T22:00:16Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Well, this did happen while y’all were talking: > > [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227946304057364481](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227946304057364481) > > To which Bloomberg responds: > > [https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1227951551068721154?s=20](https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1227951551068721154?s=20) > > So, yeah, someone like that… who is an actual Democrat! “@realDonaldTrump - we know many of the same people in NY. Behind your back they laugh at you & call you a carnival barking clown. They know you inherited a fortune & squandered it with stupid deals and incompetence. I have the record & the resources to defeat you. And I will.” You know, I don’t have an outright favorite among the many Democrats playin right now. And if this is how it’s gonna be with Bloomberg then he’s right up there in my consideration. What’s his numbers look like? Maybe add one to his numbers for the time being. ---
**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 13, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40563 "2020-02-13T22:04:20Z")
Not sure where to post this… SOOO many trump threads now. _(Where did they all COME from? It wasn’t me-- cross my heart!)_ Fresh Air this week featured an [interview](https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/805201152/watergate-girl-offers-an-inside-look-at-the-investigation-into-nixon)with Jill Wine-Banks who was a Watergate prosecutor. The whole interview is well worth listening to (or you can read the transcript). The public AND the prosecutors have just found out that Nixon had a taping system in the Oval Office: > [@](#): > > (DAVE)DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. And our guest is Jill Wine-Banks. She’s an attorney and legal analyst for MSNBC. She was an assistant special prosecutor in the Watergate investigation in the early '70s. She has a new memoir called “Watergate Girl: My Fight For Truth And Justice Against A Criminal President.” > > You know, it’s interesting. So you requested those nine tapes. The Nixon administration said, no, these are private conversations of the president’s, that they’re subject to executive privilege. And one of the things you write is that as this unfolded in public, his refusal to supply the tapes hurt his support even with his base of supporters. That’s again, a difference from what we’re seeing today, isn’t it? > > WINE-BANKS: Yes, although in the Watergate case, there were a lot more complications. At first, he said, this is a hoax in a witch hunt, which sounds dramatically familiar to listeners today. He also simply refused. He just said, I’m not turning them over. Eventually we went public. Archibald Cox, who was the special prosecutor, had a press conference and, in a very moving and dramatic and - full of integrity, said why we needed the tapes and why we had a legal right to have them, which led to the president ordering the attorney general to fire Archibald Cox. > > The attorney general said I promised Congress I would not do it without cause, and there is no cause. I will not do it. So he was fired. And the deputy attorney general became attorney general and was ordered to fire Cox. And he also refused, and he was gone. The third person in charge was the solicitor general, who became the acting attorney general, and he carried out the order. > > Three days later, **public protest was so dramatic** , our office and the White House were inundated with bags of mail. This is in the era before email. There were telexes, but other than telexes, there was actual postal mail that we received and the White House received that led Nixon to do a U-turn and say, OK, I’ll hire a new special prosecutor. And I’ll give you the tapes. > > DAVIES: Right. Now, this was the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, right? > > WINE-BANKS: Yes. The bolded part breaks my heart-- “public protest was so dramatic” when Nixon refused to turn over the tapes-- given what we have just seen these past few days. ☹ Jill Wine-Banks talks about listening to the tapes … > [@](#): > > WINE-BANKS: Even to this day I remember how devastated and disappointed I was listening because imagining can never be as bad as actually hearing the president committing crimes. And it’s not just the expletives, deleted language that was disturbing, but it was the fact that in the Oval Office, these conversations were taking place about paying hush money to make sure that the Watergate burglars never said that they were hired by the White House and the Committee to Reelect, that they were told to commit perjury. One of them was told to leave the country. > > And as they planned all this and used unaccounted campaign money, which led to legislation that’s been undone by Citizens United, the Supreme Court case, they had so much money that they could spend it. And it’s just very disturbing because I was raised to respect the president and the presidency, even if it wasn’t someone that I agreed with politically. And so that was a - what I now see as a childhood vision that was just destroyed listening to the president committing crimes. > > DAVIES: And you mentioned that some of the women who were transcribing the tapes just… > > WINE-BANKS: Yes. > > DAVIES: …Literally had tears on their cheeks. > > WINE-BANKS: They did. They cried because they couldn’t believe what they were hearing as they listened to this horrible series of conversations. And it’s available to anyone who wants to listen through the National Archives. You can listen to these tapes. And it’s proof beyond doubt of the president’s culpability. BTW, for those who remember what Bob Haldeman testified, namely: > [@](#): > > …And Nixon says, yeah, we could get a million dollars. And the version that we first heard of this came from one of the president’s, you know, inner circle, Bob Haldeman, at the Senate hearings in which he said, yeah, the president said, yes, we could get a million dollars, we could get it in cash, **but it would be wrong…** My bold. What Nixon REALLY said on the tape: > [@](#): > > DAVIES: Just for the record, the actual quote from the tapes. The president says, “you could get a million dollars, you could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten. It is not easy, but it could be done. But the question is, who the hell would handle it? Any ideas on that?” **Nothing about it being wrong.** > WINE-BANKS: Exactly. My bold. ---
**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 13, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40564 "2020-02-13T23:12:52Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Holy crap. Even Bill Barr has a limit for how much shit he’ll put up with. > > Or the cynical response is he’s just asking that the dirty deeds be done more quietly. Ix-nay on the eets-tway. So why doesn’t he quit? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2027) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2029)