# 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:** 701
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14005 "2017-12-04T20:37:18Z")
It won’t be easy for Ryan and McConnell to explain why “obstruction of justice” and “unindicted co-conspirator” no longer require or even permit impeachment, as they did not that long ago. But they’ve had plenty of practice simply baldfacing their way out of such things. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14006 "2017-12-04T20:41:09Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It won’t be easy for Ryan and McConnell to explain why “obstruction of justice” and “unindicted co-conspirator” no longer require or even permit impeachment, as they did not that long ago. But they’ve had plenty of practice simply baldfacing their way out of such things. Piece of cake for them. We are outside of the realm of what was once considered “normal”. I expect that they could get away with an explanation of “Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.” Their voters would love it. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14007 "2017-12-04T20:41:57Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > “I didn’t eat the cookie, and besides, it wasn’t very good”. Good one:D I hear OJ Simpson’s publisher has been in contact with Trump about an upcoming project: “If I tweeted.” ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14008 "2017-12-04T20:45:19Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Piece of cake for them. We are outside of the realm of what was once considered “normal”. > > I expect that they could get away with an explanation of “Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.” > > Their voters would love it. Indeed, the odds of a statutory sexual abuser going to the Senate are at about 50/50. A new poll shows that Republicans believe the accusations are false. To republicans, truth is whatever they say it is, which is how fascist governments get hatched. As of now, there’s no way that Trump gets impeached, and I’d say the odds are high that Mueller’s investigation gets stopped or otherwise seriously hampered somehow. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14009 "2017-12-04T20:48:45Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Good one:D > > I hear OJ Simpson’s publisher has been in contact with Trump about an upcoming project: “If I tweeted.” Will Trump search for the real tweeter on the golf courses? ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14010 "2017-12-04T20:49:05Z")
Meanwhile, another day of Trump just breaking stuff. Yesterday he pulls out of the UN conference on migration and now he’s out pissing on America’s national parks. > **[Trump Slashes Size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Monuments (Published 2017)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/trump-bears-ears.html)** > > The drastic cuts to the protected area of the national monument in Utah are expected to touch off a legal battle that could alter the course of American land conservation. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14011 "2017-12-04T20:55:25Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Trump’s claim (or his lawyers’ claims) that he’s above the law isn’t anything new, is it? Weren’t they claiming way back in the early days of the administration that he can’t be guilty of obstruction? (Or guilty of something-or-other?) You may be thinking of claims made after the election that Trump couldn’t violate conflict-of-interest laws, though his financial holdings plainly do, because a President, by definition (they claimed), can have no conflict of interest. Due to Wizard Law. Or something. > [@simster](#): > > This just in - the President is above the law! > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by [http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/politics/trump-john-dowd-obstruct-justice/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/politics/trump-john-dowd-obstruct-justice/index.html) > > President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, John Dowd, claims the President cannot be guilty of obstructing justice, according to an interview with Axios. > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > “(The) President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under (the Constitution’s Article II) and has every right to express his view of any case,” Dowd told Axios. If the Constitution establishes that Presidents are above the law, then why did the Founders set out the procedure for impeaching and trying a President in _ **ARTICLE 1** _? ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14012 "2017-12-04T21:12:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > To me this has always been the main danger. And it has happened and is happening. Yesterday morning the NPR top of the hour newscast led with Trump tweeting something or other. WTF?? A year ago some of us were incredulous that Twitter was becoming a legitimate news conduit. It’s the equivalent of the President leaving post-it notes on the front door of the White House and having reporters quote them, except that now he has no need for reporters at all. He tweets and the world reads. It has become completely normal. His toddler syntax and tantrums have become normal. there was an article yesterday (wanna say it was the Guardian) in which they discussed how Trump uses Twitter to make political weather. I thought that this was actually a very fitting description. He’s a marketing guy, a salesman. He uses his tweets to get ahead of the news or to divert attention away from the news. He uses it like a flash bang. I underestimated Trump. I was among so many others who had a perverse admiration for his marketing schtick but assumed that it would all come to an end once he got entangled in the boggy swamp of Washington politics. And in some ways this has happened. In some ways Trump has been rather unsuccessful in his first year. He should have had more legislative success than he’s had. But part of that is on the Republicans as a whole, not just Trump. When you look at the administration’s dysfunctional personnel situation, it’s a wonder he hasn’t already quit. And yet he’s still right here, tweeting out at the world in fits of rage late at night and early in the morning. Trump is not comfortable in Washington; he’s highly and visibly uncomfortable, but he deals with this by fighting people. He deals with this by tweeting, by going to Mar a Lago, by golfing at his resorts, by having what are probably very therapeutic fights and gladiatorial combat with Chuck and Nancy, with members of his own party like Mitch McConnell, with the federal bureaucracies, and of course, the media. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14013 "2017-12-04T21:46:59Z")
I honestly believe that Donnie never wanted or expected to win. He hoped to be a tweeting gadfly for the next four or eight years, telling his fans that things would have been so much better if he had been elected. Now he has to actually produce, but up or shut up, and he has no tools to manage this other than doubling down on his threats and bluster. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14014 "2017-12-04T21:49:02Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I honestly believe that Donnie never wanted or expected to win. He hoped to be a tweeting gadfly for the next four or eight years, telling his fans that things would have been so much better if he had been elected. > > Now he has to actually produce, but up or shut up, and he has no tools to manage this other than doubling down on his threats and bluster. Lucky for him, his fans don’t demand results or even recognize a fucked up mess. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14015 "2017-12-04T21:58:30Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Lucky for him, his fans don’t demand results or even recognize a fucked up mess. And I fear that he has power and position without the temperament required. Being an obstructionist asshole on Twitter is a very different game when you are the person of authority. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14016 "2017-12-04T22:11:24Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > … Being an obstructionist asshole on Twitter is a very different game when you are the person of authority. So far it hasn’t been. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14017 "2017-12-04T22:25:20Z")
