# 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:** 745
**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:** [January 3, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14885 "2018-01-03T22:30:18Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > …Plus of course it tends to favor those who are earning more. Those with low pay are far more likely to be financially unable to contribute to a 401k. An across-the-board pay increase would do more for those folks. Like that was EVER gonna happen. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > I’m curious as to management’s rationale for not doing it that way. Maybe the 401ks are required to be invested in company stock? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14886 "2018-01-03T22:34:17Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > I agree. The PR from the GOP was how this tax plan was going to rev up the economy which was going to somehow mean that there wasn’t going to be a $1.5 trillion addition to the deficit. Cueing up a medley of these statements and hitting “playback” should be the one and only response to demands for safety-net budget cuts. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14887 "2018-01-03T23:08:55Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > I agree. The PR from the GOP was how this tax plan was going to rev up the economy which was going to somehow mean that there wasn’t going to be a $1.5 trillion addition to the deficit. I don’t see how increasing the match on the 401k is going to do anything much in this direction. > > Plus of course it tends to favor those who are earning more. Those with low pay are far more likely to be financially unable to contribute to a 401k. An across-the-board pay increase would do more for those folks. I’m curious as to management’s rationale for not doing it that way. > > But I guess they deserve some kudos for doing something with their windfall to benefit employees. 401k matching is tax deductible. That will help the deficit… ---
**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:** [January 3, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14888 "2018-01-03T23:19:21Z")
…we knew he did shit like this. But to read confirmation of it: dear god… > For those that don’t want to click: its a scanned page from “Fire and Fury.” > [@Fair use excerpt](#): > > Trump liked to say that one of the things that made life worth living was getting your friends wives into bed. In pursuing a friends wife, he would try to persuade the wife that the husband was perhaps not what she thought. Then he’d have his secretary ask the friend into his office; once the friend arrived, Trump would engage in what was, for him, more or less constant sexual banter. Do you like having sex with your wife? How often? You must have had a better fuck than your wife? Tell me about it. I have girls coming in from Los Angeles at three o’clock. We can go upstairs and have a great time. I promise…And all the while, Trump would have his friend’s wife on the speakerphone, listening in. Lady’s and gentleman, I present to you the 45th President of the United States of America. (any errors in transcription my own) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14889 "2018-01-03T23:39:16Z")
[A bit of a warning](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/is-bannon-trump-michael-wolff-reporting-reliable.html) about believing everything in this book; > [@](#): > > A 2004 New Republic profile of Wolff meanwhile noted that “the scenes in his columns aren’t recreated so much as created—springing from Wolff’s imagination rather than from actual knowledge of events.” The same piece quoted an editor who worked with Wolff as saying “his great gift is the appearance of intimate access. He is adroit at making the reader think that he has spent hours and days with his subject, when in fact he may have spent no time at all.” A 1998 article about Wolff’s book Burn Rate surfaced Wednesday by writer Brad Plumer notes that several of the subjects of the book say Wolff “invented or changed quotes” that were attributed to them… > > For the record, New York says in an editor’s note that Wolff’s work is based on hundreds of “conversations and interviews” that were conducted with Trump and “most members of his senior staff.” And to be clear, I don’t know for sure that Steve Bannon didn’t call the Trump Jr. Russia meeting “treasonous” or that Sam Nunberg didn’t really only get through 40 percent of the Bill of Rights before the president got bored. But I do know Michael Wolff is notorious for making provocative claims without backing them up—and that he was once described by one of his own editors as having no skill greater than creating the “appearance” of knowing things he does not in fact know. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14890 "2018-01-04T00:32:44Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > I suspect a majority of the Trumpetistas will stick to the Boss rather than go with Bannon/Breitbart. > > In Trumpworld there is no loyalty. There’s fealty, and it only works in one direction, no matter what. Maybe so, but plenty of journalist interns will be told to watch Breitbart for any Trump busting on Bannon’s part so it can go viral. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14891 "2018-01-04T00:58:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [A bit of a warning](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/is-bannon-trump-michael-wolff-reporting-reliable.html) about believing everything in this book; Heh. I read your excerpt, and while your point is well-taken, the fact that the America-hating fuckstick got spun up so thoroughly by the (unconfirmed) quotes attributed to Bannon tells me that, even if it all turns out to be fiction, Wolff at least succeeded in trolling the hell out of said fuckstick. A service to the nation for which he deserves full props. ETA: Has Bannon made any comments about the article? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14892 "2018-01-04T01:04:38Z")
