# 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:** 2035
**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 19, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40685 "2020-02-19T07:05:22Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Well, technically…he could make that argument. It’s just that, according to existing norms that were understood, that wasn’t the case. A different era now, I reckon. Technically, nope. But I think I see his strategy now. If he guts the cabinet, then he does not have to worry about the 25th Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40686 "2020-02-19T07:18:56Z")
What the fuck is the matter with you people? What have we learned about Trump? When he does something blatantly wrong, like these pardons, why is he doing it? I know it is late in the US but this is easy. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40687 "2020-02-19T09:03:30Z")
The answer is distraction. Trump has created a 6 billion dollar slush fund for his cronies. That’s $6,000,000,000. That’s six thousand million dollars. The greatest con in history. Six billion dollars stolen from the Pentagon budget to divert to a hole on the southern border… [NO effective oversigh](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-administration-waives-contracting-laws-to-speed-construction-of-border-wall-2020-02-18)t. No need to produce results. He has distracted from his real con multiple times in the past. The other important question is how does this benefit Russia? I’m going to have to take a page out of Asahi’s book here. There is no way that the November elections are going to be contested fairly. Trump and his family will go to jail if Democrats win. I’ve said this before but Trump’s stunts and law-breaking are becoming just too blatant. He will go to jail if we have a return to normalcy. He won’t let that happen. ---
**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 19, 2020, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40688 "2020-02-19T10:08:50Z")
Well, [Barr just criticized Tan the Conman’s tweets](https://www.yahoo.com/gma/barr-mulls-resigning-over-trumps-tweets-sources-025444481.html). Guess Barr will be out sooner than he expects. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40689 "2020-02-19T11:57:51Z")
Head fake. “See, he’s having a good effect, Twitterrhea is listening to him!”, ---
**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:** [February 19, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40690 "2020-02-19T11:57:52Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Well, [Barr just criticized Tan the Conman’s tweets](https://www.yahoo.com/gma/barr-mulls-resigning-over-trumps-tweets-sources-025444481.html). Guess Barr will be out sooner than he expects. Already discussing that over in [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=890021), starting at Post #48. ---
**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 19, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40691 "2020-02-19T13:13:08Z")
> [@steatopygia](#): > > The answer is distraction. > Trump has created a 6 billion dollar slush fund for his cronies. That’s $6,000,000,000. > That’s six thousand million dollars. The greatest con in history. > Six billion dollars stolen from the Pentagon budget to divert to a hole on the southern border… > [NO effective oversigh](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-administration-waives-contracting-laws-to-speed-construction-of-border-wall-2020-02-18)t. No need to produce results. > > … Relevant to this, just posted in\* Stupid Republican Ideas\*: > [@Stupid Republican idea of the day](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/43531): > > **[Homeland Security drops contractor laws for border wall](http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/SanAntonioExpressNews/default.aspx#_)** > By Elliot Spagat ASSOCIATED PRESS > > > [@](#): > > > > SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is waiving federal contracting laws to speed construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, moving the president closer to fulfilling a signature campaign promise in an election year but sparking criticism about potential for fraud, waste and abuse. > > > > The Department of Homeland Security said waiving procurement regulations will allow 177 miles of wall to be built more quickly in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. **The 10 waived laws include a requirement for open competition and giving losing bidders a chance to protest decisions.** > > > > The acting Homeland Security secretary, Chad Wolf, is exercising authority under a 2005 law that gives him sweeping powers to waive laws for building border barriers. > > > > “We hope that will accelerate some of the construction that’s going along the southwest border,” Wolf told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.” > > > > The Trump administration said the waivers will allow at least 94 miles of wall to be built this year, bringing the Republican leader closer to his goal of about 450 miles since he took office and made it one of his top domestic priorities. It said the other 83 miles covered by the waivers may get built this year. > > > > “Under the president’s leadership, we are building more wall, faster than ever before,” the department said in a statement. > > > > **Critics say the waivers do away with key taxpayer safeguards. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the president’s “cronies are likely to be the beneficiaries.”** > > > > Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, said waiving a law for contractors to provide the government with certified cost data — such as how much they pay for labor or parts — could lead to grossly inflated prices. > > > > “It’s equivalent to buying a car without seeing a sticker price,” Amey said. “This could be a recipe for shoddy work and paying a much higher price than they should.” > > > > Administration officials say providing cost data can be onerous and difficult. > > … > > My bold. > > Yeah, this Administration doesn’t do “onerous and difficult.” :smack: They specialize in quick and dirty, emphasis on the _dirty_. ---
