# 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:** 2062
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41225 "2020-03-11T17:22:31Z")
The peasants [must not know](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-secrecy-exclusive/exclusive-white-house-told-federal-health-agency-to-classify-coronavirus-deliberations-sources-idUSKBN20Y2LM) how bad the situation really is! > [@](#): > > The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials… ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41226 "2020-03-11T18:00:58Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The Republican mayor of Sterling Heights, Michigan, the fourth largest city in the state, who voted for Individual 1 in 2016, has endorsed Biden. He said he can’t look his kids in the face and support a deranged individual as President. > [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/486833-michigan-gop-mayor-ditches-deranged-trump-endorses-biden-for-president](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/486833-michigan-gop-mayor-ditches-deranged-trump-endorses-biden-for-president) Aw come on, this is actually a smart Republican idea of the day! He’s left the Trump camp. That’s still a good thing, no matter what the reason. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41227 "2020-03-11T18:39:34Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The peasants [must not know](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-secrecy-exclusive/exclusive-white-house-told-federal-health-agency-to-classify-coronavirus-deliberations-sources-idUSKBN20Y2LM) how bad the situation really is! I was expecting this to happen. I saw a report a couple of days back (can’t find it now) which indicated that there are tens of thousands of people who need to be tested and haven’t been able to. Of people tested - who doctors think there is merit in testing - about 1/3rd seem to have the virus. Our case number has been sitting at 647 for a week because testing stopped. In the last few days, they have since been able to start the tests for about 6,000 people. The number of cases is about to jump by 2000, and we’re still processing the backlog. Most likely, we’ll be up to 10k in the next 7 days. Going from 647 to 10k all of a sudden will cause the stock market to hemorrhage again. Trump wants to know how to suppress the truth and not quarantine anyone, while curing everything in two days. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41228 "2020-03-11T19:36:44Z")
**Sage Rat @41313:** Well, does your girlfriend have a pinchable butt? ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41229 "2020-03-11T19:48:48Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Barr will do it. You help install a dictator, you do moronic dictator fetch quests. He probably doesn’t get much XP for them either. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41230 "2020-03-11T19:52:19Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I was expecting this to happen. > > I saw a report a couple of days back (can’t find it now) which indicated that there are tens of thousands of people who need to be tested and haven’t been able to. > > Of people tested - who doctors think there is merit in testing - about 1/3rd seem to have the virus. > > Our case number has been sitting at 647 for a week because testing stopped. In the last few days, they have since been able to start the tests for about 6,000 people. The number of cases is about to jump by 2000, and we’re still processing the backlog. Most likely, we’ll be up to 10k in the next 7 days. > > Going from 647 to 10k all of a sudden will cause the stock market to hemorrhage again. Trump wants to know how to suppress the truth and not quarantine anyone, while curing everything in two days. If the US markets are in free-fall now, bond and credit markets tightening up, while 99% of Americans still go about their normal lives… when this sentiment changes, holy hell will be wreaked on these same markets, making the bailouts promised yesterday appear as band aids. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41231 "2020-03-11T19:53:38Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The peasants [must not know](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-secrecy-exclusive/exclusive-white-house-told-federal-health-agency-to-classify-coronavirus-deliberations-sources-idUSKBN20Y2LM) how bad the situation really is! Who are they trying to keep it secret from? The virus? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41232 "2020-03-11T20:10:16Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Who are they trying to keep it secret from? The virus? The incurious personality cultists who buy into the notion that it’s all a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41233 "2020-03-11T20:18:11Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Our case number has been sitting at 647 for a week because testing stopped. In the last few days, they have since been able to start the tests for about 6,000 people. The number of cases is about to jump by 2000, and we’re still processing the backlog. Most likely, we’ll be up to 10k in the next 7 days. > > Going from 647 to 10k all of a sudden will cause the stock market to hemorrhage again. A Facebook friend posted a few days ago some common sense from a real-life certified epidemiologist (at least, the post had a name and a title.) Among the nuggets of wisdom was exactly this: as testing becomes more wide-spread, the number of cases will jump dramatically. That doesn’t mean the virus is spreading like wildfire, it just means that we’re finally starting to test. So I won’t panic, and you won’t panic, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop the market from panicking. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41234 "2020-03-11T20:52:18Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > **Sage Rat @41313:** Well, does your girlfriend have a pinchable butt? Given that such activities require consent on the part of the recipient, the answer would be “no” for your purposes. