# 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:** 2158
**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 5, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43147 "2020-05-05T14:11:47Z")
From the COVID News thread: > [@Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2956): > > A stat from the UK which slightly blew my mind. The Job Retention Scheme came into force on 20th April. This allows employers to furlough employees, with the government picking up 80% of their wages (with a limit of £2500 p/m). > > As of 3rd May, almost of a quarter of the entire UK workforce is now on the scheme. That’s quite the intervention by the Treasury. > > [https://twitter.com/HMRCgovuk/status/1257324798847451136](https://twitter.com/HMRCgovuk/status/1257324798847451136) > [@Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/2962): > > There’s a similar program in Australia, called [JobKeeper.](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-20/australia-coronavirus-jobkeer-payments-open/12164242) I’m not finding any hard numbers on how many are in it at the moment. > > In this scheme, businesses are subsidized to pay their employees $1500/fortnight, whether or not the business is actually open and operating, so long as there has been a significant downturn in the business’s income. Back in the USA, however: > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Because the “Wealth creators” have discovered that they cannot create diddly squat if they don’t have a large workforce of poorly paid serfs to generate the money for them. So it’s “High, Ho, off to work you go, and sorry if you die, but we have profits to make!” “Those Urpeens are just a bunch of goddam godless Socialists! They’re giving out _free money_ _(EWWW!)_ to people who haven’t earned it or shown their worthiness. This is Murika where poor people have the guaranteed right to die of starvation and _Wealth Creators_ have the guaranteed right to make money no matter what! If God liked those people he wouldn’t have made them poor, amirite? Didn’t Jaysus say, _‘The poor you will always have with you’_? Well, so there, says right there in the Good Book, not to mention the Declarashun of Independence and the Constitutitutitution. God bless America!” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43148 "2020-05-05T14:38:37Z")
Has anyone seen the ratings for Trump’s Sunday night “town hall”? I think I heard it had 4 million viewers, but haven’t seen that translated into ratings. (I’m betting he got crushed by 60 Minutes, otherwise we’d be hearing nothing else.) Having him spew his lies _inside_ the Lincoln Memorial is some kind of secular blasphemy, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43149 "2020-05-05T15:03:37Z")
The Lincoln Memorial would be appropriate for the Trump/Pence ceremony of _seppuku_. Acting President Pelosi should take the oath in a private setting. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43150 "2020-05-05T15:40:18Z")
His obsession with the “ratings” his television appearances get is really disturbing. This country has been led by real statesmen, like Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Dwight Eisenhower. Even Nixon and Reagan had serious ideas about international alliances and agreements. Now it’s led by a former reality TV star who still thinks he is in one. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43151 "2020-05-05T17:08:13Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I liked this response from another Twitter user: > > And at first the King did say the Plague would blow over like a mighty wind, and that the numbers would shrinketh from 15 to 0, and his apostles did rejoice at this news for the Plague, in their eyes, was just a flu. And so the King did return to his holy golf game. That was awesome. That Twitter user deserves a Noble Prize. 😛 > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > His obsession with the “ratings” his television appearances get is really disturbing. This country has been led by real statesmen, like Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Dwight Eisenhower. Even Nixon and Reagan had serious ideas about international alliances and agreements. Now it’s led by a former reality TV star who still thinks he is in one. I honestly think that’s why some idiots voted for him. He was on a reality TV show, He’ll make things interesting! Ugh. Too bad the rest of us with half a brain don’t get more frequent chances to vote him off the island. ---
**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 5, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43152 "2020-05-05T18:14:39Z")
Individual 1 prefers women reporters who behave like Donna Reed. > **[Trump Expresses Wish That Women Reporters at White House Were More Like ’50s...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-expresses-wish-that-women-reporters-at-white-house-were-more-like-50s-housewives)** > > Complaining about CBS News journalist Paula Reid, the president suggested he’d prefer to talk to ’50s’ TV mom Donna Reed. ---
**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 5, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43153 "2020-05-05T20:13:06Z")
New York Times is reporting that the coronavirus task force is going to be allowed to dwindle away without fanfare. > **[The coronavirus triumphs, slowly grinding Trump's White House 'task force'...](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/5/1942799/-Mission-accomplished-the-coronavirus-crisis-isn-t-over-but-the-White-House-task-force-might-be)** > > Phase II of Donald Trump's plan to inflict maximal coronavirus carnage on the country is commencing, and now's the perfect time to cut off public access to any tiny shreds of reality they might glean from the White House's beleaguered coronavirus... ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43154 "2020-05-05T20:21:13Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > New York Times is reporting that the coronavirus task force is going to be allowed to dwindle away without fanfare. > [The coronavirus triumphs, slowly grinding Trump's White House 'task force' into dust](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/5/1942799/-Mission-accomplished-the-coronavirus-crisis-isn-t-over-but-the-White-House-task-force-might-be) This so-called “Task Force” never even existed. Fake news. Anyone who claims otherwise is just deranged and a Trump Hater. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43155 "2020-05-05T20:54:46Z")
