# 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:** 2208
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44147 "2020-06-03T15:57:32Z")
> [@solost](#): > > That article is reassuring, but for two things: > > [ol] > [li]One of the commenters to that article brought up the good point that the period between trump’s election loss and Biden’s inauguration would be a scary time-- what kind of spiteful chaos and destruction would raging loser Trump wreak in those 72-78 days?[/li][li]What could Trump do on a legal basis, since he’s already set the stage to claim voter fraud? Of course the claim will be complete bullshit, but with Barr in his pocket and a biased SCOTUS, I’m concerned he could possibly at least cause obfuscation and confusion for months on the thinnest facade of a legal claim that the election was rigged. I don’t know exactly how something like that could play out, but I’m thinking of hanging chads and a conservative SCOTUS giving the election to George W. Bush in 2000.[/li][/ol] Well, yeah. The article begins with the implicit assumption: “let’s assume that the election is over and the results are certified and Biden has a majority of Electoral Votes.” Which is a fair place to start, but we have a few hurdles to overcome before we get there. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44148 "2020-06-03T15:58:11Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > CFSG sez [he only went to the bunker to inspect it](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/donald-trump-bunker/index.html), because “maybe sometime [he’s] going to need it.” And here I was tempted to think he was a cowardly sack of shit. He was very thorough. The whole White House also made sure that the “off” setting on their lightbulbs was working at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44149 "2020-06-03T16:00:14Z")
Unless it’s a close election I think the GOP will abandon Trump. I think most of the leaders would love to be rid of him as long as they don’t piss off his base too much. If Trump loses big (I can dream, can’t I?) then even the base won’t protect him. I do worry what Trump will do between November and January. If the election is close (God forbid) then we could be in for a bumpy ride. Trump will declare fraud (with no evidence) and the GOP will have to decide if it’s worth fighting for Trump to keep a Republican in the White House. (Even if he gets trounced Trump will declare that he won but I can’t imagine the GOP will try to fight that battle when he so clearly lost.) ---
**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:** [June 3, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44150 "2020-06-03T16:16:28Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > Unless it’s a close election I think the GOP will abandon Trump. I think most of the leaders would love to be rid of him as long as they don’t piss off his base too much. If Trump loses big (I can dream, can’t I?) then even the base won’t protect him. I do worry what Trump will do between November and January. > > If the election is close (God forbid) then we could be in for a bumpy ride. Trump will declare fraud (with no evidence) and the GOP will have to decide if it’s worth fighting for Trump to keep a Republican in the White House. (Even if he gets trounced Trump will declare that he won but I can’t imagine the GOP will try to fight that battle when he so clearly lost.) Steve King’s defeat last night was a very positive development. I don’t want to assume anything, but it might possibly be a sign that people have had enough of the insanity. To that end, it’s important to keep protesting, to keep putting pressure on the extremist bloc. The Mueller investigation and impeachment didn’t work because there was no pressure for the Republicans to retreat. Constitutions can’t save republics and democracies, only people can. Maybe we’re doing that now. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44151 "2020-06-03T16:17:12Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > He was very thorough. The whole White House also made sure that the “off” setting on their lightbulbs was working at the same time. I seem to recall stories about the Trump team [not knowing how to work the light switches](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-bannon-conway-meetings-light-switch-darkness-a7565136.html) when they first moved in, so maybe they were just practicing. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44152 "2020-06-03T16:31:52Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Get a grip, Trump isn’t going to hold the White House through force. Voter suppression, purging ballots, closing polling places, etc? Yes. Disputing election results? Maybe. Securing the White House with mercenaries? Not a chance. Hence my employment of the terms, ‘harebrained’ and ‘nutty’. I never said the plan would work – only that Trump may attempt it. And that only after your aforementioned tactics had not. Obviously he’ll try all you mentioned first. They’re doing it as we speak. But if you think he’s unhinged now, just wait till he grasps the full knowledge of what’s coming. He’s barely restrained as it is and he still sort of believes he can pull out a win in November. Who knows? With enough help from Putin again and his own corrupt party, maybe he can. I never imagined TrumpCo would think to try to take over the D.C. police department, either. But they did, as noted in **Rick Kitchen** ’s article referenced in Post #44222. It’s worth reading this [David Frum piece in The Atlantic from March 2017](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/). Horrifying how much of