# 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:** 2210
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44187 "2020-06-04T00:40:41Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I’m with you Thelma. Mattis can piss off, far as I’m concerned. “There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who is saved than for 99 who don’t need saving.” Getting a former cabinet member to oppose Trump, unequivocal, on the record, is huge. Let’s take the win. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44188 "2020-06-04T00:46:53Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > 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 death threats.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tweets-ohio-man-protest-014037091.html) _fuck_ ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44189 "2020-06-04T00:52:30Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Not really. They’ll find some way of convincing themselves that Mattis is a cuck. There’s no reasoning with them! They worship Trump as if he is an infallible god. > > I’m fucking beyond disgusted with this. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > ha ha ha! No. > > Mattis is now the enemy. The MAGAts will probably accuse him of being Antifa, and a terrorist. > > We have always been at war with Eastasia. > > We have always hated Mattis. I posted _The Atlantic_ article on my Facebook page and I’m curious how the MAGA guys I know who served in the USMC will respond. When Mattis was first named Secretary of Defense, I was told how awesome and respected he was. So, they will have to choose between “Mad Dog” or Bunker Boy Bonespurs. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44190 "2020-06-04T01:02:28Z")
I think they will break down in a fairly predictable way. Enlisted: “Oh, he’s an officer, an arrogant elitist just like all the officers are. The higher up the chain of command, the bigger assholes they are and the less they understand reality. Generals are the worst of all. They’re just self-serving political hacks.” Officers: “The job of a military officer isn’t to talk about politics…we officers know not to comment on things above our pay grade. A general still has to serve the Commander in Chief.” They’re always moving the goalposts. No matter how tortured the logic, they will find some way to throw Mattis under the bus. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44191 "2020-06-04T01:12:05Z")
And Trump tweets this just a few minutes ago: > [@](#): > > Probably the only thing Barack Obama & I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General. I asked for his letter of resignation, & felt great about it. His nickname was “Chaos”, which I didn’t like, & changed to “Mad Dog”… > > · > > …His primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations. I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom “brought home the bacon”. I didn’t like his “leadership” style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone! ---
**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:** [June 4, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44192 "2020-06-04T01:12:35Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Individual 1’s press sycophant compares Individual 1’s stroll to the church to Churchill visiting bomb damage during World War II > [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/500977-white-house-compares-trumps-church-visit-to-churchill](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/500977-white-house-compares-trumps-church-visit-to-churchill) The big difference being Churchill didn’t cause the damage he was visiting. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44193 "2020-06-04T01:23:01Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I hate to defend Trump, but he actually did tell a joke once (which some extremely brave aide probably wrote for him), and it actually was sort of self-deprecating, although the main brunt fell on Melania. > > He was talking about how the press was unfair to him and his family, and said that when Michelle Obama made a speech, the press fawned over her. But when Melania made the very same speech… I’d wager heavily Trump didn’t think of that himself, and was merely repeating it. It sounds like something a speechwriter might have together for him. I think there’s good evidence that the man himself is completely humorless. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44194 "2020-06-04T01:41:34Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > 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. Yes, this. Those Iowa voters weren’t rejecting King’s racism; they were rejecting his powerlessness (due to his having had his former committee assignments stripped away). The new GOP candidate will sail through the November election, whereas King (had he been the nominee) might have been defeated by a Democrat. (Granted that probability was low; it’s a very conservative district.) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44195 "2020-06-04T01:43:33Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > And Trump tweets this just a few minutes ago: Omg, I thought you had written a clever parody. He really tweeted that. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44196 "2020-06-04T01:45:26Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > I’d wager heavily Trump didn’t think of that himself, and was merely repeating it. It sounds like something a speechwriter might have together for him. I think there’s good evidence that the man himself is completely humorless. I don’t know, there are probably things he laughs himself silly over. Probably laughs so hard he loses control of his bodily functions. They are just not things that normal human beings with at least a trace of empathy would find at all funny. