# 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:** 573
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11444 "2017-09-24T21:44:31Z")
Well, regarding FOX, it’s worth remembering that the FOX network is not the same as FOX news. Yes, it’s the same corporation, but the mainstream network doesn’t have quite the same ideological focus is the 24-hour news channel. More generally, it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out, for the TV networks and the NFL. The NFL owners have their own (generally reactionary) politics, but as business owners they are less concerned about politics than about profit. Standard amoral capitalism. They’re going to do whatever is most likely to keep the money flowing. The problem for them, in this case, is that they’re finding it increasingly difficult to avoid alienating some significant proportion of their fanbase. On the one hand, they’ve been pissing off (some) fans with stuff like their mishandling of domestic violence cases, their terrible response to the concussion issue, and the fact that Kaepernick still hasn’t got a job despite being better than the vast majority of back-up QBs, and better than some of the current starting QBs. Owners and the NFL are also increasingly angering some fanbases with their mercenary efforts to extort stadium money from taxpayers, and their decision to let teams move to new locations in order to make more money for owners. And some people are complaining about the product on the field, arguing that, in an era of massive TV money, you don’t need to field a good team to make a pile of money, so some owners aren’t even trying. All of these things have contributed to the fact that I basically haven’t watched the NFL for over two full seasons now. I watch English soccer in the Fall and Winter instead. On the other hand, Trump is probably right that, if players keep protesting, and the NFL defends them, they’ll probably lose a significant number of hardcore conservatives and Trump supporters. There are people who will boycott the NFL if they perceive the league and the players as being too liberal, or too supportive of political protests like Kaepernick’s. Whichever way they turn right now, it’s going to be hard for the NFL to keep everyone happy. They won’t lose too much money in the short term, because so much of their revenue comes from the massive TV deals, which are already in place. But if ratings continue to decline, then advertisers aren’t going to be willing to pay big money to air their commercials during the games, which means that the TV networks, in turn, won’t be willing to fork over billions of dollars for the TV rights when the contracts come up for renewal. In some ways, it’s a bit hard to know who to root for in this whole thing. The NFL and its owners are all major assholes, but even combined they’re not as bad as Trump. I’m hoping they all come out of it badly. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11445 "2017-09-24T21:50:13Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Maybe. There’s more than one way to destroy an organization, as Trump obviously knows. Break that brand loyalty among the right group of influential fans and that could start a slow decline the NFL will never recover from. > > Radicalizing players & CTE… the NFL has some serious problems. I think I could handle radical behavior like silently taking a knee when the anthem is played. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11446 "2017-09-24T21:50:22Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Well, regarding FOX, it’s worth remembering that the FOX network is not the same as FOX news. Yes, it’s the same corporation, but the mainstream network doesn’t have quite the same ideological focus is the 24-hour news channel. > > More generally, it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out, for the TV networks and the NFL. The NFL owners have their own (generally reactionary) politics, but as business owners they are less concerned about politics than about profit. Exactly it’s about money, and can left-hand of Fox News support Trump and a boycott of the NFL and it’s sponsors who buy ad-time on the right hand of Fox Sports? Can they get away with pretending nothing is going on? ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11447 "2017-09-24T22:04:32Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > There are people who will boycott the NFL if they perceive the league and the players as being too liberal, or too supportive of political protests like Kaepernick’s. The ‘boycott’ will last about two weeks (until they (the boycotters) start getting their asses handed to them in their multiple fantasy leagues). And I suspect Fox’s response will be to stop showing anything on the field prior to the coin toss/kickoff. If the rubes don’t see it, they can’t get mad about it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11448 "2017-09-24T22:06:27Z")
So, I assume that Republicans [don’t care about this anymore](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/24/jared-kushner-private-email-white-house-243071), largely because they never actually cared about this in the first place. \* "Presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has corresponded with other administration officials about White House matters through a private email account set up during the transition last December, part of a larger pattern of Trump administration aides using personal email accounts for government business. Kushner uses his private account alongside his official White House email account, sometimes trading emails with senior White House officials, outside advisers and others about media coverage, event planning and other subjects, according to four people familiar with the correspondence. POLITICO has seen and verified about two dozen emails."\* ---
**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:** [September 24, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11449 "2017-09-24T22:09:42Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > :dubious: I understand your dubiousness, but I am speaking to the perception as well as reality. Before today, it was just one player kneeling. Now, it’s a significant fraction of the league. Joe “likes manly violence, Murica, and Trump” is not going to like seeing libtard protesters having already infected one of the last bastions of American manhood. Comment seen today: “I had no idea there were so many Communists in the NFL”. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11450 "2017-09-24T22:16:52Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Wow. I’m curious now, too: do we have a working definition of “radicalize” that **JohnT** is going by that the rest of us could take a look at? You know, I can’t really improve on K9’s definition. But, as far as the NFL is concerned, it’s largely the player’s dawning awareness that some things are more important than being fined. That’s really all that’s needed. Last week nobody kneeled. This week, much of the league did. _Something_ radical happened. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11451 "2017-09-24T22:38:53Z")
I was thinking maybe the players should come out and wave Nazi flags around if they feel the need to protest something. Trump seems to be cool with that, a lot of fine people protest that way. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11452 "2017-09-24T22:55:23Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Wow. I’m curious now, too: do we have a working definition of “radicalize” that **JohnT** is going by that the rest of us could take a look at? Remember the Black Power fists in the air at the Olympics? Radicals. Just like that, radicals that didn’t “know their place” and should have instead simply been entertaining the viewers and leaving the uncomfortable realities of America somewhere that the masses didn’t have to see it, acknowledge it, think about it, confront it or attempt to solve it. Are You Ready For Some FOOTBALL?!? ---