what he predicted has come to pass. I have long been extremely concerned about the stretch between November 3rd and January 20th. Lots of bad things can happen during that time. And we had better start thinking about what to do with all the packed courts and the autocratic structure of power Trump/McConnell will have left behind once power has been wrested from them. An immense amount of damage has already been done. In a perverse way, COVID-19 might be the thing that saves our democracy. Trump’s inept, inadequate response to the predictable pandemic, which heralded the collapse of our economy while simultaneously requiring out-of-work people to stay home for a couple months and watch a lot of tee vee – where they witnessed yet another shameless homicide committed by those sworn to protect and serve. I am heartened to see the level of anger revealed through the breadth and depth of the demonstrations. People get it. Let’s hope the outrage can carry us to November 3rd and beyond. A decisive election is our best strategy. Sadly, the really hard work doesn’t start until January 21, 2021. With our short attention spans, will Americans keep in mind the threat posed by this kleptocracy we’re fighting against for long enough to destroy it? Or will the kleptocrats just be back in 4-8 years, as they were from George W. Bush to Trump, with a President Pompeo carrying on with their relentless agenda? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44153 "2020-06-03T17:36:24Z")
Turns out that the voter fraud was coming from [inside the White House](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/president-trump-tried-to-register-to-vote-in-florida-using-an-out-of-state-address/2020/06/03/687d0014-a4f2-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html). \* “The voter application is dated Sept. 27, 2019 — the same day that Trump made the domicile change. On one of his forms that day he was telling Florida officials that his “legal residence” was Washington, D.C., and on another he was saying he was a “bona fide resident” of Palm Beach.”\* _“Trump, however, has sent confusing signals about his official state of residence beyond the recent change on his Florida voter-registration forms. On Monday, he declared, “I live in Manhattan,” during a call with the nation’s governors about the response to unrest related to protests over the death of an unarmed black man who had been held down by police in Minneapolis.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44154 "2020-06-03T17:59:52Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Get a grip, Trump isn’t going to hold the White House through force. Voter suppression, purging ballots, closing polling places, etc? Yes. Disputing election results? Maybe. Securing the White House with mercenaries? Not a chance. He won’t need force. All the other means you listed, and some others not, are all he’ll need. I expect, should he somehow lose the election despite all the vote-suppression shenanigans, he and/or trusted party members will find a flimsy reason why the election was invalid and the senate and supreme court will back him. It will probably have something to do with voter fraud, and someone will find ‘evidence’ of it in a few key swing states - maybe a sloppily stuffed-ballot-box situation. A flimsy excuse with the SC & senate backing it will be all it takes for the military to follow him, and for the secret service and US marshals to continue as things were. They need a clear mandate, and with everyone but the house backing him, Trump will remain. If Trump loses the election, I won’t be relieved until he’s out of the White House. He and others have bent and tortured rule of law & tradition since he took office, and as much as he NEEDS to remain president, I expect it to only get worse from here. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44155 "2020-06-03T18:29:24Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > CFSG sez [he only went to the bunker to inspect it](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/donald-trump-bunker/index.html), because “maybe sometime [he’s] going to need it.” And here I was tempted to think he was a cowardly sack of shit. > > _Whew_ Well, that settles that. It should also be noted that I believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. And that life is fair. He also said he’s visited the bunker two and a half times before. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44156 "2020-06-03T19:00:07Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > He won’t need force. All the other means you listed, and some others not, are all he’ll need. I expect, should he somehow lose the election despite all the vote-suppression shenanigans, he and/or trusted party members will find a flimsy reason why the election was invalid and the senate and supreme court will back him. It will probably have something to do with voter fraud, and someone will find ‘evidence’ of it in a few key swing states - maybe a sloppily stuffed-ballot-box situation. Here is a[Vox article](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/3/21257133/trump-2020-election-meltdown-lawrence-douglas) that lays out a plausible enough scenario (close election, initial results change based on counting mail-in/absentee ballots) that caused my normally conspiracy-rejecting self to go “Huh, that could actually happen”. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44157 "2020-06-03T19:21:27Z")