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44197 "2020-06-04T01:51:53Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > … Probably laughs so hard he loses control of his bodily functions… The images we have seen of him suggest that there is no “control of his bodily functions” for him to lose. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44198 "2020-06-04T01:53:44Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I don’t know, there are probably things he laughs himself silly over. Probably laughs so hard he loses control of his bodily functions. They are just not things that normal human beings with at least a trace of empathy would find at all funny. Turns out that ‘what makes Trump laugh’ has been in the news not long ago: it’s watching men get punched in the testicles! Specifically, Trump famously adores a 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, _Bloodsport_. > [@](#): > > … This morning, Mel Magazine released an impressively exhaustive oral history of Donald Trump’s love for the peak 80’s action film. The piece is a genuinely fascinating read, delving not only into the origins of the Commander-in-Chief’s enjoyment of the cult classic, but how he relates to art, culture, wealth, American Exceptionalism, and just straight-up bullshitting. It also chronicles perhaps his only truly relatable human trait—laughing whenever a dude gets karate punched in the balls. … > **[There's now an oral history of Trump's weird love for Bloodsport](https://www.avclub.com/theres-now-an-oral-history-of-trumps-weird-love-for-blo-1837407144)** > > Look, we know as well as anyone that there’s no accounting for taste. While we at The A.V. Club report and examine pop culture in all its complexities, at the end of the day there remains the fundamental fact that art is almost always a subjective... One of the late-night talk show hosts was talking about this just last night. He was talking with a guest who’d been on Air Force One with Trump, and watched Trump fast-forward through all the “plot” parts of the movie to get to the ball-punching. (I can’t remember which show it was and it’s too soon for it the interview to be available online.) So, anyway: that’s what makes Trump laugh: damage to the testicles. Of someone else, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44199 "2020-06-04T02:13:10Z")
We literally ARE living in _Idiocracy_, except President Camacho had way better hiring and management skills. ---
**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 4, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44200 "2020-06-04T02:13:27Z")
Esper tries to weasel that he didn’t know about the clearing of the streets prior to the press op, and then said that he didn’t know where they were walking, and then said that military troops should be withdrawn. Then after a talking to by Individual 1, he retracted his statement. [https://www.connectradio.fm/2020/06/03/defense-secretary-reverses-order-keeps-soldiers-in-dc-area-after-opposing-insurrection-act-for-george-floyd-protests-calling-for-accountability-in-his-murder/](https://www.connectradio.fm/2020/06/03/defense-secretary-reverses-order-keeps-soldiers-in-dc-area-after-opposing-insurrection-act-for-george-floyd-protests-calling-for-accountability-in-his-murder/) Individual 1 calls Mattis overrated. > **[Trump calls Mattis ‘overrated’ after ex-Defense secretary issues scathing rebuke](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/501060-trump-calls-mattis-overrated-after-ex-defense-secretary-issues/)** > > President Trump on Wednesday sharply criticized James Mattis after the former Defense secretary broke his silence and condemned the president’s handling of nationwide protests in a fiery statement.… ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44201 "2020-06-04T02:16:38Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > And Trump tweets this just a few minutes ago: > > > [@](#): > > > > Probably the only thing Barack Obama & I have in common is that we both had the honor of firing Jim Mattis, the world’s most overrated General. Gosh, wonder how Mattis got so “overrated”? Oh, [that’s right](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/01/james-mattis-secretary-of-defense-donald-trump): > [@](#): > > Trump made the announcement at an Ohio rally on the first day for his “thank you tour” [December 2016]. > > “I don’t want to tell you to this, I refuse to tell you, don’t let it outside of this room. I will not tell you that one of our great great generals, don’t let it outside, we are going to appoint Mad Dog Mattis as our secretary of defense and we’re not announcing it until Monday so don’t tell it to anybody.” […] > > The retired general declined to talk to the media at the time, but Trump praised him. “All I can say is he is the real deal. The real deal,” he said. Even after what feels like all these centuries, it can still surprise me how brazenly Trump praises himself for his acumen in having recruited or selected some “great” “terrific” “brilliant” “best” “star” person, and shortly thereafter praises himself for his shrewdness in having got rid of that very same person, now disparaged as a “weak” “overrated” “unstable” “dumb” “moron” “loser”. AFAICT he honestly believes that it makes him look good. ---