Well, according to the wiki-thingy, _Upon the passage of H. Res. 611, (Bill) Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998, by the House of Representatives on grounds of perjury to a grand jury … and **[COLOR=“Purple”]obstruction of justice** …._[/COLOR] but as we know IOKIARDI,WRAIP ---
**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:** [December 5, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14018 "2017-12-05T04:24:03Z")
Former Trump campaign aide, now the White House deputy national security adviser, lied to Congress about Russia contacts. > **[McFarland’s Testimony About Russia Contacts Is Questioned (Published 2017)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/politics/kt-mcfarland-flynn-russia-emails-congressional-testimony.html?smid=tw-share)** > > K.T. McFarland, a former aide to President Trump, told a senator that she did not talk with Michael T. Flynn about his contacts with a Russian official. Emails suggest she knew of a key phone call. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14019 "2017-12-05T05:13:59Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Former Trump campaign aide, now the White House deputy national security adviser, lied to Congress about Russia contacts. > [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/politics/kt-mcfarland-flynn-russia-emails-congressional-testimony.html?smid=tw-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/politics/kt-mcfarland-flynn-russia-emails-congressional-testimony.html?smid=tw-share) Not in the Whitehouse - but she is awaiting confirmation as ambassador to Singapore. > [@](#): > > Repeated attempts to reach Ms. McFarland, who **left her post as deputy national security adviser in May** , were unsuccessful. ---
**Author:** ![AI\_Proofreader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@AI\_Proofreader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AI_Proofreader)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14020 "2017-12-05T07:55:36Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Twitter’s “rules” can’t even get nobody Nazis kicked off the service. They’ll never do anything to Trump. Twitter loves Trump. Before his candidacy, there were quite a few people who called users of Twitter “twits” and scoffed at the 140-character inanity. Now it’s the [Official Platform of Twitler](https://twittercounter.com/realDonaldTrump), with 63-million voters ready to embrace the platform that Dijit uses to get around the[lugenpresse](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/10/24/the-ugly-history-of-luegenpresse-a-nazi-slur-shouted-at-a-trump-rally/) so that everyone can [“Hail Cheeto, Hail Victory.”](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiogNLxsfLXAhWE8YMKHVBiDrYQFgguMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fpolitics%2Farchive%2F2016%2F11%2Frichard-spencer-speech-npi%2F508379%2F&usg=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/) As for everyone else, it’s a train wreck we just can’t stop watching. As long as Trump is President (and probably for a while afterward as he mentally unravels on Twitter), their user base is growing. ---
**Author:** ![AI\_Proofreader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@AI\_Proofreader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AI_Proofreader)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14021 "2017-12-05T08:00:19Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Meanwhile, another day of Trump just breaking stuff. Yesterday he pulls out of the UN conference on migration and now he’s out pissing on America’s national parks. > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/trump-bears-ears.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/trump-bears-ears.html) > [@Article](#): > > “Some people think that the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington,” Mr. Trump said, speaking at Utah’s State Capitol beneath a painting of Mormon pioneers. “And guess what? They’re wrong.” …They should be controlled by a small handful of very distant billionaires located in New York. Tremendous! Believe me. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14022 "2017-12-05T18:11:42Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I honestly believe that Donnie never wanted or expected to win. He hoped to be a tweeting gadfly for the next four or eight years, telling his fans that things would have been so much better if he had been elected. > > Now he has to actually produce, but up or shut up, and he has no tools to manage this other than doubling down on his threats and bluster. It because he’s a bully and always has been. Bullying doesn’t work so good when the other people are bigger and more powerful, or are just on an equal footing. He never had to “put up” in his life, he “had people” to do all the work for him. All he had to do was take his money and fuck them out of theirs. It’s different now. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14023 "2017-12-05T18:29:20Z")
[In a big hairy “Fuck you” to the Palestinians (read: Muslims & Arabs), Trump announces the U.S. will now recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/world/middleeast/american-embassy-israel-trump-move.html) When it comes to world diplomacy, this is about what I’d expect from a guy who gives off the vibe of smelling like day-old Old Spice, sweaty ass and ham. Yes, in my mind Trump smells like a used car salesman from rural Oklahoma who spends his free time as #1 booster for the local high school football team. Also, incidentally, if licked, he has the vague taste of circus peanuts and leather. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14024 "2017-12-05T18:39:32Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > [In a big hairy “Fuck you” to the Palestinians (read: Muslims & Arabs), Trump announces the U.S. will now recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/world/middleeast/american-embassy-israel-trump-move.html) > > When it comes to world diplomacy, this is about what I’d expect from a guy who gives off the vibe of smelling like day-old Old Spice, sweaty ass and ham. Yes, in my mind Trump smells like a used car salesman from rural Oklahoma who spends his free time as #1 booster for the local high school football team. Also, if licked, he has the vague taste of circus peanuts and leather. I have a feeling that the fat orange idiot thinks this is some clever gambit to get Abbas back to the negotiating table with Israel. The idiot’s son-in-law is about to embarrass himself and the US in the middle east with whatever game he thinks he’s playing at with Saudis against Iran. Both Kushner and Trump are too incompetent to know they’re being played and that it’ll all end in tears of laughter at their expense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=700) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=702)