Dr. Rick Bright has formally filed a whistleblower complaint concerning the political influence that drove HHS’s pharmaceutical decision-making. So far the administration’s pandemic response has been nothing but confusion, incompetence, partisanship, abdicating responsibility and lies; and now we can add corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43156 "2020-05-05T20:56:34Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > and now we can add corruption. That’s a feature, not a bug. Why do you hate good old American ingenuity and Capitalism? ---
**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:** [May 5, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43157 "2020-05-05T22:57:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > His obsession with the “ratings” his television appearances get is really disturbing. This country has been led by real statesmen, like Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Dwight Eisenhower. Even Nixon and Reagan had serious ideas about international alliances and agreements. And one of those real statesmen was President Obama. > [@](#): > > Now it’s led by a former reality TV star who still thinks he is in one. The hitch is that this really is reality, not the scripted version, and it’s biting him in the butt. He’s melting down and taking the country, nay, the planet with him. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43158 "2020-05-06T01:02:51Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > The hitch is that this really is reality, not the scripted version, and it’s biting him in the butt. He’s melting down and taking the country, nay, the planet with him. In his delusional brain, Chump somehow expected not just US officials but the entire world would kowtow to his bullying and browbeating. Their not cooperating was definitely not in the script. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43159 "2020-05-06T01:24:04Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > New York Times is reporting that the coronavirus task force is going to be allowed to dwindle away without fanfare. > [The coronavirus triumphs, slowly grinding Trump's White House 'task force' into dust](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/5/1942799/-Mission-accomplished-the-coronavirus-crisis-isn-t-over-but-the-White-House-task-force-might-be) I’m sure if they looked they could find a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner somewhere in a White House closet. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43160 "2020-05-06T01:33:28Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The Lincoln Memorial would be appropriate for the Trump/Pence ceremony of _seppuku_. Acting President Pelosi should take the oath in a private setting. Lincolns ghost walks out and says, You’re Fired. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43161 "2020-05-06T02:57:04Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Individual 1 prefers women reporters who behave like Donna Reed. > [Trump Expresses Wish That Women Reporters at White House Were More Like ’50s Housewives](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-expresses-wish-that-women-reporters-at-white-house-were-more-like-50s-housewives) [This Donna Reed?](https://twitter.com/m_tisserand/status/1257666462602444802) It goes without saying that Donna Reed was a working woman. ---
**Author:** ![arles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@arles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arles)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43162 "2020-05-06T05:47:20Z")
In case you missed it, in the video of Trump touring the factory today - “Live and Let Die” was playing over the loudspeaker. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-52554123/worst-song-possible-plays-as-trump-tours-mask-plant](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-52554123/worst-song-possible-plays-as-trump-tours-mask-plant) ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43163 "2020-05-06T05:47:37Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Lincolns ghost walks out and says, You’re Fired. Lincoln’s. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2020, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43164 "2020-05-06T11:20:44Z")
Just in case you’ve been wondering why the damn dirty lying sack of dung in the White House has not bee doing his job, [here is his latest excuse](https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-blames-coronavirus-medical-shortages-005247234.html): > [@](#): > > Well, I’ll be honest, I have a lot of things going on. What are all those things he says have kept him from doig his job? > [@](#): > > We had a lot of people that refused to allow the country to be successful. They wasted a lot of time on Russia, Russia, Russia. That turned out to be a total hoax. Then they did Ukraine, Ukraine, and that was a total hoax. Then they impeached the president of the United States for absolutely no reason. Odd that he did not mention all the golfing, inspector general firing, grafting, constitution breaking, and murderer-pardoning he managed to squeeze into his oh so busy schedule. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43165 "2020-05-06T13:09:15Z")
I am seeing more and more signs that we will not have a normal election this year, and if Trump “wins” re-election, there will be a power grab in 2021. The evidence is right in front of us, with Trump essentially declaring the pandemic over in spite of what the scientists are saying. He’s basically going to start purging the scientists, or he’ll simply shut them up. Republicans will follow his lead. Trump may not be able to make up the gap with Biden, who’s a flawed candidate but isn’t as susceptible to smear campaigns as Clinton was. So to “win,” he’ll need a back-up plan. I think the back-up is going to be to somehow interfere with the vote, either by pushing (where possible) states to postpone elections. And there’s always the possibility (probability) of help from Russia. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43166 "2020-05-06T14:14:06Z")
Is there any doubt that Russia will once again help Trump? Any at all? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2157) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2159)