# 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:** 539
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10764 "2017-08-30T15:05:34Z")
Make America Marry, Again > [@](#): > > Controversial Culture Warrior Lands Mystery Job in the Trump Administration – Mother Jones > The Trump administration has hired a controversial social-conservative activist who once defended a Baptist proclamation that a wife should “submit herself graciously” to her husband’s leadership. > > Wade Horn, who was known as the “marriage czar” for his work in the George W. Bush administration promoting marriage as an anti-poverty measure, is now working at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—though the department will not say what he’s doing there. This is how we drain the swamp. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10765 "2017-08-30T15:08:08Z")
With regards to the story that surfaced yesterday about the negotiations to bring a Trump Tower to Moscow (sorry but I can’t seem to find a link): the go-between and Trump’s lawyer were rubbing their hands together with glee (in an email), and saying that they’re going to get “our boy” Trump elected president. Forgive me for being dense, but I’m not sure I follow. Is this one of those South Park “Profit!” things? 1. Trump Tower in Moscow 2. ??? 3. President Trump!! ? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10766 "2017-08-30T15:10:20Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Trump and Obama somehow end up in the same barber shop at the same time. The barbers are terrified of starting an argument, so they remain silent. > > When Trump’s barber is done, he asks Trump if he wants any aftershave. > Trump says 'No, Melania won’t like me smelling like a brothel." > > Obama’s barber asks him if he wants aftershave. > Obama says 'Sure, Michelle doesn’t know what a brothel smells like." Stealing this. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10767 "2017-08-30T15:19:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Stealing this. Just tell him you’ll pay him for it. Then don’t. Same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10768 "2017-08-30T15:20:14Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > With regards to the story that surfaced yesterday about the negotiations to bring a Trump Tower to Moscow (sorry but I can’t seem to find a link): the go-between and Trump’s lawyer were rubbing their hands together with glee (in an email), and saying that they’re going to get “our boy” Trump elected president. > > Forgive me for being dense, but I’m not sure I follow. Is this one of those South Park “Profit!” things? > > 1. Trump Tower in Moscow > 2. ??? > 3. President Trump!! > > ? You know that meeting about “adoptions”? It was set up by a friend of the family who would have been responsible for building a Moscow Trump Tower. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10769 "2017-08-30T15:26:29Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Just tell him you’ll pay him for it. Then don’t. Same thing. And think of all the money he’ll save by not paying rather than stealing it. _That’s_ the secret to getting rich. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10770 "2017-08-30T15:37:08Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > You know that meeting about “adoptions”? It was set up by a friend of the family who would have been responsible for building a Moscow Trump Tower. There’s a simple rule I follow: whenever anyone mentions anything about Russian adoption, I read sanctions. Putin stopped American adoption of Russian children as a direct response to US sanctions. “Resuming adoptions” is simply code for removing sanctions. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10771 "2017-08-30T16:07:46Z")
Which is why I put the word in quotes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10772 "2017-08-30T16:36:48Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > With regards to the story that surfaced yesterday about the negotiations to bring a Trump Tower to Moscow (sorry but I can’t seem to find a link): the go-between and Trump’s lawyer were rubbing their hands together with glee (in an email), and saying that they’re going to get “our boy” Trump elected president. > > Forgive me for being dense, but I’m not sure I follow. Is this one of those South Park “Profit!” things? > > 1. Trump Tower in Moscow > 2. ??? > 3. President Trump!! > > ? No, it’s **for real**. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10773 "2017-08-30T16:37:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Stealing this. Definitely! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10774 "2017-08-30T16:53:39Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > No, it’s **for real**. I get that it’s real; I’m just not connecting the dots. Sater & Cohen swing a deal with Putin’s people to get a Trump Tower…how does this get Trump elected? Is it that the “adoptions” meeting was the quid pro quo for help getting the Tower built? ---
**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:** [August 30, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10775 "2017-08-30T17:52:47Z")
My understanding is that they believed that by getting a Trump Tower deal in Moscow, it would show to the whole world, including the American voters, just what a great deal maker El Trumpo is, _et voila_. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10776 "2017-08-30T18:01:02Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > My understanding is that they believed that by getting a Trump Tower deal in Moscow, it would show to the whole world, including the American voters, just what a great deal maker El Trumpo is, _et voila_. Ok. For the sake of argument, stipulated. Is there anything wrong and/or criminal with it? ---