**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 19, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40692 "2020-02-19T13:33:54Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > If you assume that most people will hear nothing more than ‘the President pardoned several people’—and I’m guessing that’s a safe assumption—then this will help Trump by normalizing the ideas that, a) white-collar crime is no big deal and we should just let it go, and b) politicians all Do Stuff and none of it really matters. > > For Trump, the more people believe things like that, the better. So much for “draining the swamp,” or is it a swamp only when politicians do it, not your fine, upstanding businessmen? ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40693 "2020-02-19T14:42:17Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > So much for “draining the swamp,” Trump is draining something, alright–the government of people with integrity or who don’t suck up to him. [Purge continues: Top Pentagon official connected to Trump Ukraine scandal is out](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/purge-continues-top-pentagon-official-connected-to-trump-ukraine-scandal-is-out/) > [@](#): > > A top Pentagon official who objected to President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine has been pushed out of his job, CNN is reporting. > > According to CNN, John Rood, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, has been asked for his resignation after he “lost support among senior national security leadership.” > > CNN’s sources say that Rood objected to President Donald Trump’s efforts to shake down the Ukrainian government to get it to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40694 "2020-02-19T15:08:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This is Trump were talking about. I’m guessing pay-offs were made. Put a hundred thousand dollars in a Swiss Bank account with this number and Trump pardons you. Probably. But Swiss Bank Accounts are so complicated. Why not just give it to him directly? From [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/18/michael-milken-pardon/): > [@](#): > > [Milken], like others who have received pardons before him, had a coterie of Trump confidants championing his case. Nelson Peltz, a billionaire who threw Trump a fundraiser Saturday night, backed pardoning Milken, as did billionaire political donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Fox host Maria Bartiromo, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and some of Trump’s New York friends. More on Nelson Peltz’s recent shindig from [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-headline-a-580600-per-couple-fundraiser-the-most-expensive-of-his-reelection-bid/2020/02/13/144b75b2-4e7a-11ea-a4ab-9f389ce8ad30_story.html): > [@](#): > > President Trump will be the guest of honor at a Saturday fundraiser at the palatial Palm Beach estate of billionaire Nelson Peltz. Trump’s fellow guests: donors who gave $580,600 per couple to support the president’s reelection, making it the most expensive such fundraising event since Trump took office. Apparently, $580,600 per couple buys a lot of freedom. ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40695 "2020-02-19T16:41:13Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Probably. But Swiss Bank Accounts are so complicated. Why not just give it to him directly? > > From [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/18/michael-milken-pardon/): > > More on Nelson Peltz’s recent shindig from [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-headline-a-580600-per-couple-fundraiser-the-most-expensive-of-his-reelection-bid/2020/02/13/144b75b2-4e7a-11ea-a4ab-9f389ce8ad30_story.html): > > Apparently, $580,600 per couple buys a lot of freedom. Finally! An administration that actually gives you something worthwhile in return for your contribution dollars! A night in the Lincoln bedroom? A ride on Air Force One? Small potatoes-- only for wimps and losers. A limo ride out of Club Fed-- now THAT’S worth half a million dollars! 😛 ---
**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 19, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40696 "2020-02-19T17:59:01Z")
A [wee bright spot](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-enthusiasm-exclusive/exclusive-ahead-of-2020-election-a-blue-wave-is-rising-in-the-cities-polling-analysis-shows-idUSKBN20D1EG) to keep us moving forward toward November (Reuters) > [@](#): > > As Republican President Donald Trump seeks a second term in November, Americans’ interest in voting is growing faster in large cities dominated by Democrats than in conservative rural areas, according to an analysis of Reuters/Ipsos national opinion polls. > > If the trend lasts until Election Day on Nov. 3, it would be a reversal from the 2016 election when rural turnout outpaced voting in urban areas, helping Trump narrowly win the White House. And yes, I do realize the election is won/lost on the Electoral College, and that very few states will determine the actual outcome. But a wave is a wave, and it all helps. If it’s blue, it will do. My motto for November. