# 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:** 2113
**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:** [April 5, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42246 "2020-04-05T13:34:14Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > To **asahi** : Fine, resent them as much as you can. But don’t wish for them to die en masse, which obviously will take more innocent people with them. Hell, I resent them, too. Most of my immediate family and extended family are trumpeters/magats and that annoys me no end. Do I hate them? No. I know them better than to hate them for their current blind spot. Do I wish for them and other trumpters/magats to die? No. I like to think that I am a better person than to wish for that. What do I wish and hope for, then? For people to simply be better and to do better. Living with family who are devoted Trump supporters requires some mental gymnastics, and this ultimately comes down to some perspective. What would you do if you were living in 1930s Munich and your family were rabid supporters of Adolf Hitler? I would love them, but I would also understand that Jews would probably hate their fucking guts and hate anyone who enables them. They were in no position to see it any other way, not when they’re literally running and hiding and fighting for their survival. It was ordinary people who voted Adolf Hitler and Nazis into power, on the strength of growing, unchecked antisemitism and clannishness. Let’s be clear about something. We’re seeing that dynamic today, right now. Maybe you’re not seeing it as clearly being over there, but trust me: it’s here now. There are people who have **died** as a result of MAGA voters. Like you, it’s complicated for me because I have family whom I love and I can see the whole person instead of the sides of them I don’t like. But that’s my perspective and just mine alone. If I were a DREAMER, if I were the mother a child asylum seeker who died in a cage, if I were an Asian American who just got the shit kicked out of him because someone watched Fox News and concluded that COVID-19 is a China virus, if I were a Muslim whose culture had been smeared, if I were a mother about to lose food stamps that feed my family, and if I understood that voters voted for Trump precisely because they wanted their president to make these kinds of changes, I would harbor very ill will toward them. I would see them as a threat to my existence. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42247 "2020-04-05T13:35:37Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > New entry in my list of oxymorons: “Trump’s leadership”. Trump seems more concerned with blaming Obama and the Democratic governors for everything, claiming that he knew it was a pandemic all along, ranting about the whistleblower and Navy captain, bragging about his press conference TV ratings and what a fantastic job he’s done (now saying 100,000-200,000 deaths would be a “good job”), promoting unproven drugs, berating reporters as “nasty” (especially if they’re female) when they ask a question he doesn’t like, hoping the NFL will start on time, almost encouraging people to attend church services, contradicting Fauci and Birx about isolation and masks, writing a bizarre letter to Schumer, just plain lying (with the possibility he’s losing/lost it mentally and actually believes what he says), and etc… And all that was just at the end of this week, I think. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42248 "2020-04-05T13:52:43Z")
Stolen from Facebook: Some good news for Trump–he no longer has to worry about Obama taking credit for the current economy. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42249 "2020-04-05T14:02:02Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Talk about political gaslighting: > > [The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/?arc404=true) In the immortal words of this very board: Cite, Mr. Deere? How do these people sleep at night? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42250 "2020-04-05T14:33:42Z")
[U.S. ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic](https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc) > [@](#): > > As the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment. > > A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers. > > By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile. That federal cache of supplies was created more than 20 years ago to help bridge gaps in the medical and pharmaceutical supply chains during a national emergency. > [@](#): > > Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old dry-rotted masks. > > “We basically wasted two months,” Kathleen Sebelius, health and human services secretary during the Obama administration, told AP. > > As early as mid-January, U.S. officials could see that hospitals in China’s Hubei province were overwhelmed with infected patients, with many left dependent on ventilator machines to breathe. Italy soon followed, with hospitals scrambling for doctors, beds and equipment. > > HHS did not respond to questions about why federal officials waited to order medical supplies until stocks were running critically low. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42251 "2020-04-05T15:56:39Z")