**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:** [August 30, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10777 "2017-08-30T18:04:49Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Ok. For the sake of argument, stipulated. Is there anything wrong and/or criminal with it? Wouldn’t that violate the sanctions? What is it about sTrumpets that they don’t care about the law? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10778 "2017-08-30T18:07:31Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Ok. For the sake of argument, stipulated. Is there anything wrong and/or criminal with it? Not per se; but Trump was lying when he said he had no business dealings with Russia. News flash. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10779 "2017-08-30T18:13:16Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Not per se; but Trump was lying when he said he had no business dealings with Russia. > > News flash. Some might even go so far as to say that lying is wrong. Okrahoma, what’s your take on lying? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10780 "2017-08-30T18:58:54Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Some might even go so far as to say that lying is wrong. > > Okrahoma, what’s your take on lying? I’m sure you’ll have to specify whether the lying is about something trivial like betraying the country for money, or something critically important, like a blow job. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10781 "2017-08-30T19:13:17Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Some might even go so far as to say that lying is wrong. > > Okrahoma, what’s your take on lying? No, please. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10782 "2017-08-30T22:22:39Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I get that it’s real; I’m just not connecting the dots. Sater & Cohen swing a deal with Putin’s people to get a Trump Tower…how does this get Trump elected? Is it that the “adoptions” meeting was the quid pro quo for help getting the Tower built? > **[Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Business Deal ‘Will Get Donald Elected’...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/trump-tower-putin-felix-sater.html)** > > Emails show that Felix Sater promised to get Vladimir Putin’s support for a Trump Tower in Moscow. “Our boy can become president,” he wrote. > [@](#): > > Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Business Deal ‘Will Get Donald Elected’ > > WASHINGTON — A business associate of President Trump promised in 2015 to engineer a real estate deal with the aid of the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, that he said would help Mr. Trump win the presidency. > > The associate, Felix Sater, wrote a series of emails to Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in which he boasted about his ties to Mr. Putin. He predicted that building a Trump Tower in Moscow would highlight Mr. Trump’s savvy negotiating skills and be a political boon to his candidacy. > > “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Mr. Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.” > > The emails show that, from the earliest months of Mr. Trump’s campaign, some of his associates viewed close ties with Moscow as a political advantage. Those ties are now under investigation by the Justice Department and multiple congressional committees. > Continue reading the main story > > For Trump, Three Decades of Chasing Deals in Russia JAN. 16, 2017 > > A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates FEB. 19, 2017 > > American intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russian government interfered with the 2016 presidential election to try to help Mr. Trump. Investigators want to know whether anyone on Mr. Trump’s team was part of that process. > > Mr. Sater, a Russian immigrant, said he had lined up financing for the Trump Tower deal with VTB Bank, a Russian bank that was under American sanctions for involvement in Moscow’s efforts to undermine democracy in Ukraine. In another email, Mr. Sater envisioned a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Moscow. > > “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected,” Mr. Sater wrote. > > Mr. Sater said he was eager to show video clips to his Russian contacts of instances of Mr. Trump speaking glowingly about Russia, and said he would arrange for Mr. Putin to praise Mr. Trump’s business acumen. > > “If he says it we own this election,” Mr. Sater wrote. “Americas most difficult adversary agreeing that Donald is a good guy to negotiate.”