# 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:** 2244
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44867 "2020-06-17T16:23:21Z")
Last night, Stephen Colbert held up a copy of Bolton’s book. He’s reading it but has agreed to not discuss it until it drops next Tuesday (and when he will have Bolton as a guest). So Trump’s lawsuit is a completely pointless waste of time. The horse is out of the barn. ---
**Author:** ![Kelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44868 "2020-06-17T16:39:08Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Last night, Stephen Colbert held up a copy of Bolton’s book. He’s reading it but has agreed to not discuss it until it drops next Tuesday (and when he will have Bolton as a guest). > > So Trump’s lawsuit is a completely pointless waste of time. The horse is out of the barn. I loved Barr’s reaction in that clip to the news (to him) that the book is out there: Reporter: “But the book has been published.” Barr: "No it hasn’t… …(homina, homina)…according to sources…it’s been printed, it hasn’t been released." Colbert then hold up what appears to be a copy of the book. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44869 "2020-06-17T16:54:58Z")
> [@Kelby](#): > > I loved Barr’s reaction in that clip to the news (to him) that the book is out there: > > Reporter: “But the book has been published.” > > Barr: "No it hasn’t… > > …(homina, homina)…according to sources…it’s been printed, it hasn’t been released." > > Colbert then hold up what appears to be a copy of the book. You’ll probably be able to buy as many copies as you want at [amazon.ru](http://amazon.ru) 😃 ---
**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 17, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44870 "2020-06-17T18:29:33Z")
Federal judge orders Mnuchin to release stimulus funds earmarked for Native American tribes which he has been withholding. [https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding](https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding)? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44871 "2020-06-17T19:09:40Z")
So, the cop killers in Oakland [weren’t BLM protesters or antifa](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-16/suspects-charged-killing-santa-cruz-cop-and-oakland-federal-officer), but rather right-wing extremists. Surely Trump will now declare the ‘boogaloo boys’ group a terrorist organization. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44872 "2020-06-17T19:44:54Z")
Maybe we could rename this year to the line from the Beastie Boys that I always think of when the boogaloo boys are mentioned “Everybody catch the Boogaloo Flu”. Maybe we could remember 2020 as “The Year of the Boogaloo Flu”. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44873 "2020-06-17T20:07:56Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Federal judge orders Mnuchin to release stimulus funds earmarked for Native American tribes which he has been withholding. > [https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding](https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding)? I looked at that, and could not find any reason for Mnuchin to delay giving the congressionally approved funds, other than he was just being a huge dick. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44874 "2020-06-17T20:19:55Z")
That, and it’s not clear whether he needs to allocate some to Alaskan tribes. ---
**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 17, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44875 "2020-06-17T20:20:27Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I looked at that, and could not find any reason for Mnuchin to delay giving the congressionally approved funds, other than he was just being a huge dick. He wanted to give the money to Native American owned corporations, not to the individual tribes. ---
**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 17, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44876 "2020-06-17T20:51:06Z")
Individual 1: “We’re fighting for school choice, which really is the civil rights of all time in this country. Frankly, school choice is the civil rights statement of the year, of the decade, and probably beyond – because all children have to have access to quality education… So we’re very, very strong on school choice, and I hope everybody remembers that.” > **[What Donald Trump considers the civil rights fight 'of all time'](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/what-donald-trump-considers-civil-rights-fight-all-time-n1231343)** > > Trump this week declared what he considers the civil rights fight "of all time." It had nothing to do with voting rights or equal justice under the law. ---
**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 17, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44877 "2020-06-17T21:53:20Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I looked at that, and could not find any reason for Mnuchin to delay giving the congressionally approved funds, other than he was just being a huge dick. There is no obvious explanation as it relates to the distribution to Native American tribes per se, but what is clear is that this administration is using this money as a rewards system. That is why there is no - zero - transparency. This is going to sound like more “Oh shit, here comes Asahi with his cranky talk again,” but here me out: Think about why the administration is doing that. Why are they not being transparent? Transparency gives the power of oversight to the public and it empowers the people generally. The only reason to oppose this principle of transparency and accountability is if you generally value the opposite: secrecy and the power of special interests, of moneyed interests, and oligarchs over ordinary people. An administration that refuses to comply with subpoenas, that fires inspectors general, that refuses to release taxes and financial records…is the same one that refuses to tell people where trillions and trillions of dollars is going. Moreover, they want people to get used to this notion that it doesn’t matter where the money goes. They want people to accept that the thousands of dollars in taxes you’ve already paid and you’ll be next month is going wherever the fuck they, not congress, decides and you’ve got no right to complain about it. Does this sound like the kind of government that’s going to play by rules in November? Which brings me back to the beginning, that rewards thing. They will use this money to coerce people into supporting them. They will reward those who play by their rules and punish those who don’t. ---
**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 17, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44878 "2020-06-17T21:57:51Z")
> **[John Bolton book: Trump asked China for help with 2020 election, offered...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/17/john-bolton-book-trump-asked-china-for-help-with-2020-election.html)** > > "I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my White House tenure that wasn't driven by reelection calculations," Bolton reportedly wrote. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about above. Albeit requesting help from a different benefactor, **it’s the same principle**. > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump asked China’s leader, Xi Jinping, for help with winning the 2020 presidential election, suggesting that China’s boosted purchase of U.S. agricultural products could get him a second term in the White House, former national security advisor John Bolton reportedly writes in his new book. Don’t believe for a moment they’re not doing the same domestically, and don’t be so naive as to believe that the “stimulus” isn’t being used to stimulate their campaign and their regime. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44879 "2020-06-17T21:58:49Z")