[CNN: Fact-checking Trump’s claims on national stockpile of medical supplies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf6BFUrwSV8) (5:27 video) TL; DW: Everything Trump has said is a lie. His administration didn’t prepare at all. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42252 "2020-04-05T23:36:17Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > It seems like: Trump convened a conference call with the heads of all the sports leagues (except the NCAA, for some reason)…and whined “I wanna have sports again! I really really really want it.” And the commissioners nodded their heads, and hung up the phone. > > Look, I’m a sports fan and I miss baseball and I would be devastated if the college football season doesn’t happen. But wishing and hoping isn’t going to make it happen, and it shouldn’t happen a minute too early. Trump _cannot stop himself_ from making statements about ‘what’s going to happen’ that are based purely on his own wishes. But that’s the sort of thing that is going to wear away at the devotion of his fans. He gets their hopes up—again and again and again and again and again and again—and each time, what he stated or implied would happen, does not happen. He is really testing their ability to doublethink away his incompetence. Some will meet the test. But others–after enough evidence that he’s full of shit–may start to fall by the wayside. > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Aye; he’s not committing to it _ **because it’s not his decision to make** _. Who the fuck does this jackass think he is? 😕 > [@Smapti](#): > > As I’ve said for, Loser Donald’s understanding of his job pretty much boils down to “the president is in charge of the whole country and everyone has to do what he says”. Yeah. And at this point, I suspect he may have gone beyond his belief in being Emperor: he really, truly does believe what the evangelical ministers tell him when they lay hands on him in the Oval. He really does believe that he is the most glorious, awe-inspiring, special-est supreme being in the universe. So naturally he can decree when there will be new football games to see on his 60-inch LED! ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42253 "2020-04-05T23:59:01Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Aye; he’s not committing to it _ **because it’s not his decision to make** _. Who the fuck does this jackass think he is? 😕 For _this_ he would invoke the defense emergency act. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42254 "2020-04-06T00:05:25Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Aye; he’s not committing to it _ **because it’s not his decision to make** _. Who the fuck does this jackass think he is? 😕 For _this_ he would invoke the defense emergency act. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42255 "2020-04-06T00:11:13Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Trump _cannot stop himself_ from making statements about ‘what’s going to happen’ that are based purely on his own wishes. But that’s the sort of thing that is going to wear away at the devotion of his fans. He gets their hopes up—again and again and again and again and again and again—and each time, what he stated or implied would happen, does not happen. > > He is really testing their ability to doublethink away his incompetence. Some will meet the test. But others–after enough evidence that he’s full of shit–may start to fall by the wayside. > > … Here’s the thing: I don’t believe they have to doublethink away his incompetence, because when his predictions/promises don’t happen, IT’S NEVER HIS FAULT! He is doing his best but _\_ is/are standing in his way, undermining him, conspiring against him, sabotaging him, betraying him, etc. If only Obama, Hillary, the Media, the latest official to be fired, Nancy Pelosi, that Michigan woman, Andrew Cuomo, Joe Biden, and/or the Easter Bunny would stop _interfering_, then he would be able to deliver on all of his golden glorious promises. I don’t know if his worshipers will ever believe it was HE who failed to deliver. ☹ ---
**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:** [April 6, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42256 "2020-04-06T00:14:28Z")
Christ almighty. Smapti is a useless and malicious asshole. Wishing for the collapse of the US health care system would be comic book supervillain territory, were it coming from anyone remotely competent. Ideally his ass gets banned, but failing that, can we stop responding to him as if he has anything interesting to say? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42257 "2020-04-06T00:19:29Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Christ almighty. Smapti is a useless and malicious asshole. Wishing for the collapse of the US health care system would be comic book supervillain territory, were it coming from anyone remotely competent. I think you’ve got me confused for someone else, fella. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42258 "2020-04-06T00:47:22Z")
Something’s going on with Trump and these antimalarial drugs. He kept promoting them during tonight’s briefing. I cross-posted this in the “How has Trump pissed you off” thread. Trump wouldn’t let Fauci answer a question about them. And this is breaking: [Scoop: Inside the epic White House fight over hydroxychloroquine](https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-white-house-01306286-0bbc-4042-9bfe-890413c6220d.html) > [@](#): > > The White House coronavirus task force had its biggest fight yet on Saturday, pitting economic adviser Peter Navarro against infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci. At issue: How enthusiastically should the White House tout the prospects of an antimalarial drug to fight COVID-19? > > … > > Toward the end of the meeting, Hahn began a discussion of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which Trump believes could be a “game-changer” against the coronavirus. > > - Hahn gave an update about the drug and what he was seeing in different trials and real-world results. > > - Then Navarro got up. He brought over a stack of folders and dropped them on the table. People started passing them around. > > - “And the first words out of his mouth are that the studies that he’s seen, I believe they’re mostly overseas, show ‘clear therapeutic efficacy,’” said a source familiar with the conversation. “Those are the exact words out of his mouth.” > > Navarro’s comments set off a heated exchange about how the Trump administration and the president ought to talk about the malaria drug, which Fauci and other public health officials stress is unproven to combat COVID-19. > > - Fauci pushed back against Navarro, saying that there was only anecdotal evidence that hydroxychloroquine works against the coronavirus. Maybe Navarro owns stock in a drug manufacturer? So Navarro, who is not considered serious economist vs the country’s disease expert. What are the odds Trump picks the economist? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42259 "2020-04-06T00:47:42Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Here’s the thing: I don’t believe they have to doublethink away his incompetence, because when his predictions/promises don’t happen, IT’S NEVER HIS FAULT! He is doing his best but _\_ is/are standing in his way, undermining him, conspiring against him, sabotaging him, betraying him, etc. If only Obama, Hillary, the Media, the latest official to be fired, Nancy Pelosi, that Michigan woman, Andrew Cuomo, Joe Biden, and/or the Easter Bunny would stop _interfering_, then he would be able to deliver on all of his golden glorious promises. > > I don’t know if his worshipers will ever believe it was HE who failed to deliver. ☹ Well, sure, if we define Trump Worshiper as someone who can always find someone other than Trump to blame for Trump’s fiascos and crimes, then: sure. They will never waver. But think how mentally exhausted they will be in a few weeks. Trump is going to go on promising things and asserting that it’s Obama’s fault Donald did nothing about the Strategic National Stockpile for three years (HOW?) and all the rest. And it will all be bullshit. It’s enough to give a double-thinker’s hard-working brain a stroke. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42260 "2020-04-06T02:03:29Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Trump _cannot stop himself_ from making statements about ‘what’s going to happen’ that are based purely on his own wishes. This crisis has given us a vocabulary modification. “Aspirational” now means “some bullshit fantasy pulled straight out of my ass.” ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42261 "2020-04-06T02:11:43Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > It’s enough to give a double-thinker’s hard-working brain a stroke. Is it okay to hope for this? Especially if we get the leading double-thinkers? ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42262 "2020-04-06T02:35:31Z")
A summary of what a disaster Jared Kushner been in the pandemic response: [Jared Kushner and his shadow corona unit: what is Trump’s son-in-law up to?](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/jared-kushner-coronavirus-aid-trump-governors) > [@](#): > > “Kushner has terrible judgment, and I don’t remember a decision he’s been involved with that hasn’t just been bad – they’ve been horrible. And the idea that everything has to go through the very flawed judgment of Jared Kushner is downright scary, and I believe at this point is costing American lives.” > > Early this year, Kushner reportedly advised Donald Trump that the coronavirus was not that dangerous – more a threat to public confidence, and the markets, than to public health. Trump stuck with that message for six tragic weeks, between the confirmation of the first US case and a belated federal decision to speed the development of test kits. > … > > Pepper expressed concern that when a governor calls the White House, she has to talk to Kushner, who then decides, apparently unilaterally, what the state really needs. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42263 "2020-04-06T03:09:39Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > This crisis has given us a vocabulary modification. “Aspirational” now means “some bullshit fantasy pulled straight out of my ass.” Nah. That’s nowhere near as cool as “elements of medical”. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42264 "2020-04-06T03:36:23Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The problem with the Lt. Governor’s advice - and the difference - is that first of all, it was shitty advice that would have had even worse outcomes for public health and the economy, which he purportedly wanted to protect. But beyond that, his comments are just an attempt to divert attention away from Trump’s shitty handling of the crisis. He’s perpetuating the “COVID-19 is a hoax” theme, just packaging it differently. > > I don’t think COVID-19 is a hoax. I’m listening to the science. Despite having strong urges to do otherwise, I’ve been staying inside my apartment for the past three weeks and I’ve gone out exactly once in the past month. Why? I want to protect myself, but given the highly infectious nature, I also don’t want to infect my family or members of the general public. That’s not what a sociopath does. > > A sociopath says “This virus is a hoax to take down my racist hero who puts brown people and cages, and who gives billionaires huge tax cuts while taking away healthcare and welfare benefits for millions of people, and takes away nutrition and food stamps for people who are destitute.” That’s the fucking sociopath. > > And you’re acting like an apologist for them. So fuck you, you fucking Nazi apologist. Excuse me? **I’m** not the one sitting here, wishing death on people simply because I disagree with their political beliefs. If that makes me a “Nazi apologist”, so be it. :dubious: I don’t want anyone else to die. Even fucksticks like Trump. I just want him out of office and to go away for good so I never have to listen to his ignorant bullshit again. It’d be a riot if the consequences weren’t so dire. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42265 "2020-04-06T05:08:40Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Excuse me? **I’m** not the one sitting here, wishing death on people simply because I disagree with their political beliefs. If that makes me a “Nazi apologist”, so be it. > :dubious: > > I don’t want anyone else to die. Even fucksticks like Trump. I just want him out of office and to go away for good so I never have to listen to his ignorant bullshit again. It’d be a riot if the consequences weren’t so dire. You took **Asahi** seriously. Not a good move. Every single thing he says should be taken with a de-icing, road clearing, truck load of salt. He’s the very epitome of the guy that freaks out and puts the rest of the team at risk. He’s the “GAME OVER MAN” dude in Aliens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2112) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2114)