# 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:** 2156
**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:** [May 2, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43107 "2020-05-02T18:28:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The House has asked to interview Dr. Fauci. [The White House says “no”.](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/01/politics/anthony-fauci-white-house-blocks-house-testimony/index.html) :rolleyes: But he will be allowed to testify before the Republican controlled Senate. > **[Fauci to testify before Senate after White House blocked him from appearing...](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-blocks-dr-anthony-fauci-testifying-congress/story?id=70464358)** > > The White House said Dr. Fauci's appearance before lawmakers next week would be 'counter-productive.' ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43108 "2020-05-02T20:16:57Z")
> **[White House economic adviser says additional coronavirus stimulus package...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/02/politics/coronavirus-stimulus-congress-kevin-hassett/index.html)** > > White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said that another round of coronavirus relief legislation might not be necessary, as Democrats push for Congress to provide more federal funding to cash-strapped state and local governments. “I think right now, because there’s been good news really, that the opening up is starting to happen faster than we expected, **appears to be doing so safely** , then there is a chance that we won’t really need a phase four,” Hassett said on Fox News Saturday morning. They have made this determination after ONE DAY. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2020, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43109 "2020-05-03T03:04:36Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > [https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/02/politics/coronavirus-stimulus-congress-kevin-hassett/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/02/politics/coronavirus-stimulus-congress-kevin-hassett/index.html) > > “I think right now, because there’s been good news really, that the opening up is starting to happen faster than we expected, **appears to be doing so safely** , then there is a chance that we won’t really need a phase four,” Hassett said on Fox News Saturday morning. > > They have made this determination after ONE DAY. Gem quote from link: > [@](#): > > “I think right now, because there’s been good news really, that the opening up is starting to happen faster than we expected, appears to be doing so safely, then there is a chance that we won’t really need a phase four,” [White House economic adviser SmarmFace Kevin] Hassett said on Fox News Saturday morning. Well, ::smug ‘whipe-whipe’ of hands:: that speedy recovery should eliminate the need for any more profligate bailing out of those lazy welfare cheats. Tally ho. At least his phrasing was convincing: “good news, really.” A couple days back Samantha Bee did an excellent piece on how Trump is screwing around the US Postal Service, one of the reasons to create a clusterfuck for voting in Nov. Starts @ 1:20. (or, in Lorne Greene terms, @ - 8:00) > **[Why We Need To Save The Postal Service | Contrary to what you might think,...](https://www.facebook.com/fullfrontalsamb/videos/why-we-need-to-save-the-postal-service/265301004865886/)** > > Contrary to what you might think, eliminating the Postal Service wouldn’t just pose a threat to the letters filled with cash we all still get from our... (not a facebooker, but still seemed to work for me) ---
**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:** [May 3, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43110 "2020-05-03T03:19:42Z")
[Great. Just great](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southorea/north-and-south-korea-exchange-gunfire-across-boarder-at-guard-post-idUSKBN22F03N?il=0). (Reuters) > [@](#): > > North and South Korea exchanged gunfire around the South’s guard post early on Sunday, raising tension a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended an almost three-week absence from public life with state media showing him visiting a factory. > > Multiple gunshots were fired from North Korea at 7:41 a.m. local time towards a guard post in South Korea that borders the North, the South’s joint chiefs of staffs said in a statement. > > South Korea responded by firing two shots towards North Korea, no injuries were reported. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43111 "2020-05-03T03:44:07Z")
^ Keen to see (nope - leary) how Pompeo will crap all over that. Or Don, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43112 "2020-05-03T15:11:21Z")
…hey, America. You guys are FUCKED. > [@The President of the United States](#): > > …And then came a Plague, a great and powerful Plague, and the World was never to be the same again! But America rose from this death and destruction, always remembering its many lost souls, and the lost souls all over the World, and became greater than ever before! > A friendly reminder about Steve Bannon and the [“Fourth Turning.”](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/20/stephen-bannon-fourth-turning-generation-theory-215053) [Or Mike Pompeo and the rapture](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/us/politics/pompeo-christian-policy.html). Covid-19 is everything these guys ever wanted, delivered on a platter. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, going to end well. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43113 "2020-05-03T17:49:56Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > ^ > Keen to see (nope - leary) how Pompeo will crap all over that. > > Or Don, for that matter. [Pompeo says initial reports show shots fired from North Korea were ‘accidental’](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/03/politics/kim-jong-un-mike-pompeo-north-korea-shots-fired/index.html) ---