School choice? Do you mean the choice to, and I quote from more than a couple of house-hunters I heard say this to my father in the late 1980s when Dad was a realtor in Florida, ensure they “can’t have their kids go to school with no N~s”? That choice? And that is more important a civil right than for Blacks to not be owned as property and killed at the whim of their owners? If you vote for this turd–Hell, if you support this turd in anything whatsoever, you are no better than he is. You are, in fact, no better than the steaming pile of diarrhea my neighbors’ dog left on the sidewalk last month. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44880 "2020-06-17T22:01:37Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Federal judge orders Mnuchin to release stimulus funds earmarked for Native American tribes which he has been withholding. > [https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding](https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/503175-judge-orders-mnuchin-to-give-tribes-full-stimulus-funding)? You left out the word _again_. They’d already been ordered to do that but have been stalling. Once again: anyone who supports this administration is no better than the steaming pile I mentioned in my post just above. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44881 "2020-06-17T22:18:55Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Individual 1: “We’re fighting for school choice, which really is the civil rights of all time in this country. Frankly, school choice is the civil rights statement of the year, of the decade, and probably beyond – because all children have to have access to quality education… So we’re very, very strong on school choice, and I hope everybody remembers that.” > [What Donald Trump considers the civil rights fight 'of all time'](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/what-donald-trump-considers-civil-rights-fight-all-time-n1231343) Yes, I fondly remember the words of Martin Luther King: “I have a dream, that one day Biff and Muffy won’t have to sit next to those filthy public school children.” ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44882 "2020-06-17T22:35:34Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > There is no obvious explanation as it relates to the distribution to Native American tribes per se, but what is clear is that this administration is using this money as a rewards system. That is why there is no - zero - transparency. > > This is going to sound like more “Oh shit, here comes Asahi with his cranky talk again,” but here me out: Think about why the administration is doing that. Why are they not being transparent? > > Transparency gives the power of oversight to the public and it empowers the people generally. The only reason to oppose this principle of transparency and accountability is if you generally value the opposite: secrecy and the power of special interests, of moneyed interests, and oligarchs over ordinary people. > > An administration that refuses to comply with subpoenas, that fires inspectors general, that refuses to release taxes and financial records…is the same one that refuses to tell people where trillions and trillions of dollars is going. > > Moreover, they want people to get used to this notion that it doesn’t matter where the money goes. They want people to accept that the thousands of dollars in taxes you’ve already paid and you’ll be next month is going wherever the fuck they, not congress, decides and you’ve got no right to complain about it. > > Does this sound like the kind of government that’s going to play by rules in November? Which brings me back to the beginning, that rewards thing. They will use this money to coerce people into supporting them. They will reward those who play by their rules and punish those who don’t. Yep, his supporters and the GOP in general will not even care, because it’s about winning and power. Constitutional separation of responsibilities and powers? Pfffsst, as if. But GOOD GOD! If one penny accidentally finds it’s way into the hands of an “undeserving” (strong venn overlap with the presence of melanin) there will BE HELL TO PAY! ---
**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 17, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44883 "2020-06-17T22:56:21Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > School choice? Do you mean the choice to, and I quote from more than a couple of house-hunters I heard say this to my father in the late 1980s when Dad was a realtor in Florida, ensure they “can’t have their kids go to school with no N~s”? That choice? That is not exactly what it means. There is a perception, on the part of some, that public education system is irredeemably broken and the only way to insure that _your_ child gets the best education possible is to send them to a private school. Hence, “vouchers”, which take money out of the schools’ tax base so that you can do that. I think you can add up how that works out. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2020, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44884 "2020-06-17T23:50:50Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > The thing is, the Republicans are not hiding what they intend to do. They tell us that they INTEND to fuck up the functioning of government. They WANT to break it. They tell us this before an election. Why is anyone surprised when they do exactly what they say they will do? One of the tenets of conservative philosophy is that government can not do anything right. So when Republicans are elected to office, they set out to prove it. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44885 "2020-06-18T00:17:12Z")
“Is Finland part of Russia” “These people (journalists) should be executed” “Xi should go ahead with building the (concentration) camps” Der Führer hat gesprochen! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/44886 "2020-06-18T01:05:33Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I looked at that, and could not find any reason for Mnuchin to delay giving the congressionally approved funds, other than he was just being a huge dick. > [@asahi](#): > > There is no obvious explanation as it relates to the distribution to Native American tribes per se, but what is clear is that this administration is using this money as a rewards system. That is why there is no - zero - transparency. Perhaps I lost the thread here, but I got the impression that Mnuchin’s fig leaf was that, due to an ongoing appeal by Native Alaskan Corporations, the Department needed to have some funds in reserve against the event of NACs prevailing. Which doesn’t hold water, because (according to my understanding\*) the NACs (being corporations) ought to be applying for stimulus funding from corporation-targeted sectors of the appropriated funds, not from the monies set aside to benefit Native American tribes. That is, the Native American origins of the owners/controllers of those corporations do not confer upon them any status of representing the tribes, with the accompanying eligibility for access to the tribal set-asides. \*(As near as I can make out, the judge seems to be operating with the same understanding.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2243) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=2245)