# 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:** 2165
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43287 "2020-05-09T04:18:46Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Well. 2016’ers wanted something different. I’m pretty sure they got exactly what they voted for. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43288 "2020-05-09T04:42:02Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The person on Mike Pence’s staff who has tested positive for coronavirus is Katie Miller, Stephen Miller’s wife. So does that mean Miller was exposed, and therefore, Individual 1? > [Another Coronavirus Case In The White House, Stephen Miller's Wife - News & Guts Media](https://www.newsandguts.com/another-coronavirus-case-in-the-white-house-stephen-millers-wife) Gotta be asked: did Trump grab the neo-nazi’s wife’s pussy, and if so, did she scream in his face with the requisite viral load? ---
**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 9, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43289 "2020-05-09T13:01:40Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I’m pretty sure they got exactly what they voted for. … something _completely_ different … ---
**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 9, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43290 "2020-05-09T14:16:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > My understanding was that Lay’s conviction was automatically vacated because he died _while the conviction was under appeal_, which (again, according to my understanding) is distinct from the sentencing phase having not been completed. You’re probably correct - I haven’t really thought about it since about 2005 when I read about it in the papers. I was astounded to learn that his conviction could be vacated simply as a result of death. As you and Aspenglow point out, this is a different case. It’ll be up to Judge Sullivan to determine where the case goes from here. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s going to tolerate this kind of nonsense, but on the other hand, he’s been thrown a knuckleball. This was probably something few justices in his position have ever encountered, which is the obvious politicization of justice and having a prosecutor withdraw a case post-conviction. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43291 "2020-05-09T14:16:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > You see, when Chump sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for the presidency, he didn’t figure on coronavirus. Never think you can outsmart the Devil! I’m torn between: Why would the devil take what he had for free? or Devil’s still a sucker–Trump doesn’t have one to sell. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43292 "2020-05-09T15:30:23Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > If Don the Con gets it, I will be overjoyed. I hope he mutters “Democratic Hoax” as he gasps for his last breath. See? That’s the difference between you and me. As I’ve said before, I _don’t_ want Donny Two-scoops dead, but sitting in a prison cell contemplating how his hubris led to his downfall. Now I can add to that a scenario where he gets sick, not unto death but rather too debilitated to campaign until, oh, the last week of October. Imagining the frustration of not being to hold his rallies and soak in the adulation of the MAGAts is much, much sweeter to me than a slide into well-deserved oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43293 "2020-05-09T15:44:03Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > See? That’s the difference between you and me. As I’ve said before, I _don’t_ want Donny Two-scoops dead, but sitting in a prison cell contemplating how his hubris led to his downfall. Now I can add to that a scenario where he gets sick, not unto death but rather too debilitated to campaign until, oh, the last week of October. > > Imagining the frustration of not being to hold his rallies and soak in the adulation of the MAGAts is much, much sweeter to me than a slide into well-deserved oblivion. His getting sick and returning to campaign in the last week of October is the last thing I want to see. He’d be getting sympathy votes and have a chance to “win” again. ---
**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 9, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43294 "2020-05-09T16:29:35Z")
> **[Trump Fires Inspector General Ahead of Damning Whistleblower Complaint About...](https://theintercept.com/2020/05/04/rick-bright-hhs-whistleblower-coronavirus/)** > > After hyping hydroxychloroquine, the president has now turned his unscientific enthusiasm toward Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir. > [@](#): > > ON FRIDAY, WHILE Rick Bright was in the process of filing what promises to be a damning whistleblower complaint to the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, President Donald Trump announced that he was firing the inspector general, Christi Grimm, and nominating a handpicked replacement. > > Two weeks ago, Bright, who, as deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response for HHS, oversaw the government’s purchase and funding of vaccines, treatments, and tests for the coronavirus, said he had been forced out of his job because he refused to cave to pressure to adopt scientifically unproven treatments for Covid-19. First they came for the whistle blower. Then they came for the mechanisms that provide oversight. Good news is, Office of Special Counsel has already weighed in and stated the obvious, that the