**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:** [May 4, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43114 "2020-05-04T00:19:00Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …hey, America. > > You guys are FUCKED. > [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1256957565562486784](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1256957565562486784) > > A friendly reminder about Steve Bannon and the [“Fourth Turning.”](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/20/stephen-bannon-fourth-turning-generation-theory-215053) > > [Or Mike Pompeo and the rapture](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/us/politics/pompeo-christian-policy.html). > > Covid-19 is everything these guys ever wanted, delivered on a platter. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, going to end well. It’s probable that the ONLY people saying nice things to Trump right now are the End-of-Days folks: Pompeo as well as the ‘ministers’ that get scheduled frequently to come into the Oval Office and lay hands on their Man of Destiny. And that is really, really bad. Because although Trump couldn’t summon up a belief in a deity if someone held a gun to his head, he can easily summon up a belief in _himself_ as the Man of Destiny. And the flattery of the death-culters can and will lead him to do…some very destructive-to-human-life stuff. Trump is desperately dependent on flattery. If no one saying ‘here’s how to save lives from COVID and re-build the economy’ is flattering him, then he’s not going to be interested in saving lives from COVID and re-building the economy. He’s only going to be interested in what the flatterers advise. And _those_ people believe that global death and destruction is the only way they’ll get to see Jesus smile at them. So I don’t think it’s just America that’s fucked. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43115 "2020-05-04T00:34:44Z")
Called it in January. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=888049&highlight=Rapture](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=888049&highlight=Rapture) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43116 "2020-05-04T02:36:42Z")
Ok, [this is weird](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm). Or maybe not. The CDC currently lists total COVID-19 losses at 37,308. Or maybe 53,872. Not quite sure. Either way, something has been done to massage the numbers into smaller ones. Remind me again under whose control the CDC operates? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43117 "2020-05-04T02:55:39Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Ok, [this is weird](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm). Or maybe not. The CDC currently lists total COVID-19 losses at 37,308. Or maybe 53,872. Not quite sure. Either way, something has been done to massage the numbers into smaller ones. > > Remind me again under whose control the CDC operates? That’s interesting. The Johns Hopkins site currently reports 66,369 deaths in the US. They don’t report the number of deaths vs. the date, but the new cases reported are oscillating around 30k, which doesn’t seem consistent with the dropping number of deaths on the CDC site. > **[New COVID-19 Cases Worldwide - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases)** > > Have countries flattened the curve? Daily confirmed new COVID-19 cases for the most affected countries over time. Rachel Maddow’s show FRiday night reported disturbing things about things coming out of the CDC about its recommendations to meat-processing plants: > **[Under Trump, formerly stalwart CDC goes soft on meat plants](https://www.yahoo.com/news/under-trump-formerly-stalwart-cdc-041631881.html)** > > Rachel Maddow looks at how the CDC's guidance on worker safety against COVID-19 infection in meat processing plants appears distinctly, and unusually, less forceful than CDC guidance has been in other situations in different presidential... ---
**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:** [May 4, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43118 "2020-05-04T02:56:07Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Ok, [this is weird](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm). Or maybe not. The CDC currently lists total COVID-19 losses at 37,308. Or maybe 53,872. Not quite sure. Either way, something has been done to massage the numbers into smaller ones. > > Remind me again under whose control the CDC operates? As of April 25. Although I’m moderately certain we haven’t had 30,000 in the last 6 days, have we? Rachel Maddow had 2 reports last week about how the CDC had abruptly changed its tone in the reports given on two different COVID-19 meat plant investigations. In the first one, it was as usual, “You will do this, this is a requirement, etc.” Two days later, the tone was, “We recommend this, but you don’t have to do it if it isn’t feasible.” The fix, as they say, is in. ETA: DAMNIT, **CalMeacham**! And you have a cite, too! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43119 "2020-05-04T04:14:01Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > As of April 25. Although I’m moderately certain we haven’t had 30,000 in the last 6 days, have we? Ah, right, then it works. COVID-19 deaths on the CDC page are broken into COVID-19 and COVID-19+Pneumonia columns. Adding the two together gives the second number I mentioned above: if you go to [the Worldmeters USA page](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/), scroll down to the graphs and obtain the number for April 25th (tap the line on a tablet, mouseover it, I suppose, on a computer, over that date) it is only a few hundred more than that 53K number. That was 8 days ago, so yes, we have had another 16K losses since then. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43120 "2020-05-04T13:51:55Z")
[Apropos of nothing.