# 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:** 284
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5661 "2017-05-27T00:55:55Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Remember Hillary Clinton and her emails? Now we have [Pence and his emails](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-indiana-records-backlog-pence-emails-20170526-story.html). And he even went one better on Clinton. He got hacked. > [@](#): > > Pence’s AOL account was subjected to a phishing scheme last spring, before Trump chose him to join the GOP presidential ticket. Pence’s contacts were sent an email falsely claiming that the governor and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and needed money. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5662 "2017-05-27T01:09:45Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And he even went one better on Clinton. He got hacked. Dummy used an open wifi connection in an airport. My parents did the same thing a couple of years ago and we all got that sort of email. Trapped in city x, send $1500 immediately please. We all knew better than that, but I had to lecture them about using unsecured wifi in public places. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5663 "2017-05-27T01:52:40Z")
Holy fuck! When do we frog march these clowns into prison for selling out our country to the Kremlin? From the Washington Post: [Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret channel with Kremlin](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html) > [@](#): > > Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5664 "2017-05-27T02:22:51Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > [Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret channel with Kremlin](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html) See, you won’t catch the Trump team using a private email server. They just use Russian servers. Win! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5665 "2017-05-27T04:21:12Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > IAnd Ivanka’s in this Russia thing up to her surgically enhanced little neck. She’s besties with Roman Abromovich’s (Putin’s favorite oligarch) wife and with a woman that allegedly used to date Vladimir Putin ( she denies it) . This woman - Wendie Deng- also used to be Rupert Murdoch’s girlfriend. There’s a joke in there but its eluding me. Besties or beasties? 🙂 I digress, Wendi Deng was \*married \*to Rupert Murdoch and had a couple of kids with him. Supposedly she was boning Tony Blair. About as successful a gold digger as was ever born. Yep, she seems to be besties with Ivanka ---
**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 27, 2017, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5666 "2017-05-27T06:22:51Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#): > > Yeah the orange buffoon is a HUGE embarrassment ! :mad: Are you sure you spelt that right? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5667 "2017-05-27T14:37:41Z")
[Trump cancels Iowa rally](http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/335407-trump-cancels-iowa-campaign-rally). Is this the start of this administration’s bunker mentality? ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5668 "2017-05-27T16:17:35Z")
It looks like Trump’s economic advisor, Gary Cohn, is acknowledging that Trump isn’t smart. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-allies-plan-to-give-trump-an-earful-on-climate-change-at-g-7-summit/2017/05/26/dc4a1fa4-4177-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-allies-plan-to-give-trump-an-earful-on-climate-change-at-g-7-summit/2017/05/26/dc4a1fa4-4177-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html) > [@](#): > > “His views are evolving,” said National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who accompanied Trump at the G-7 summit. “ **He came here to learn. He came here to get smarter.** ” > > Cohn said Trump feels “much more knowledgeable” on the topic and “learned how important it is for the United States to show leadership.” ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5669 "2017-05-27T17:44:58Z")
Memo to Donald Trump, Gary Cohn _et al._: “race to the bottom” != “leadership.” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5670 "2017-05-27T17:54:16Z")
Well, yeah, Trump feels much more knowledgeable pretty much constantly. It’s that whole Dönning-Krueger thing. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5671 "2017-05-27T19:43:05Z")
“The Trump administration just imposed a massive tax increase. You may have missed it.” [http://wapo.st/2qrs3cM](http://wapo.st/2qrs3cM) > [@](#): > > This week the Trump administration managed to impose a massive tax increase on middle-income families beginning in 2018. You could be excused for missing this story if you were focusing instead on President Trump’s draconian budget or Republican efforts to take away health care from tens of millions of people. But, indeed, on Monday, the Trump Health Care Tax was born. > > The new tax, 19 percent or more of premiums, will be added on top of the cost of policies purchased through the individual-market health insurance exchanges. It is a result of Trump’s decision to create as much chaos as possible in the health-care market — in this case by not committing to continue to reimburse billions of dollars of cost-sharing payments owed to insurers just as they set prices for next year. And the president couldn’t have been more clear about why he’s imposing this tax: He thinks disrupting the Affordable Care Act exchanges, which serve more than 12 million Americans, will force Democrats to agree to proposals in his budget and in the House health-care bill that would take coverage away from tens of millions… Fighting dirty. Anything goes, eh? Fucker. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5672 "2017-05-27T20:05:25Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > [Trump cancels Iowa rally](http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/335407-trump-cancels-iowa-campaign-rally). Is this the start of this administration’s bunker mentality? Nice writing skillz from the Trump campaign: “Due to an **unfortunate** change in President Trump’s schedule, we will need to **unfortunately** postpone the previously schedule rally in Cedar Rapids.” Guess they’ve got the same breadth of language usage as their boss. Words. All the best words. Also, in regards to this particular Iowa (non)visit, I work in a field where we typically receive advance coordination from the White House or Secret Service for such trips, prior to it being publicly announced. You know how we found out about this one? On the local TV news last Monday night. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5673 "2017-05-27T20:08:05Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > “The Trump administration just imposed a massive tax increase. You may have missed it.” > [http://wapo.st/2qrs3cM](http://wapo.st/2qrs3cM) > > Fighting dirty. Anything goes, eh? Fucker. This has been one of Trump’s (and the Republicans’) prime strategies. Prove the ACA doesn’t work, by throwing roadblocks and more costs in the way, forcing insurance companies to bail out of the exchanges and putting the hurt on individuals in the market. It’s the GOP way - big government doesn’t work, because we aren’t going to let it! ---