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40697 "2020-02-19T18:31:11Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > God I hope this is true. I am in numerous (perhaps too many) military related Facebook groups and it seems like the majority of the participants are loud, obnoxiously, and stupidly pro-Trump. I hope it’s the noisy minority. > [@Sherrerd](#): > > Those participants may not actually be members of the American military. (Fake accounts do exist on Facebook—many of them tended by paid operatives.) Some may be fake but unfortunately, most of these members are all too real. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40698 "2020-02-19T18:53:31Z")
Of course, you don’t have to pay for a pardon. Lies have value too. [Donald Trump ‘offered Julian Assange a pardon if he denied Russia link to hack’](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/19/donald-trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-russia-hack-wikileaks) I guess even Julian Assange had enough integrity to not jump into the clusterfuck. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40699 "2020-02-19T19:01:03Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Of course, you don’t have to pay for a pardon. Lies have value too. > > [Donald Trump ‘offered Julian Assange a pardon if he denied Russia link to hack’](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/19/donald-trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-russia-hack-wikileaks) > > I guess even Julian Assange had enough integrity to not jump into the clusterfuck. Another Nothingburder. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40700 "2020-02-19T19:27:47Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > It’s like he’s assembling his own Suicide Squad, except dumber. So who gets to run around in super short shorts, DeVos? ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40701 "2020-02-19T19:30:45Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Of course, you don’t have to pay for a pardon. Lies have value too. > > [Donald Trump ‘offered Julian Assange a pardon if he denied Russia link to hack’](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/19/donald-trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-russia-hack-wikileaks) > > I guess even Julian Assange had enough integrity to not jump into the clusterfuck. This caught my eye: > [@](#): > > Assange’s barrister, Edward Fitzgerald QC, referred to evidence alleging that the former US Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher had been to see Assange, now 48, while he was still in the Ecuadorian embassy in August 2017. > > … > > A statement from Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson shows “Mr Rohrabacher going to see Mr Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC [Democratic National Committee] leaks”, Fitzgerald told Westminster magistrates court. Remember this story? [Majority Leader McCarthy in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays Trump’](https://thehill.com/homenews/house/333951-majority-leader-mccarthy-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump) > [@](#): > > House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accused President Trump of being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin back in 2016, according to a report resurfacing a conversation between McCarthy and other Republicans. > > The Washington Post reported Wednesday that McCarthy made the stunning remarks in a private conversation on Capitol Hill. > > “There’s two people I think Putin pays: [California Republican Dana] Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy said, according to the report. > The Post reports that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) stopped the conversation immediately and made the members present swear to secrecy. > > “No leaks,” Ryan said. “This is how we know we’re a real family here.” ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40702 "2020-02-19T19:41:36Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > So who gets to run around in super short shorts, DeVos? I mean, it’s gotta be Pence, right? ---
**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 19, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40703 "2020-02-19T19:43:11Z")
Rush Limbaugh says that Individual 1 called him and told him not to take back his homophobic comments about Buttigieg. [https://thehill.com/homenews/media/483504-limbaugh-trump-advised-me-to-never-apologize-for-buttigieg-remarks](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/483504-limbaugh-trump-advised-me-to-never-apologize-for-buttigieg-remarks)? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/40704 "2020-02-19T19:48:05Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Of course, you don’t have to pay for a pardon. Lies have value too. > > [Donald Trump ‘offered Julian Assange a pardon if he denied Russia link to hack’](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/19/donald-trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-russia-hack-wikileaks) > > I guess even Julian Assange had enough integrity to not jump into the clusterfuck. No integrity- Assange just couldn’t deliver the quid for the quo, because it doesn’t exist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2034) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2036)