Individual 1 singled out one guy in a video as an anarchist, and he’s now getting death threats. He claims he was there to be peaceful and did not do anything violent. > **[Trump tweets Ohio man at protest is an 'anarchist.' Now the man's getting...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tweets-ohio-man-protest-014037091.html)** > > Nathan Caraway is denying what some on social media have said is proof that an "anarchist" paid off young people to sow dissent at a protest. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44158 "2020-06-03T19:54:52Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > He also said he’s visited the bunker two and a half times before. He went there but only put one foot through the door? Or he went there, but pushed Eric in to make sure it was safe while he waited outside? ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44159 "2020-06-03T20:34:14Z")
I’m not sure if this article has been posted: [British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read](https://coming42.livejournal.com/479179.html?utm_source=fbsharing&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0So3-4tsOnMUsh5TSCAGz_NdlyxXraONLck2TVCzwVZfsHcSkIU9Ak33I) > [@](#): > > So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that: > • Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are. > • You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man. > > This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump. > > And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?’ If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set. Those are just the last paragraphs. The whole article is a nice takedown of Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44160 "2020-06-03T20:40:00Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Those are just the last paragraphs. The whole article is a nice takedown of Trump. That was a while back - at least 2 or 3 years now. It hasn’t aged as well as it should - they themselves backed Boris Johnson not long after. Sure, he’s better than Trump, but so is rotten toe fungus. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44161 "2020-06-03T20:50:35Z")
Individual 1’s press sycophant compares Individual 1’s stroll to the church to Churchill visiting bomb damage during World War II > **[White House compares Trump’s church visit to Churchill](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/500977-white-house-compares-trumps-church-visit-to-churchill/)** > > White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday compared President Trump’s photo opportunity in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s e… ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44162 "2020-06-03T20:50:51Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > That was a while back - at least 2 or 3 years now. It hasn’t aged as well as it should - they themselves backed Boris Johnson not long after. Sure, he’s better than Trump, but so is rotten toe fungus. I didn’t realize it was that old–I saw a link to a blog post dated Apr. 24th, 2020. Still, Trump hasn’t improved with time in office. He just gets more unhinged and he’s mostly surrounded by incompetent sycophants. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44163 "2020-06-03T21:00:06Z")
Individual 1’s press sycophant compares Individual 1’s stroll to the church to Churchill visiting bomb damage during World War II > **[White House compares Trump’s church visit to Churchill](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/500977-white-house-compares-trumps-church-visit-to-churchill/)** > > White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday compared President Trump’s photo opportunity in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s e… ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44164 "2020-06-03T21:30:05Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > CFSG sez [he only went to the bunker to inspect it](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/politics/donald-trump-bunker/index.html), because “maybe sometime [he’s] going to need it.” And here I was tempted to think he was a cowardly sack of shit. My dog always inspects under the bed during a thunderstorm. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44165 "2020-06-03T21:34:20Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > My dog always inspects under the bed during a thunderstorm. All he needed to do, was to say something like “The Secret Service, in an abundance of caution, thought it best that we relocate to the secure facility for a brief time, and I saw no reason to overrule their always excellent advice.” It’s not like the SS would contradict him in public. He’s not just a liar…he’s really bad at it. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44166 "2020-06-03T21:40:18Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Steve King’s defeat last night was a very positive development. I don’t want to assume anything, but it might possibly be a sign that people have had enough of the insanity. Sorry, no, unless overt racism is your only definition for insanity. King’s defeat was probably more due to his being stripped of committee assignments, so he had no power to do anything for his district. The guy who beat him, Feenstra, says on his website that he “is a true Christian conservative and has been a leading voice defending life, including fighting to defund Planned Parenthood, sponsoring a bill that defined life at conception and is a strong supporter of amending the Iowa Constitution to not grant the right to an abortion.” He’s also strongly in favor of more tax cuts, and opposes any form of gun control. So at best, he might be less racist than King, but he’s certainly nothing for Dems to celebrate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2207) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2209)