**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 4, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44202 "2020-06-04T02:21:50Z")
Paramilitary units on the streets of DC with no insignia. > ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44203 "2020-06-04T02:32:47Z")
Anyone supporting Trump at this point _wants_ American democracy replaced with authoritarian, big daddy dictatorship. The thing that they don’t realize is that when Trump-ism has run it’s course the brains behind the orange shitstain will begin to install increasingly competent, but increasingly authoritarian successors. It will not end well for America. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44204 "2020-06-04T03:31:21Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I posted _The Atlantic_ article on my Facebook page and I’m curious how the MAGA guys I know who served in the USMC will respond. When Mattis was first named Secretary of Defense, I was told how awesome and respected he was. So, they will have to choose between “Mad Dog” or Bunker Boy Bonespurs. So some early comments. From an enlisted Marine who served under Mattis: big “ego” and little “humility” (hmm…I wonder who else that could apply to?). Also, Mattis is going to “ruin his legacy”. He hangs out in Palo Alto nowadays with the Stanford elites. He’s all about money now (the blood test scam company Theranos was brought up). Mattis is “out of bounds with all military decorum and respect” that must be given to Trump. Never trust a general with more than one star. Only one commenter (~17 comments so far; some were neutral) defended Mattis outright by saying if Mattis would come out and say this, he must feel pretty strongly about it. So, yeah, it looks like the MAGAsses (even some USMC veterans) are going with the draft dodger over the career four-star Marine general. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44205 "2020-06-04T03:37:24Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Paramilitary units on the streets of DC with no insignia. > [https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1268286439743258625](https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1268286439743258625) I heard about that, the claim I’d heard is that they appear to be prison guards and possibly border patrol troops pressed into duty as riot control, which legally they shouldn’t be since it’s nowhere near their area of responsibility. As somebody on another forum said (somewhat) sarcastically, “It makes sense they are using the slave overseers to try to suppress a slave rebellion.” ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44206 "2020-06-04T03:45:59Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Turns out that ‘what makes Trump laugh’ has been in the news not long ago: it’s watching men get punched in the testicles! > > Specifically, Trump famously adores a 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, _Bloodsport_. > > [There's now an oral history of Trump's weird love for Bloodsport](https://news.avclub.com/theres-now-an-oral-history-of-trumps-weird-love-for-blo-1837407144) > > One of the late-night talk show hosts was talking about this just last night. He was talking with a guest who’d been on Air Force One with Trump, and watched Trump fast-forward through all the “plot” parts of the movie to get to the ball-punching. (I can’t remember which show it was and it’s too soon for it the interview to be available online.) > > So, anyway: that’s what makes Trump laugh: damage to the testicles. Of someone else, of course. Laughing at someone getting punched in the balls is the most human thing I’ve ever heard about him. That that is the only thing he finds to be amusing is more than a bit concerning, though. > [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Anyone supporting Trump at this point _wants_ American democracy replaced with authoritarian, big daddy dictatorship. The thing that they don’t realize is that when Trump-ism has run it’s course the brains behind the orange shitstain will begin to install increasingly competent, but increasingly authoritarian successors. It will not end well for America. Fascism is great\*, if you are one of the ones in charge. It’s actually pretty nice, if you go along with your government. Its flaws only really show up however, when you find anything with which you disagree. It is not an accident that the atrocities slowly build up over time. Once you have agreed to accept one malicious act in the name of supporting your party, accepting the next doesn’t just become easier, it becomes necessary to avoid acknowledging guilt over acceptance of the previous. You have to defend the behavior, or admit that you were wrong to defend the previous behavior. At a certain point, any behavior on his part is accepted, and the outrage of those who find the incompetent criminal sadistic corruption that happens on a daily basis to be unacceptable becomes simply nagging to them. “You’re just complaining about Trump again.” “That’s because he committed war crimes today!” “That’s what you said last week, hyperbole much?” “He committed war crimes last week too!” Somehow, the one who is concerned about committing war crimes ends up being perceived as the irrational one in this conversation, and fascism wins. \*It’s actually not all that great, compared to a free society, as resources need to be devoted to oppress those who would otherwise be productive citizens. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2209) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2211)