# 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:** 254
**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 19, 2017, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5061 "2017-05-19T10:21:12Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Boy. What are the odds of Trump saying something really really stupid? No chance at all. It’s a certainty. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5062 "2017-05-19T11:26:34Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > “Bad wall. No wonder they’re wailing about it. Terrible wall, shoddy workmanship, cracks everywhere filled with paper (PAPER !), not high enough. Does not stop Palestinians. Shameful.” He’ll manage to say both things in the same speech. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5063 "2017-05-19T12:22:49Z")
> [@ganthet](#): > > Or to look at another example, Trump ordered all U.S. Attorneys to hand in their resignations with no apparent plan to submit nominations to replace them to the Senate. This included Preet Bhahara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who has won bipartisan praise and has said that Trump asked him to stay on a few months before the abrupt resignation demand. Right. At the time Trump supporters were commenting on how that was typical when there was a change in administration. However they neglected to notice that there was no plan in place to replace them. ---
**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 19, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5064 "2017-05-19T12:27:08Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I cannot understand why the left wants to get rid of Trump. If you are going to have a Republican in the White House, wouldn’t you rather have.a bumbling ex-democrat social moderate who can be manipulated with flattery and who has his two Democrat-voting children advising him, rather than a competent social conservative true believer? > > Impeaching Trump means president Pence. In what world is that an improvement from the left’s perspective? If anything, Pence will be even more conservative than Trump, but he’s also much more skilled at working the Congress and the media. Hence, he will likely be more effective at advancing a conservative agenda. And if Pence doesn’t take the job, or somehow goes down with Trump, you get President Ryan, whose main goals are reforming entitlements, flattening taxes, and lowering regulations > > From the left’s perspective, an idiot like Trump is the best card in a very bad hand, isn’t he? Banquet Bear and others have already said much of what I wanted to say. Like Colibri said, I was initially (like on November 10th or so) willing to take the wait-and-see approach with Trump. And in some respects, I was actually cautiously optimistic that Trump would turn out to be more of a center-line pragmatist. I expected a fair number of novice mistakes, but I felt that if he could hire the right people around him, maybe, just maybe this little experiment could work and he might even turn out to be a pleasant surprise. It took a matter of weeks to dispel me of these notions for good. Trump’s tone and his appointments have made it clear that he is completely motivated by his own narcissism and nothing else. The fact that he isn’t an ideologue means little because extremist and fringe elements in our society – groups that really should never have seen the light of day – have sensed in Trump an opportunity to have a seat at the table of presidential power for doing nothing more than praising him and appealing to his grandiose ego. The evangelicals realized this early on, which is why they supported him over more tried and true conservatives like Ted Cruz. The white nationalists realized this, which is why people like David Duke now actually seem horrifyingly relevant. Trump is by no means the first president to believe in the supremacy of the Executive Branch but he’s one of the few presidents who’s been openly hostile to the institutions that support our Constitutionally enshrined principles as a democratic republic. But I’d argue that he’s even more dangerous than Nixon – far more so – because Nixon didn’t have a corrupt congressional majority to enable him and his worst impulses. Some in congress are simply too concerned with their own ambitions and too timid to confront him, but more ominously, I think some in congress actually share a sense of contempt for these institutions and safeguards as well and are complicit in their attempted destruction. Their folly is that they believe they’d be able to control a powerful Executive once they break down these institutions, but a pluralistic congress wouldn’t stand a chance. Trump is a far greater threat than Nixon, and he might be the greatest threat to civil liberties since the days of John Adams. Trump is like a federalist but a federalist who wants a submissive congress and judiciary that behaves like a puppet. He wants to run government the way he runs his businesses and he wants to have the power to run over anyone who gets in his path. He has no sense of consequences, no sense of reckoning. And yet he has awesome powers at his disposal. I’ll take Pence any day, and I am no fan of Pence at all. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5065 "2017-05-19T12:52:28Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Trump is by no means the first president to believe in the supremacy of the Executive Branch but he’s one of the few presidents who’s been openly hostile to the institutions that support our Constitutionally enshrined principles as a democratic republic. But I’d argue that he’s even more dangerous than Nixon – far more so – because Nixon didn’t have a corrupt congressional majority to enable him and his worst impulses. Some in congress are simply too concerned with their own ambitions and too timid to confront him, but more ominously, I think some in congress actually share a sense of contempt for these institutions and safeguards as well and are complicit in their attempted destruction. Their folly is that they believe they’d be able to control a powerful Executive once they break down these institutions, but a pluralistic congress wouldn’t stand a chance. Trump is a far greater threat than Nixon, and he might be the greatest threat to civil liberties since the days of John Adams. Trump is like a federalist but a federalist who wants a submissive congress and judiciary that behaves like a puppet. He wants to run government the way he runs his businesses and he wants to have the power to run over anyone who gets in his path. He has no sense of consequences, no sense of reckoning. And yet he has awesome powers at his disposal. I’ll take Pence any day, and I am no fan of Pence at all. I was thinking something very similar the other day. I think the greatest danger to the US right now is if Trump doesn’t get impeached. There’s a very real assault taking place on many of your principles and institutions. Not that I was the only one, but after the election I said many times that Trump will tear down everything that is good about the US, if not on purpose than by accident. If Trump is not impeached I think there is a very real probability that this becomes your new normal, and that’s not good for the long term health of your government. Not because of Trump directly, i.e. he’s not going to get himself declared dictator, but rather the long-term effects. Some day you’ll have somebody with a lot political savvy and a weakened democracy and I think the outcome will be bad for the US when that day comes. And that’s what surprises me the most about people who continue to support Trump. I understand voting for Trump for a number of reasons. But how anybody with even rudimentary levels of intelligence can continue to support him boggles my mind. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5066 "2017-05-19T13:44:56Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Like Colibri said, I was initially (like on November 10th or so) willing to take the wait-and-see approach with Trump. And in some respects, I was actually cautiously optimistic that Trump would turn out to be more of a center-line pragmatist. I expected a fair number of novice mistakes, but I felt that if he could hire the right people around him, maybe, just maybe this little experiment could work and he might even turn out to be a pleasant surprise. This was my feeling. I was against trump the campaigner, but I was willing to give him a chance as president. If he made a pivot away from the disgusting character he played on the campaign trail, and towards being a force for actually making america great again, then I could get behind that. He was in a unique position after the election, where he has fairly unchecked power. He had terrified the republicans and beaten the democrats. He really was in a position to write the policy for the next decade or so. His promises on healthcare and the economy, while I did not feel were realistic, were at least in the right place, and it was conceivable that he would surround himself with the sorts of people who could get that done. I was very cautiously optimistic that things may turn out well under his administration. If nothing else, healthcare could be done fairly well, (if not up to quite the standards he promised on the campaign trail) if you have the political capital to actually do it, which I believe at the time he had. > [@](#): > > It took a matter of weeks to dispel me of these notions for good. Weeks? I dunno, he dispelled me of the notion that he would be presidenting for the good of the country right off the bat with his cabinet picks and tweets. It was a fleeting moment of optimism. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5067 "2017-05-19T14:18:09Z")
Representative Ted Lieu of CA has prepared a document to assist Trump during his overseas trip: > ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5068 "2017-05-19T14:54:15Z")
Wll let’s see what Donald is attempting to do and our Republicans are allowing him to do… Gutting the State Department Undermining our alliances Destroying the credibility of the USA by threatening to renegotiate or cancel every treaty we have. Attempting to destroy every trade agreement negotiated by the USA. Destroying our regulatory agencies. Undermining our public education system, which is the core of every first world nation. Outing spies and passing on secrets to our enemies. Undermine America’s middle class and poor. Wildly increase economic disparity. Tyrannical law enforcement. Undermine the courts. Attempt to jail reporters, LOYALTY OATHS, etc. I’m sure this list of Donald Trump’s agenda looks a lot more impressive in the original Russian. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5069 "2017-05-19T14:59:45Z")
