# 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:** 2133
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42647 "2020-04-21T06:29:06Z")
> [@Rakib002](#): > > By means of \ Marketing spam reported. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42648 "2020-04-21T06:36:29Z")
[Illinois](https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/04/18/illinois-gov-pritzker-secretly-bought-medical-supplies-from-china-and-the-white-house-is-not-happy/#7eeb3d0d7891) is also secretly buying supplies overseas and then shipping them undercover so they won’t be seized by the Federal government. I have to say, that I am in awe of these governors. They have been put in a terrible position where they have been told that they are responsible for getting supplies, but then the government states that they have the authority to seize them and dole them out as Trump wishes. Kudos to the governors of both parties for not only doing so much for their states but for banding together in their regions to share supplies. While Trump has been whining about supplying ventilators to the states and what a terrible thing it was that they didn’t actually need as many as they feared they would, Newsome in CA is sending ventilators to New York, who now have extra and have forwarded some to Illinois and Maryland. (A small disclaimer-I can’t see Pritzker without still seeing the chubby little Jewish boy I went to religious school with and who my mother told me I should befriend and marry because his family were billionaires. Sorry mom, i could have been both rich AND first lady of Illinois. I guess I failed you). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42649 "2020-04-21T06:59:29Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > He gives them plenty of fodder without their having to bait him. As for the hostility, have you been paying any attention to what he calls individual reporters and any news organization other than Fox and now OAN? Why should they treat him with respect when he’s shown nothing but bullying derision towards them? Not just reporters. How about what he calls other politicians? Sleepy Joe Biden Crooked Hillary Clinton Lyin’ Ted Cruz Wacky Omarosa Newman Eva Peron (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) Nervous Nancy Pelosi Shifty [Adam] Schiff Pocahontas (Elizabeth Warren) That’ll do for now, though there are many other examples involving foreign leaders and media figures. I got over name-calling in third grade. Why can’t Trump? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42650 "2020-04-21T07:08:51Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > (A small disclaimer-I can’t see Pritzker without still seeing the chubby little Jewish boy I went to religious school with and who my mother told me I should befriend and marry because his family were billionaires. Sorry mom, > i could have been both rich AND first lady of Illinois. I guess I failed you). You failed ALL of us. You could have bought and saved the Dope for us. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42651 "2020-04-21T07:17:06Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I got over name-calling in third grade. Why can’t Trump? I’ll let Trump answer that himself: [Donald Trump tells biographer he’s the same now as he was in first grade](https://theweek.com/speedreads/575962/donald-trump-tells-biographer-hes-same-now-first-grade) > [@](#): > > Donald Trump’s temper-tantrum tactics have been explained by the man himself. The frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination admitted to his biographer that, “When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different.” So when people call Trump a man-child, they’re describing him pretty accurately according to Trump himself. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42652 "2020-04-21T07:56:02Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Trump and the right wing are essentially trying to copy a form of that here and they’re trying to adapt it to the American system. You know how China’s CCP refers to capitalism with Chinese characteristics? Well Trump is essentially doing his own version of it: capitalism with Trumpian characteristics – or we can just call it gangster capitalism. This is not conspiracy theory nonsense; this is how your government is going to operate going forward unless he and they are voted out of office. Oh, they don’t really need to look to Russia or China for inspiration. One can look a lot [closer to home](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Tweed). In space, if not time. “It’s hard not to admire the skill behind Tweed’s system … The Tweed ring at its height was an engineering marvel, strong and solid, strategically deployed to control key power points: the courts, the legislature, the treasury and the ballot box. Its frauds had a grandeur of scale and an elegance of structure: money-laundering, profit sharing and organization.” Everything old is new again… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42653 "2020-04-21T09:23:51Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Why is there such discord with the reporters? On another site I see people claiming they are purposely baiting him and being dumb. There’s a real enmity here between president and press. Gee, I dunno… maybe three years of Trump calling all the media liars, fakes, and nasty just _might_ be a factor here… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42654 "2020-04-21T09:32:46Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > And [this just in](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-he-suspending-immigration-over-coronavirus-need-protect-jobs-n1188416): Trump announces (via Tweet, of course) that he intends to sign an executive order “temporarily” banning all immigration to the US. 