# 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:** 734
**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:** [December 23, 2017, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14665 "2017-12-23T04:05:19Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Trump rates third as a raving lunatic for world leaders? Lovely. Trump is a third-rate raving lunatic. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14666 "2017-12-23T04:16:03Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > That’s cool. But with that kind of outlook, it would seem like other scenarios would occur to you besides “killing thousands of civilians to ensure a dictator doesn’t hurt my children” [There are countless scenarios.](https://youtu.be/I-75sde6YYg?t=41) The EPA’s Scott Screw-it has definitely gotten his way at cultivating [Tumbleweed Central](http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/22/politics/epa-trump-administration-new-york-times/index.html), with an impressive year-end tally of over a whopping 700 employees going the ole “love, peace, and hair grease” route. > [@](#): > > “This Administration wants to cut at least 3,100 full-time employees, yet the March 21, 2017, budget document indicates cuts as high as 4,000 full-time employees.” O’Grady told CNN in April. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14667 "2017-12-23T04:35:35Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [‘Ready to die’: Modesto man suspect in planned Christmas attack in San Francisco](http://www.modbee.com/news/article191271129.html) > > Not a tweet from the Howling Yam. I guess he doesn’t care about home grown Muslim terrorists. Well, the military are stalwart Americans, the FBI are deep-state colluders with Lying Hillary, and San Francisco is a godless liberal sanctuary city, so which side is Donald supposed to be on? ---
**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 23, 2017, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14668 "2017-12-23T04:36:14Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > [There are countless scenarios.](https://youtu.be/I-75sde6YYg?t=41) > > The EPA’s Scott Screw-it has definitely gotten his way at cultivating [Tumbleweed Central](http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/22/politics/epa-trump-administration-new-york-times/index.html), with an impressive year-end tally of over a whopping 700 employees going the ole “love, peace, and hair grease” route. Does he realize the 'jobs President" is supposed to be about _creating_ jobs? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14669 "2017-12-23T04:53:18Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > They are not old, white guys, so why should he care? Suggested edit: They are not **rich** old white guys, so… ---
**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 23, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14670 "2017-12-23T04:53:19Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > As bad as Putin is (he blew up apartment blocks of his own citizens as a false flag operation to gin up his own popularity, **not to mention helping us elect the Giant Cheeto of Doom and Facepalm), he–like his predecessor Stalin–is more rational than that**. But if he weren’t, it would be too late to do anything about it and thus an irrelevant question. It’s astounding that you would suggest that Putin is somehow a tolerable threat when you’ve acknowledged the above. I’m not sure if you understand this, but Vladimir Putin is at war with us. Kim Jung Un is, too, but the latter is infinitely more pathetic than the other. The former has cast doubt on American democracy and quite possibly has the President of the United States as an intelligence asset – it doesn’t get any more surreal than that. Kim is reduced to growing vegetables with human shit and stealing Bitcoins. The common thread between Kim and Putin is that they’re trying to preserve their regime. This has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans, or lunacy. Kim just wants everyone to know - especially the United States - that trying to undermine or weaken its regime will have a price. The United States doesn’t have to weaken the North Korea regime. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14671 "2017-12-23T06:25:01Z")
[…holy fucking shit what a year.](https://twitter.com/Vallmeister/status/944046116106129409) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14672 "2017-12-23T06:39:18Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > […holy fucking shit what a year.](https://twitter.com/Vallmeister/status/944046116106129409) …and that was in front of the cameras. Can you imagine what went on once the media went home? Jesus effing CHRIST. God help you America. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14673 "2017-12-23T06:43:57Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > He can’t be fired by Trump, but Trump _could_ sic his alt-right fans on Pence if he felt Pence was a threat. Thus Pence’s unflagging adoring gaze—Pence knows Trump looks at the video (and stills). One critical expression, and Trump’s displeasure will translate to Breitbart et al mocking Pence unmercifully. > > And there’s plenty to mock. How about Pence’s obsession with broad shoulders?..As of August of this year, he’d mentioned Trump’s supposedly impressive physique in speeches seventeen times: Trump’s “broad shoulders” are mainly pads (compare pictures in suits with golfing ones). Pence must have spent the Armani Years in a swoon. ---
**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 23, 2017, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14674 "2017-12-23T07:11:22Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The Neville Chamberlain analogy doesn’t work here. North Korea isn’t threatening to invade another country to “protect” ethnic North Korean speaking populations in China, Japan, or even South Korea for that matter. Of course, again, bear in mind that this EXACTLY Vladimir Putin’s tactic - and may I remind you once more that our president is currently what the CIA may term an “asset” of Putin - that’s beyond obvious now. North Korea’s not threatening invasion, they’re not threatening to “rescue” North Koreans or even South Koreans. They’re just threatening to blow the shit out of any country that dares to test the regime. Which brings us to why we have the Russia problem to begin with: something happened in 2003, a thing called regime change. If you’re Kim Jung Un - or Vladimir Putin for that matter - and you’ve been called out as an unacceptable regime and you watch America’s invasion and Saddam Hussein drop from a rope an hour before the crystal ball drops from Times Square on New Year’s eve…how is it NOT rational to think that the United States is out to get you? Piece of scum or angel, what head of state wouldn’t take steps to defend their regime. You know, decades ago, we had a foreign policy that didn’t think in simplistic, binary terms of “good and evil”. We accepted that the world was a dangerous neighborhood and we sometimes have to do business with people we don’t like. ^ This. North Korea has seen what happens to a country that \*doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction, and lets the U.N. inspectors in to confirm it (we bomb the hell out of them anyway after waving vials of fake anthrax in Congress and talk about not waiting for the warning sign to be a mushroom cloud). They’ve seen what happens to countries that \*do have weapons of mass destruction, and give them up - just ask Gaddafi. Oh, wait, you can’t - he was