Let’s not forget how they answered America’s cries for the right to kill hibernating animals. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5070 "2017-05-19T15:52:58Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > “Bad wall. No wonder they’re wailing about it. Terrible wall, shoddy workmanship, cracks everywhere filled with paper (PAPER !), not high enough. Does not stop Palestinians. Shameful.” “Jews are great I love Jews. There is this Jewish Deli in the basement of Trump tower, best sandwiches anywhere, the best, next time you’re in New York you’ve got to go there. Every chance I get I go down there and order some Latkes and a ham and cheese on Rye. The best, wonderful. You Jews are so hard working and so smart to. Did you know that all the banks are owned by Jews, not many people know this but its true. Every single one. That’s how I know that Jews are so smart…” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5071 "2017-05-19T16:03:43Z")
“I prefer religious groups that weren’t Holocausted.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5072 "2017-05-19T16:07:50Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > This was my feeling. I was against trump the campaigner, but I was willing to give him a chance as president. If he made a pivot away from the disgusting character he played on the campaign trail, and towards being a force for actually making america great again, then I could get behind that. > > He was in a unique position after the election, where he has fairly unchecked power. He had terrified the republicans and beaten the democrats. He really was in a position to write the policy for the next decade or so. His promises on healthcare and the economy, while I did not feel were realistic, were at least in the right place, and it was conceivable that he would surround himself with the sorts of people who could get that done. I was very cautiously optimistic that things may turn out well under his administration. If nothing else, healthcare could be done fairly well, (if not up to quite the standards he promised on the campaign trail) if you have the political capital to actually do it, which I believe at the time he had. > > Weeks? I dunno, he dispelled me of the notion that he would be presidenting for the good of the country right off the bat with his cabinet picks and tweets. It was a fleeting moment of optimism. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. The Trump you saw on the campaign trail was Trump in his courtship phase. The actual Trump is actually becoming much worse and far more unhinged. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5073 "2017-05-19T16:08:38Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > “Jews are great I love Jews. There is this Jewish Deli in the basement of Trump tower, best sandwiches anywhere, the best, next time you’re in New York you’ve got to go there. Every chance I get I go down there and order some Latkes and a ham and cheese on Rye. The best, wonderful. You Jews are so hard working and so smart to. Did you know that all the banks are owned by Jews, not many people know this but its true. Every single one. That’s how I know that Jews are so smart…” The fact that some are afraid Trump may even inadvertently quote or paraphrase _The Protocols_ is horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5074 "2017-05-19T16:13:11Z")
Who could possibly have planned this trip? A speech to 50 Arab leaders? How could that possibly go well? If he goes off script for even a moment, which seems inevitable, riots may ensue. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5075 "2017-05-19T16:15:59Z")
My money’s on Hillary Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5076 "2017-05-19T16:17:22Z")
Trump’s hotel down the street from the White House has some refreshingly honest, new signage! > ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5077 "2017-05-19T16:18:39Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Some day you’ll have somebody with a lot political savvy and a weakened democracy and I think the outcome will be bad for the US when that day comes. Consider the question “why did Rome fall?” The question can be reasonably answered. Then consider “did people know Rome was falling at the time?” In the middle of it, could they tell? Sometimes I worry that we are in the beginning of the downfall of America, and no one notices. Future (Chinese 🙂 ) historians will write of the Fall Of America, and the factors will be obvious to see, in hindsight. These are the thoughts that keep me up at night. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5078 "2017-05-19T16:28:08Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > “…and a ham and cheese on Rye…” With a nice glass milk, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5079 "2017-05-19T16:33:38Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Trump’s hotel down the street from the White House has some refreshingly honest, new signage! > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/igorvolsky/status/864306427720085504) For those of us without the benefit of twitter? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5080 "2017-05-19T16:39:23Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > For those of us without the benefit of twitter? +1. Why are twitter links such a mess? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=253) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=255)