… > **["We will get Donald elected": Emails show Trump ally was working with Russia...](https://www.salon.com/2017/08/28/we-will-get-donald-elected-emails-show-trump-ally-was-working-with-russia-during-campaign/)** > > Emails from Trump's inner circle suggest that Moscow was connected to his campaign through a business venture > [@](#): > > “We will get Donald elected”: Emails show Trump ally was working with Russia during campaign > > Emails from Trump’s inner circle suggest that Moscow was connected to his campaign through a business venture > > Felix Sater, a Russian-born real estate broker who worked with President Donald Trump before 2017, sent a series of emails to Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, about a potential hotel in Moscow, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. > On Monday, The New York Times published copies of the emails it had obtained, which reveal that the project in Russia was intricately linked to Trump’s campaign for the presidency. > > “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected,” Sater wrote in one email to Cohen. “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin’s team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.” > … “Once the campaign was really going-going, it was obvious there were going to be no deals internationally,” Sater told TPM. “We were still working on it, doing something with it, November-December.” > The emails obtained by the Times demonstrated an enthusiastic Sater who felt that this deal could help boost Trump’s campaign. > > “Michael, we can own this story,” Sate wrote in an email. “Donald doesn’t state down, he negotiates and understands the economic issues and Putin only want to deal with a pragmatic leader, and a successful business man is a good candidate for someone who knows how to negotiate.” > > When asked for comment, the Trump Organization provided the Times a non-denial denial. > … The Washington Post reported on Monday that Trump’s consigliere directly reached out to the Putin regime: > A top executive from Donald Trump’s real estate company emailed Vladimir Putin’s personal spokesman during the U.S. presidential campaign last year to ask for help advancing a stalled Trump Tower development project in Moscow, according to documents submitted to Congress Monday. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/10783 "2017-08-30T23:36:45Z")
Newly discovered Russian news reports prove that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has told a series of bombshell lies to the media. The Trump Tower Moscow project that Michael Cohen planned for his then-Republican presidential candidate client— and directly asked for help from the Kremlin to approve — did, in fact, have a site, and was planned adjacent to the Crocus City Hall, right alongside the Myakinino metro station. Initial plans dated all the way back to 2013 and the Miss Universe Moscow pageant. Development partners the Agalarov family confirmed Crocus City as the Trump Tower site as late as 2015, during the campaign. Democratic Coalition co-founder Scott Dworkin unearthed a July 3rd, 2015 story in Russia’s state-run TASS news agency during the presidential campaign Emin Agalarov — who set up with his agent Rob Goldstone, Don Jr.’s infamous meeting with Russian agents for dirt on Hillary Clinton — told TASS reporters that the real estate deal would survive the political campaign (via Google Translate): “Donald Trump, despite the difficult international political situation, is still interested in this project. We are in the process of negotiations, but due to the fact that Trump is nominated for the presidency, and our plans are constantly being adjusted, it can still change.” “In case this project is implemented (under the Trump Tower brand), the participation of an American billionaire involves the provision of a brand and technologies for this facility. The investment component of the Crocus Group will be handled independently, "Agalarov added. Trump had entered the Republican primary campaign two weeks earlier, on June 16th, 2015. TASS reported that a bank loan of up to $100 million from state-owned Sberbank would be sought for the $170 million Moscow Tower project. Sberbank sponsored Miss Universe 2013 and announced $2.4 billion in financing for the Trump project with Crocus just days after the pageant concluded, but landed on America’s sanctions list over the Ukraine invasion in March 2014. Kremlin-linked developer Aras Agalarov told Russian media in September 2015 that his son Emin had been in contact with Donald Trump during the primary campaign. Komsomolskaya Pravda reports that Aras Agalarov said (via Google Translate): “[Trump] is busy with the presidential election campaign. And Emin had seen him recently — there, in America.” Michael Cohen definitely lied to the news media while spinning the damaging release of emails he sent to the Kremlin asking for help with the project. He told the Washington Post this week that the Trump Moscow project was unable to obtain land: In a statement to The Post, Cohen described the potential Moscow project as “simply one of many development opportunities that the Trump Organization considered and ultimately rejected.” Cohen said he abandoned the project because he lost confidence that the Moscow developer would be able to obtain land, financing and government approvals. “It was a building proposal that did not succeed, and nothing more,” he said. Contrary to the Trump Organization’s bogus spin, the massive development site below was designated, and plans for Trump Tower Moscow were proceeding during the presidential campaign. > **[PROOF: Trump Tower Moscow Had Land And Plans — His Lawyer Lied To Hide It](https://thesternfacts.com/proof-trump-tower-moscow-had-land-and-plans-his-lawyer-lied-to-hide-it-6d14939610f3)** > > Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is telling bombshell lies to cover up the President’s plans for Trump Tower Moscow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=538) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=540)