'Cause, you know, we need to protect ourselves from all those countries who have fewer infected than we do. I can’t help but think that Trump not only wants to prevent foreigners from coming in the US, he’d like to shut down everything else coming inside the country. He does, after all, talk about being chummy with the Kim in North Korea and probably envies a situation where the Dear Leader receives nothing but praise and credit and the population is only allowed what information the rulers deem acceptable. Then he can continue to assert we’re better off than everyone else even when are so obviously not. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42655 "2020-04-21T09:35:46Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Should we be on the lookout for incoming flights being boarded for inspection by federal agents asserting the power to seize shipments of PPE/testing supplies/ventilators? > > No, seriously, should we? Yes. It has, allegedly, already happened. Governors have been mentioning for weeks about being outbid, contracts cancelled, and shipments outright seized. ---
**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 21, 2020, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42656 "2020-04-21T11:44:52Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > And [this just in](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-he-suspending-immigration-over-coronavirus-need-protect-jobs-n1188416): Trump announces (via Tweet, of course) that he intends to sign an executive order “temporarily” banning all immigration to the US. 'Cause, you know, we need to protect ourselves from all those countries who have fewer infected than we do. No surprise here. He finally got his excuse to shut down immigration… temporarily? Not fucking likely! This is permanent until the next Democratic president takes over. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42657 "2020-04-21T12:44:07Z")
At least blonde, blue-eyed Norwegians will always be welcomed here. Trump said that. (Well, he whined “why don’t more people from nice places like Norway want to live here?”. Uh, not too sure about your push-pull factors work there, Lou). ---
**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 21, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42658 "2020-04-21T13:08:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Should we be on the lookout for incoming flights being boarded for inspection by federal agents asserting the power to seize shipments of PPE/testing supplies/ventilators? > > No, seriously, should we? A distinct possibility, yes. Whether there is some ‘master plan’ in place or whether it’s just going to be a natural byproduct of the desire to engineer their corruption schemes, the end product is the **perception of scarcity** , if not scarcity itself. States will have limited funds to deal with the economic fallout. Who do they turn to? The federal government. Who ultimately has the most power to decide how states can get those funds they need? Sure, Nancy Pelosi has the House, but she can’t spend shit on her own - only the president can. States have to rely on the feeds for PPE and tests they don’t have. Again, who can they turn to? The president, which was insufficient and which is why governors like Hogan are saying ‘Screw this, I’m shopping.’ If Trump knows that’s an option, I expect him to take away that option, particularly if it undercuts his image as _the dealmaker in chief_, the great ‘bidnessman,’ and more to the point, if it undercuts his power to control rewards and punishments. This is what I am saying, what I’ve been trying repeatedly to point out in my rants and squeals. The president isn’t just a bad president. He’s not just hilariously or tragically inept and a fool. He - **and the Republican party and their oligarch supporters** - are effectively remaking the government right before your eyes. And they’re doing it by creating a new kind of political and economic system: “kleptocracy,” a system in which people don’t expect to be rewarded for their merits but for their loyalty and how they serve those in power. Here’s yet more evidence of the scarcity angle: Trump’s introduction of immigration restrictions last night. It was inevitable of course. Create an “us versus them” narrative. Trump and authoritarian leaders thrive - dare I say exist - when they can convince ordinary suckers that there is real scarcity out there and that if people want to have their necessities, they will have to get used to a new set of values. No more inclusion. No more cooperation. Everyone competes against each other. And the authoritarians, the kleptocrats decide who the ‘winners’ are. It’s themselves, of course. At your expense. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42659 "2020-04-21T14:18:54Z")
I don’t have access to TV so was only going on what people are claiming on facebook. I should try to view a bit of that on my phone. Someone give me a link to a particularly aggregious one. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42660 "2020-04-21T14:22:58Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > No surprise here. He finally got his excuse to shut down immigration… temporarily? Not fucking likely! This is permanent until the next Democratic president takes over. :mad: Yes, specifically, let’s ban people from countries with higher rates of infection than we do from coming in. Oh, wait…don’t we have the highest in the world? > [@asahi](#): > > States have to rely on the feeds for PPE and tests they don’t have. Again, who can they turn to? The president, which was insufficient and which is why governors like Hogan are saying ‘Screw this, I’m shopping.’ If Trump knows that’s an option, I expect him to take away that option, particularly if it undercuts his image as _the dealmaker in chief_, the great ‘bidnessman,’ and more to the point, if it undercuts his power to control rewards and punishments. Yeah, the fact that Hogan had to go overseas exposes Trump’s lies about testing: “Everyone can have a test” and “We have done more testing than any other country in the world” (this may be true in terms of total tests administered but certainly not on a per capita basis). Hell hath no fury as an orange buffoon embarrassed. Trump wants to control all the Spice on Arrakis. And Trump says Hogan “doesn’t understand” and needs to get some knowledge about the testing situation and didn’t need to go to Korea for tests and then offers the map of labs located in MD as proof of this. But as Hogan points out, a lot of those labs are federal–NIH, FDA, USAMRIID, hell even USDA–and he already contacted them. I’m pretty sure Hogan knows NIH, the largest biomedical institute in the world, is in MD. And until you get the actual test kits, there’s nothing for any lab in the state to run. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42661 "2020-04-21T14:26:29Z")
_“You want to be real careful about believing everything you see on Facebook.”_ – Abraham Lincoln (_attrib._) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42662 "2020-04-21T14:33:06Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Yeah, the fact that Hogan had to go overseas exposes Trump’s lies about testing: “Everyone can have a test” and “We have done more testing than any other country in the world” (this may be true in terms of total tests administered but certainly not on a per capita basis). Hell hath no fury as an orange buffoon embarrassed. Trump wants to control all the Spice on Arrakis. > > And Trump says Hogan “doesn’t understand” and needs to get some knowledge about the testing situation and didn’t need to go to Korea for tests and then offers the map of labs located in MD as proof of this. But as Hogan points out, a lot of those labs are federal–NIH, FDA, USAMRIID, hell even USDA–and he already contacted them. I’m pretty sure Hogan knows NIH, the largest biomedical institute in the world, is in MD. And until you get the actual test kits, there’s nothing for any lab in the state to run. Pursuant to Governor Hogan’s gambit, and my question above, had the America-hating fuckstick’s cronies gotten wind of the shipment from Korea, how likely is it that they would have boarded the flight when it touched down, and seized the kits? And how likely is it that similar gambits by state officials in the future will be vulnerable to such seizures as described? ---
**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:** [April 21, 2020, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42663 "2020-04-21T14:35:29Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > And [this just in](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-he-suspending-immigration-over-coronavirus-need-protect-jobs-n1188416): Trump announces (via Tweet, of course) that he intends to sign an executive order “temporarily” banning all immigration to the US. 'Cause, you know, we need to protect ourselves from all those countries who have fewer infected than we do. But I thought we were doing great?! No need to worry about COVID-19 anymore (liberate!) and plenty of jobs raring to go if the evil Democrats would just let businesses open up again! /s This EO sounds like the opposite of “liberate” and will probably take 8 million years to wind its way through the courts. Oh, and in case this hadn’t been mentioned yet, it seems like the appropriate thread for it. > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump said during a press briefing Monday evening that his administration is aiming to shield corporations from legal responsibility for workers who contract the novel coronavirus on the job, a move that the Chamber of Commerce and right-wing advocacy groups are aggressively lobbying for as the White House pushes to reopen the U.S. economy against the warnings of public health experts. [https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/21/trump-says-hes-aiming-shield-corporations-legal-liability-workers-who-contract-covid](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/21/trump-says-hes-aiming-shield-corporations-legal-liability-workers-who-contract-covid) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42664 "2020-04-21T14:36:30Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Isn’t Korea _already_ in a civil war? No, just a concentration camp. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42665 "2020-04-21T14:44:02Z")
Trump or Pence try to gloss over some important aspect of the crisis (or, flat-out lie). Reporters attempt to pin them down. Trump gets pissed off. Repeat. I heard yet another conversation on NPR this morning, as to whether or not hospitals have enough testing equipment. Trump says yes; hospital says no. This would be easily settled if Trump would use his daily dog&pony show to present some actual numbers - an inventory of all equipment and where it is. But he can’t do that, so instead it’s “everybody has everything they need, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/42666 "2020-04-21T14:49:27Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > I don’t have access to TV so was only going on what people are claiming on facebook. I should try to view a bit of that on my phone. Someone give me a link to a particularly aggregious one. [Paula Reid of CBS asked Trump what he did in February](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHF_7Idvkyc). He went ballistic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2132) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2134)