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41235 "2020-03-11T21:01:00Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > A Facebook friend posted a few days ago some common sense from a real-life certified epidemiologist (at least, the post had a name and a title.) Among the nuggets of wisdom was exactly this: as testing becomes more wide-spread, the number of cases will jump dramatically. That doesn’t mean the virus is spreading like wildfire, it just means that we’re finally starting to test. > > So I won’t panic, and you won’t panic, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop the market from panicking. On the counter side, the press has been presenting a false fatality rate of 3.4%. The current best numbers would come from South Korea, where they’ve been able to get past testing people who look deathly ill and simply test anyone worth swabbing and there the number is 0.6%. > **[South Korea has tested 140,000 people for the coronavirus. That could explain...](https://www.businessinsider.com/south-korea-coronavirus-testing-death-rate-2020-3)** > > Experts have suggested that coronavirus death rates could decrease as more mild cases are confirmed. If we assume that your average person knows about 300 people, then 0.6% means that two people you know will be lost. 3.4% means ten people. A fairly significant difference. The exact number will depend on what percentage of the population are elderly, smoke, are obese, or otherwise in poor health. The US might be worse than South Korea, but probably not. They don’t have very many children per family, so they should be fairly heavy with elderly compared to the US, where we will be more strongly impacted by our diet. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41236 "2020-03-11T21:08:48Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > On the counter side, the press has been presenting a false fatality rate of 3.4%. > > The current best numbers would come from South Korea, where they’ve been able to get past testing people who look deathly ill and simply test anyone worth swabbing and there the number is 0.6%. So Trump was right when he said he had a “hunch” that the death rate was \< 1%. 🙂 Of course, he was right in the stopped-clock-twice-a-day sense, or the blind-pig-acorn sense. But it’s true that as the denominator gets larger (more testing) the death rate gets smaller. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41237 "2020-03-11T21:12:12Z")
Infrastructure week has just been fuckin’ _lit_, guys! ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41238 "2020-03-11T21:13:47Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Infrastructure week has just been fuckin’ _lit_, guys! :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41239 "2020-03-11T21:29:20Z")
Ooh, he has made some very important decisions and will be making some more very important decisions and announcing them this evening. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41240 "2020-03-11T21:36:11Z")
“Ooh, he has made some very important decisions and will be making some more very important decisions and announcing them [del]this evening[/del] very soon in the coming possibly in the next two to three weeks or months but very soon.” FTFY ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41241 "2020-03-11T21:36:54Z")
Oh, it’s better than that, Skypist: Politico is reporting that the Trump’s coronavirus task force has discussed an emergency declaration, but will not give Trump its final verdict until Jared Kushner “finishes his research and comes to a conclusion himself.” [https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/11/trump-emergency-declaration-coronavirus-message-125902](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/11/trump-emergency-declaration-coronavirus-message-125902) > [@](#): > > There’s no deadline for a decision, but one of the people familiar with the talks said the task force will not give Trump its final verdict until Jared Kushner, the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, finishes his research and comes to a conclusion himself. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41242 "2020-03-11T21:41:55Z")
I can save Jared a lot of time and effort. Here’s the sure-fire recommendations that may do doodly about the pandemic but will be guaranteed to meet with the boss’s approval. Buy stock! Cut taxes. Deport more Mexicans. Wash your hands. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41243 "2020-03-11T21:42:06Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > So Trump was right when he said he had a “hunch” that the death rate was \< 1%. 🙂 Of course, he was right in the stopped-clock-twice-a-day sense, or the blind-pig-acorn sense. > > But it’s true that as the denominator gets larger (more testing) the death rate gets smaller. He is probably also correct that the warmer months will tamp it down, relatively speaking. The experts are largely denying it, out of an abundance of caution, but the science seems to be that for aerosolized diseases, humid air shortens the range that the disease can get away from the host. UV rays also destroy most viruses, so anything out in the sun tends to be germ free. Obviously, this will depend on what part of the country you live in but, on average, the odds are good that the incoming summer is going to help delay things, so that we’re ramped up to deal with more patients come fall. While Trump is lingering excessively on the good news, he is still getting briefings from experts. You have to be cautious about what he says, but he can actually say factual things on accident sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/41244 "2020-03-11T21:45:10Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > “Ooh, he has made some very important decisions and will be making some more very important decisions and announcing them [del]this evening[/del] very soon in the coming possibly in the next two to three weeks or months but very soon.” > > FTFY Too true. I should have said he will announce them this evening IF he decides to show up! It just makes me want to gag that even when talking about life and death matters, he’s oh so subtly (not) making sure everyone knows how important he is and HE will be deciding what happens next. Little 6-year-old tyrant with an inferiority complex trapped in a fat old coot’s body. > [@JohnT](#): > > Oh, it’s better than that, Skypist: Politico is reporting that the Trump’s coronavirus task force has discussed an emergency declaration, but will not give Trump its final verdict until Jared Kushner “finishes his research and comes to a conclusion himself.” > > [https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/11/trump-emergency-declaration-coronavirus-message-125902](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/11/trump-emergency-declaration-coronavirus-message-125902) OMFG. I guess Jared has time for this research since he’s already achieved peace in the Middle East. Oh wait - [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2061) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2063)