Trump Administration - no doubt with AG Barr’s blessing - fired the immunologist without cause and for the express purpose of retaliation. Bad news is, I doubt anything changes. > [@](#): > > Office of Special Counsel recommendations aren’t binding on their own, but the OSC can pursue action that could result in Bright getting his job back. “If the Special Counsel has reasonable grounds to believe that the proposed personnel action is the result of a PPP [prohibited personnel practice], OSC may ask the federal agency involved to delay the personnel action. If the agency does not agree to a delay, OSC may then file a legal request for a stay with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to delay the personnel action,” the OSC says on its website. **Investigations can also lead to prosecutions**. Prosecution? By Barr’s prosecutors? LOL! We’re seeing what I was afraid we would see: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22127202&postcount=42](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22127202&postcount=42) > [@](#): > > **If you’re building an authoritarian regime, your first order of business is neutralizing and wiping out your political rivals at the top**. What Trump, Pompeo, and Barr intend to do is to drive into extinction the current civil service culture of faithful, neutral service to the public - that’s what they’re doing right as we speak. > > They’re purging the government of its critics in much the same way that Erdogan purged his enemies after taking power - the only difference is that he hasn’t actually cooked up charges and thrown them in jail But mark my words and make absolutely no mistake about it: if Trump gets elected, that day _will_ come. The scary shit that everyone assumes is just chicken littling, hyperventilating, and being hyperbolic…that doesn’t happen first. That comes later. They remove the guardrails first. Once they’ve removed the last rail, _that’s_ they shove their enemies over the cliff and watch listen to them scream as they plunge to their deaths. [![](https://i.cbc.ca/1.4845503.1538408660!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/kavanaugh-cartoon-full-image-graphic.jpg) ](https://i.cbc.ca/1.4845503.1538408660!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/kavanaugh-cartoon-full-image-graphic.jpg) ---
**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 9, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43295 "2020-05-09T16:36:50Z")
> **[Trump Fires Inspector General Ahead of Damning Whistleblower Complaint About...](https://theintercept.com/2020/05/04/rick-bright-hhs-whistleblower-coronavirus/)** > > After hyping hydroxychloroquine, the president has now turned his unscientific enthusiasm toward Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir. > [@](#): > > ON FRIDAY, WHILE Rick Bright was in the process of filing what promises to be a damning whistleblower complaint to the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, President Donald Trump announced that he was firing the inspector general, Christi Grimm, and nominating a handpicked replacement. > > Two weeks ago, Bright, who, as deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response for HHS, oversaw the government’s purchase and funding of vaccines, treatments, and tests for the coronavirus, said he had been forced out of his job because he refused to cave to pressure to adopt scientifically unproven treatments for Covid-19. First they came for the whistle blower. Then they came for the mechanisms that provide oversight. Good news is, Office of Special Counsel has already weighed in and stated the obvious, that the Trump Administration - no doubt with AG Barr’s blessing - fired the immunologist without cause and for the express purpose of retaliation. Bad news is, I doubt anything changes. > [@](#): > > Office of Special Counsel recommendations aren’t binding on their own, but the OSC can pursue action that could result in Bright getting his job back. “If the Special Counsel has reasonable grounds to believe that the proposed personnel action is the result of a PPP [prohibited personnel practice], OSC may ask the federal agency involved to delay the personnel action. If the agency does not agree to a delay, OSC may then file a legal request for a stay with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to delay the personnel action,” the OSC says on its website. **Investigations can also lead to prosecutions**. Prosecution? By Barr’s prosecutors? LOL! We’re seeing what I was afraid we would see: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22127202&postcount=42](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22127202&postcount=42) > [@](#): > > **If you’re building an authoritarian regime, your first order of business is neutralizing and wiping out your political rivals at the top**. What Trump, Pompeo, and Barr intend to do is to drive into extinction the current civil service culture of faithful, neutral service to the public - that’s what they’re doing right as we speak. > > They’re purging the government of its critics in much the same way that Erdogan purged his enemies after taking power - the only difference is that he hasn’t actually cooked up charges and thrown them in jail But mark my words and make absolutely no mistake about it: if Trump gets elected, that day _will_ come. The scary shit that everyone assumes is just chicken littling, hyperventilating, and being hyperbolic…that doesn’t happen first. That comes later. They remove the guardrails first. Once they’ve removed the last rail, _that’s_ they shove their enemies over the cliff and watch listen to them scream as they plunge to their deaths. [![](https://i.cbc.ca/1.4845503.1538408660!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/kavanaugh-cartoon-full-image-graphic.jpg) ](https://i.cbc.ca/1.4845503.1538408660!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/kavanaugh-cartoon-full-image-graphic.jpg) ---