**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:** [May 27, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5674 "2017-05-27T21:57:39Z")
[“Trump considers major changes amid escalating Russia crisis”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-considers-major-changes-amid-escalating-russia-crisis/2017/05/27/44d1a016-4230-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.e6b16521f981) > [@](#): > > President Trump and his advisers, seeking to contain the escalating Russia crisis that threatens to consume his presidency, are considering a retooling of his senior staff and the creation of a “war room” within the White House, according to several aides and outside Trump allies. > … > White House officials are also trying to find ways to revive Trump’s stalled policy agenda in Congress and to more broadly overhaul the way the White House communicates with the public. > > That includes proposals for more travel and campaign-style rallies\* throughout the country so that Trump can speak directly to his supporters, as well as changes in the pace and nature of press briefings\*\*, likely including a diminished role for embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer. > > While much remained fluid Saturday, the beefed-up operation could include the return of some of Trump’s more combative campaign aides, including former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who was fired nearly a year ago, and former deputy campaign manager David N. Bossie, who made his name in politics by investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton for two decades. Both of them have already been part of ongoing discussions about how to build a “war room,” which have been led in part by chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon. > … > “Go to the mattresses,” a line from “The Godfather” film about turning to tough mercenaries during troubled times, has circulated among Trump’s friends, according to two people close to the “war room” discussions. > … > The president’s lawyers have also urged him not to author adversarial Twitter messages or make off-the-cuff comments about the ongoing Russia probe, explaining that those utterances could further hurt him if it seems like he’s trying to obstruct the investigation. > … > Christopher Ruddy, a longtime Trump friend, said the White House has been caught flat-footed on many of the Russia stories. > … > “At first, I thought the president was fretting too much about this,” said Ruddy, who is chief executive of Newsmax Media and a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. “But it keeps growing like a bad fungus\*\*\*, even though there’s nothing there.” > … - Ohboyohboyohboy! Where’s my MAG hat? \*\* Um…what press briefings? :dubious: \*\*\* There’s a fungus amungus. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5675 "2017-05-27T21:59:14Z")
> [@](#): > > “His views are evolving,” said National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who accompanied Trump at the G-7 summit. “He came here to learn. He came here to get smarter.” > > Cohn said Trump feels “much more knowledgeable” on the topic and “learned how important it is for the United States to show leadership.” I would hazard a guess that Trump has learned that the G7 are a bunch of different countries, and he is not the boss of them. This would have come as quite a shock to him. ---
**Author:** ![zoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71c47a/32.png) [@zoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5676 "2017-05-27T22:39:13Z")
Mr. “Healthiest President Ever” had to follow the G7 group in a golf cart. > **[G7 leaders took a stroll in Sicily — and Trump followed them in a golf cart](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-golf-cart-g7-sicily-2017-5)** > > Trump followed the 6 other leaders in a golf cart after making them wait during a photo op. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5677 "2017-05-27T23:12:11Z")
He was marshalling his strength in order to launch his Poutrage Tour on return to the States. It may involve copious amounts of Tweeting. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5678 "2017-05-27T23:26:45Z")
> [@](#): > > President Trump and his advisers, seeking to contain the escalating Russia crisis that threatens to consume his presidency, are considering a _retooling_ of his senior staff… (my italics). What a delicious turn of phrase. So out with the old tools and in with some new ones for your entertainment? Tools indeed. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5679 "2017-05-27T23:29:56Z")
> [@zoo](#): > > Mr. “Healthiest President Ever” had to follow the G7 group in a golf cart. > > [G7 Leaders Took a Stroll in Sicily — and Trump Followed in a Golf Cart - Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-golf-cart-g7-sicily-2017-5) It might not have been due to his lack of stamina; it might have been due to the fact that none of them will talk to him—and there would have been all sorts of embarrassing photos of him having to walk alone, while the others walk in chatty groups. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/5680 "2017-05-27T23:37:44Z")
> [@zoo](#): > > Mr. “Healthiest President Ever” had to follow the G7 group in a golf cart. > > [G7 Leaders Took a Stroll in Sicily — and Trump Followed in a Golf Cart - Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-golf-cart-g7-sicily-2017-5) He may not be as physically strong as they are but mentally… Uh, never mind. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=283) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=285)