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EXF87DKXYAAjImu?format=jpg&name=medium) :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43121 "2020-05-04T14:16:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > That’s interesting. The Johns Hopkins site currently reports 66,369 deaths in the US. They don’t report the number of deaths vs. the date, but the new cases reported are oscillating around 30k, which doesn’t seem consistent with the dropping number of deaths on the CDC site. > > Rachel Maddow’s show FRiday night reported disturbing things about things coming out of the CDC about its recommendations to meat-processing plants: Wait. The government is saying the number of people who have died of Covid19 is less than previous reports said. And at the same time, there’s something mysterious going on with meat plants. I don’t want to click those links and find out what the connection is. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43122 "2020-05-04T14:33:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Wait. The government is saying the number of people who have died of Covid19 is less than previous reports said. And at the same time, there’s something mysterious going on with meat plants. > > I don’t want to click those links and find out what the connection is. Well, if it turns out that they’re separating CoVID deaths from pneumonia complicated by CoVID, but not reducing the number of deaths, it’s not so awful (although it still gives the impression that the number of deaths is lower. Which I disapprove of, if that’s the point.) But there clearly seems to be something fishy going on with the new CDC recommendations, a la Ms. Maddow. You should click on those links and have a look. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43123 "2020-05-04T14:33:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Wait. The government is saying the number of people who have died of Covid19 is less than previous reports … They are not literally saying that. The number in the report seems to be correct. It is just broken into two parts, which are listed in columns on opposite sides of the table. You first see the 37K number in the 2nd column, then, if you are paying attention, you notice the 16K number way over toward the right. Math is hard, so, most people who look at it will be confused or gulled by the composition of the table. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43124 "2020-05-04T14:38:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But there clearly seems to be something fishy going on with the new CDC recommendations, a la Ms. Maddow. You should click on those links and have a look. There’s a whole sub-plot of this sordid saga, concerning the CDC’s role – or rather, their lack of a role. They would normally be totally in charge of the unified response to a pandemic. But ever since Dr Messonnier went before the media in February and said “this is going to be very bad”, in direct contradiction to Trump’s happy-talk, they’ve been entirely sidelined. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43125 "2020-05-04T14:47:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Well, if it turns out that they’re separating CoVID deaths from pneumonia complicated by CoVID, but not reducing the number of deaths, it’s not so awful (although it still gives the impression that the number of deaths is lower. Which I disapprove of, if that’s the point.) > > But there clearly seems to be something fishy going on with the new CDC recommendations, a la Ms. Maddow. You should click on those links and have a look. [Snopes is on the case.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cdc-death-figures/?fbclid=IwAR1gsZpDga_JJAOj0ObLpz78Aw_ekTBlCt_rpO2SI4Auj4kuXrtjmZR-fYQ) ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43126 "2020-05-04T16:31:53Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > There’s a whole sub-plot of this sordid saga, concerning the CDC’s role – or rather, their lack of a role. They would normally be totally in charge of the unified response to a pandemic. But ever since Dr Messonnier went before the media in February and said “this is going to be very bad”, in direct contradiction to Trump’s happy-talk, they’ve been entirely sidelined. I find it really disturbing that when you try to get details on a particular state via the CDC site, you’re just redirected to the website for that state’s health department. I think the best tool I’ve found is the one that comes up on the Google page when you search for “coronavirus by state”. The link is beastly long when I copy it but I’ll drop it at the end of this post. It shows new cases day by day for each state and its easy to use. It seems to me that even with all the talk about the RATE of increase slowing, many states are still rising in terms of absolute number of cases with many seeing the most new cases per day ever within the last few days. And it may be confirmation bias on my part, but this trend seems more pronounced in states like NC, Virginia and California. Not Michigan, though. [https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=LUKwXum8Hsel\_QaWpY3IBQ&q=coronavirus+by+state&oq=coronavirus+by+&gs\_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgAMgIIADICCAAyBQgAEIMBMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgUIABCDAToOCAAQ6gIQtAIQmgEQ5QJQqQ1YmT9gxURoAHAAeACAAYMCiAGzCZIBBjE1LjAuMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXqwAQY&sclient=psy-ab](https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=LUKwXum8Hsel_QaWpY3IBQ&q=coronavirus+by+state&oq=coronavirus+by+&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgAMgIIADICCAAyBQgAEIMBMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgUIABCDAToOCAAQ6gIQtAIQmgEQ5QJQqQ1YmT9gxURoAHAAeACAAYMCiAGzCZIBBjE1LjAuMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXqwAQY&sclient=psy-ab) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2155) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2157)