**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 9, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43296 "2020-05-09T16:45:23Z")
As I see it, he gets sick, has a stroke and becomes capable of only making vowels and approximates. Penice refuses to invoke the 25[sub]th[/sub] saying “_He’s still Our President_”, standing adoringly beside the drooling hulk as Individual-ONE speechifies, “_ **Aeeiieellrngou uuhoouuyaaagheeiiiye oieoeengoulei haaaghayangera emblengarangooyaou** _”, the MAGAts cheer wildly, and Fox dutifully reports his inciteful pronouncements. The Republican establishment stands firmly behind their leader, holding up silver cups to gather his dripping spittle to demonstrate fully, once and for all, the utter depths of their moral depravity. Then, in November, whatever happens happens. Could be the final nightmare, or it could be a reprieve. ---
**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 9, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43297 "2020-05-09T20:56:17Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The person on Mike Pence’s staff who has tested positive for coronavirus is Katie Miller, Stephen Miller’s wife. So does that mean Miller was exposed, and therefore, Individual 1? > [Another Coronavirus Case In The White House, Stephen Miller's Wife - News & Guts Media](https://www.newsandguts.com/another-coronavirus-case-in-the-white-house-stephen-millers-wife) Someone texted my wife that Stephen Miller won’t get it, because he and his wife sleep in separate coffins. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43298 "2020-05-09T22:52:15Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > As I see it, he gets sick, has a stroke and becomes capable of only making vowels and approximates. Penice refuses to invoke the 25[sub]th[/sub] saying “_He’s still Our President_”, standing adoringly beside the drooling hulk as Individual-ONE speechifies, “_ **Aeeiieellrngou uuhoouuyaaagheeiiiye oieoeengoulei haaaghayangera emblengarangooyaou** _”, the MAGAts cheer wildly, and Fox dutifully reports his inciteful pronouncements. The Republican establishment stands firmly behind their leader, holding up silver cups to gather his dripping spittle to demonstrate fully, once and for all, the utter depths of their moral depravity. So, just like the last 3 years. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43299 "2020-05-09T23:03:02Z")
Now L’il Donny wants the [wall painted black.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/07/donald-trump-wants-border-wall-painted-black-report/5181469002/) Apparently, this is supposed to make it look more imposing and be too hot in the summer to climb. > [@](#): > > According to estimates obtained by the Post, the cost of painting the wall black would range from $500 million for acrylic paint to over $3 billion for a “powder coating” on the wall. This quite naturally had Rex Huppke, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, tweeting: “I see a racist wall/And I want it painted black.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43300 "2020-05-09T23:08:48Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Now L’il Donny wants the [wall painted black.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/07/donald-trump-wants-border-wall-painted-black-report/5181469002/) Apparently, this is supposed to make it look more imposing and be too hot in the summer to climb. > > This quite naturally had Rex Huppke, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, tweeting: “I see a racist wall/And I want it painted black.” Sure. Somebody who walked from Guatemala to the US border, fully prepared to scale the wall, is going to get there and say “Ummm…no. It’s hot and scary looking.” ---
**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:** [May 10, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43301 "2020-05-10T00:09:18Z")
So, the Mexican rapists have no ladders OR gloves, eh? ---
**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 10, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43302 "2020-05-10T00:19:38Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > This quite naturally had Rex Huppke, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, tweeting: “I see a racist wall/And I want it painted black.” [link](https://twitter.com/RexHuppke/status/1258054430940975104?s=20) ---
**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:** [May 10, 2020, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43303 "2020-05-10T00:37:56Z")
But **WALL** is supposed to be see-through so we can see the bad hombres throwing 50 lb. bags of drugs over the top. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43304 "2020-05-10T00:47:08Z")
With their legs muscles like ripe grapefruits. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43305 "2020-05-10T00:59:17Z")
Is it going to stay hot at night? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/43306 "2020-05-10T01:02:54Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > Is it going to stay hot at night? No, but black. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2164) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2166)