gutshot and bayoneted in the ass with our blessing and support. Given that we’ve taken a firm stance against North Korea for decades (Axis of Evil, anyone?), Kim Jong un’s desperation to develop nuclear weapons as fast as possible and at any cost is perfectly rational. Our foreign policy has proven that the only countries we \*won’t attack are those that can plausibly claim mutually assured destruction. From their point of view, they aren’t safe until they have an arsenal of nukes capable of delivering a crippling counter-strike on short notice as a deterrent to any attack we might decide to initiate. That being said, yes, Kim is an absolute lunatic and a horrific despot, the population there is kept at starvation levels, they work political prisoners to death and brainwash the population, their standard of living is somewhere between 1900 and 1950, and they have literal concentration camps. Their government is an abomination and we’d be better off without it. But a first-strike against them is equally abhorrent, and will involve a minimum of hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, and more likely millions. I’ve often criticized the CIA for their rampant interference in the governments of other countries - they overthrow democratically elected governments all the time in Central and Southern America. But in this case…I might be willing to look the other way, and I’m wondering, where the hell are they? Do we need to point out the trillions in minerals in NK waiting to be exploited? Maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign to urge the CIA to overthrow Kim and give the mineral rights to U.S. corporations. It’s abhorrent, but it beats the shit out of concentration camps or the alternative of millions of civilians plus millions of soldiers dying. ETA: I guess this counts as a letter to the C.I.A. since they monitor fucking everything anyway. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14675 "2017-12-23T07:59:43Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > …and that was in front of the cameras. Can you imagine what went on once the media went home? Jesus effing CHRIST. God help you America. Hey, its our planet, rest of you just live here. Speak softly, and if we think you need a big stick, we’ll hit you with one. ---
**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 23, 2017, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14676 "2017-12-23T08:02:29Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Hey, its our planet, rest of you just live here. Speak softly, and if we think you need a big stick, we’ll hit you with one. American Empire: Speak brashly and carry a big wallet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14677 "2017-12-23T08:51:49Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Do ambassadors count as administration? Already posted this link in Elections. Pete Hoekstra embarrassing himself and the US on Dutch news: [x.com](https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/943991312570822656) Wow. You guys shouldn’t underestimate how much coverage this has gotten over here. (It couldn’t be more clear that you don’t care, but still) You sent a blithering idiot to represent yourself to the 13th largest trading partner. The second largest foreign investor in the US. Fuck you too. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14678 "2017-12-23T08:58:49Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > How acceptable _is_ it to live in a world where NK is armed with nuclear ICBMs? Do we really want to go there? But of course there is an excluded middle here. For instance, [the UN just imposed new sanctions](http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/22/politics/un-us-north-korea-resolution/index.html) > > IIRC, China has not been game for cutting off fuel before now. This may hurt NK a lot, and that population is not exactly comfortable now. If they proceed further with their nuclear program, they can be cut off even more painfully. > > We get a disaster no matter what. Millions of starving North Koreans. Or maybe a war, or maybe somebody gets nuked. No truly good choices AFAICT. On that, we definitely agree. Very interesting about those new sanctions though. Hope that makes a difference somehow. > [@asahi](#): > > It’s astounding that you would suggest that Putin is somehow a tolerable threat when you’ve acknowledged the above. I’m not sure if you understand this, but Vladimir Putin is at war with us. Kim Jung Un is, too, but the latter is infinitely more pathetic than the other. Certainly–and that’s what I think you failed to understand, or didn’t catch, about what I was arguing. Sure, Putin’s at war with us (although my mother doesn’t think so–although she hates Trump as much as anyone, she’s buying what Oliver Stone is selling). But we can’t go to war with him. Not all-out war, anyway. Even with a military much reduced from its Cold War days, and dwarfed by ours, Russia has more than enough functioning ICBMs and nuclear submarines to be able to continue to play the MAD game. So we \*have \*to tolerate him. And I do think, fortunately, that he is rational in looking out for his own self-interest and that of his cronies. He doesn’t want the world reduced to smoking rubble. I wish I were sure that’s also true of Kim Jong Un. ---
**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 23, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14679 "2017-12-23T14:49:02Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > Wow. > > You guys shouldn’t underestimate how much coverage this has gotten over here. (It couldn’t be more clear that you don’t care, but still) > > You sent a blithering idiot to represent yourself to the 13th largest trading partner. The second largest foreign investor in the US. Fuck you too. Who is the “you” of whom you speak? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14680 "2017-12-23T15:46:20Z")
You guys can just keep your sawed off doors and your crude and mean “Dutch Uncles”. We’re on to you! ---
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14681 "2017-12-23T16:06:31Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Trump: Talk loud and throw the stick in the garbage because maybe Obama touched it. Trump: Speak loudly, step on your own stick. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14682 "2017-12-23T16:17:03Z")
> [@SingleMalt](#): > > Trump: Speak loudly, step on your own stick. I think you meant _dick_ or _shtick_. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14683 "2017-12-23T17:17:44Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > Wow. > > You guys shouldn’t underestimate how much coverage this has gotten over here. (It couldn’t be more clear that you don’t care, but still) > > You sent a blithering idiot to represent yourself to the 13th largest trading partner. The second largest foreign investor in the US. Fuck you too. Don’t feel too special— “we” are sending blithering idiots all around the globe. “We’re” a primary exporter. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14684 "2017-12-23T17:38:15Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > …and that was in front of the cameras. Can you imagine what went on once the media went home? Jesus effing CHRIST. God help you America. Yes, high on most American’s wish list this Xmas is a medical emergency for the White house. Penis rotting STD would be my choice, but others are checking the heart attack option instead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=733) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=735)