**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:** [September 24, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11453 "2017-09-24T23:23:29Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Trump thought he could exploit a wedge between fans and players (most of whom, it need not be said but I will anyway, are black). But he did it in a way that assumed that the owners would be on his side. He was wrong…just like everything he says and does, because he’s an incredibly stupid little man. Eventually, every bully overreaches. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11454 "2017-09-25T00:06:44Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > The best for the USA would be for Trump to be punished to the full extent of the law. Jail time/fines great. If nothing is not prosecutable fine. I want him out and to live a life of obscurity where no one will look at him twice or listen to him once. So far, it is not clear that he has broken any laws. Being a businessman, of sorts, he does what those guys do: skate along the fragile surface of the fine print, not quite going into technically illegal territory, and sometimes working hard to insure that detestable behavior fits into the cracks where the law misses (or countenances) it. For eight years we heard the plaintive howls of what a horrible, horrible criminal the last president was and how he ought to be behind bars. Now we are in the same position, and as justifiable as our position may be, it is no more tenable than those whose place we have taken. The sad fact is that the US is not Asia: high-ranking persons in this country slide by, never doing the honorable thing when things get bad. The rump family will makes gains, as they suckle on the lifeblood of the nation, and all who suffer because of them will be told to suck it up, because wealth and privilege must be respected lest our entire society collapse in chaos and anarchy. I am at a loss. As long as the perception holds, that those ridiculously wealthy dealers have duly earned what they have and deserve the opportunity to increase their cache, at whatever cost, the situation will not improve. There does not appear to be a toehold anywhere to work against the imbalance of power. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2017, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11455 "2017-09-25T02:23:12Z")
Trump is bragging about how the NHL champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be coming to the White House. Just how many black US citizens are on that team? “Please to inform that the Champion Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL will be joining me at the White House for Ceremony. Great team!” (note that he said Please and not Pleased) > ---
**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:** [September 25, 2017, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11456 "2017-09-25T02:23:46Z")
[“Kushner used private email account for some White House business”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kushner-used-private-email-account-for-some-white-house-business/2017/09/24/917d9b6e-a161-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_kushneremails-715pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.b7252f857d95) > [@](#): > > President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has used a private email account to conduct and discuss official White House business dozens of times, his lawyer confirmed Sunday. > > Kushner used the private account through his first nine months in government service, even as the president continued to criticize his opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for her use of a private email account for government business. Kushner several times used his account to exchange news stories and minor reactions or updates with other administration officials… It’s okay when Republicans do it. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11457 "2017-09-25T02:31:01Z")
Ted Cruz thinks he and Mike Lee may not support the healthcare takeaway bill. > **[Cruz on GOP health care push: 'Right now, they don't have my vote' | CNN...](https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/24/politics/cruz-paul-graham-cassidy/index.html)** > > Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday that he does not currently support the Senate GOP's latest bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, though he emphasized that he's working with the sponsors of the bill in order to get to a "yes." ---
**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:** [September 25, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11458 "2017-09-25T02:38:58Z")
Trumo’s new travel ban includes Venezuela. How many terrorists have come from Venezuela? > **[New travel ban adds North Korea, Venezuela](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/09/24/new-travel-ban-adds-north-korea-venezuela/698645001/)** > > The Trump administration unveils new restrictions on travel from eight countries, including North Korea and Venezuela, after its previous ban expired. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11459 "2017-09-25T03:30:56Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Trump is bragging about how the NHL champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be coming to the White House. > Just how many black US citizens are on that team? [There’s a black US citizen in this team photo that they put out today.](https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/pittsburgh-penguins-white-house/c-291316102) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11460 "2017-09-25T03:39:57Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > So, I assume that Republicans [don’t care about this anymore](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/24/jared-kushner-private-email-white-house-243071), largely because they never actually cared about this in the first place. > \* > "Presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has corresponded with other administration officials about White House matters through a private email account set up during the transition last December, part of a larger pattern of Trump administration aides using personal email accounts for government business. > > Kushner uses his private account alongside his official White House email account, sometimes trading emails with senior White House officials, outside advisers and others about media coverage, event planning and other subjects, according to four people familiar with the correspondence. POLITICO has seen and verified about two dozen emails."\* Course they don’t care. Those aren’t HILLARY’S emails. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11461 "2017-09-25T05:11:44Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [There’s a black US citizen in this team photo that they put out today.](https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/pittsburgh-penguins-white-house/c-291316102) Obama plays hockey. Right. Sure. Uh-huh. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11462 "2017-09-25T06:53:53Z")
Doesn’t everyone in Hawaii? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/11463 "2017-09-25T08:33:20Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Doesn’t everyone in Hawaii? AHA!!! As a matter of fact, very few people in Hawaii play hockey. Which proves Obama was not born there. I rest my case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=572) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=574)