Someone just made a comment to a reporter about how 11 out of 20 jurors on a grand jury looking into Trump & Co’s crimes were black and how because of that, the jury would be biased (FWIW, the jury is based in DC which is about 50% black, so you’d expect the grand jury to be half black). > **[The person anonymously leaking racist attacks on the Mueller grand jury sounds...](https://thinkprogress.org/anonymous-leak-racist-attacks-mueller-trump-da557b23e613/)** > > A tipster straight out of "central casting." > [@](#): > > “The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally,” my source said. “Maybe they found these jurors in central casting, or at a Black Lives Matter rally in Berkeley [Calif.]” > > Of the 20 jurors, 11 are African-Americans and two were wearing “peace T-shirts,” the witness said. “There was only one white male in the room, and he was a prosecutor.” Mueller was not present. Best part is, there is speculation it \*could \*be Trump making these comments under a false name because some of the terms use are terms Trump likes, and the reporter they were leaked to has ties to Trump. Thats hilarious if true (maybe someone there told Trump what they saw, and Trump contacted the press). Wouldn’t be the first time he used fake identities to leak stuff to the media. Please let this be true. The idea of kids 50 years from now reading how a sitting president was leaking racist info to gossip columnists would be wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14893 "2018-01-04T01:36:11Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > 401k matching is tax deductible. That will help the deficit… Actually, just the opposite. My employer’s matching contribution has no impact on taxes either way, until I withdraw from my account (then, it’s taxable income). My contributions are made pre-tax – which means that money that goes in to the account is not taxed until it’s withdrawn. And by increasing their matching rate, my employer is encouraging people to put more money into their account…reducing the amount subject to federal income tax, and thereby increasing the deficit. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14894 "2018-01-04T01:37:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Heh. I read your excerpt, and while your point is well-taken, the fact that the America-hating fuckstick got spun up so thoroughly by the (unconfirmed) quotes attributed to Bannon tells me that, even if it all turns out to be fiction, Wolff at least succeeded in trolling the hell out of said fuckstick. > > A service to the nation for which he deserves full props. > ETA: Has Bannon made any comments about the article? My thoughts exactly. All the shit hitting the fan today is directed at Bannon, as if everything he said is true. Nobody is denying the content of what’s in the book. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14895 "2018-01-04T02:10:27Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > I suspect a majority of the Trumpetistas will stick to the Boss rather than go with Bannon/Breitbart. > > In Trumpworld there is no loyalty. There’s fealty, and it only works in one direction, no matter what. Out of curiosity, I watched Lou Dobbs on Fox Business News to see how he was reacting to these quotes from his boy Steve. And, of course, it turns out that Steve was always a nobody who barely knew Trump and has delusions of grandeur. And he got schooled today by the most awesomest president ever! ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14896 "2018-01-04T02:44:31Z")
What a way to kick off 2018. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14897 "2018-01-04T03:24:04Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Actually, just the opposite. My employer’s matching contribution has no impact on taxes either way, until I withdraw from my account (then, it’s taxable income). My contributions are made pre-tax – which means that money that goes in to the account is not taxed until it’s withdrawn. And by increasing their matching rate, my employer is encouraging people to put more money into their account…reducing the amount subject to federal income tax, and thereby increasing the deficit. Oh well. Tax deductible to the company without having to pay FICA, etc if it was an increase in wages instead. Deficit part was sarcasm. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14898 "2018-01-04T03:54:40Z")
Why, Bannon is so little-known to the President’s team that he has the singular honor of being hit with a “cease and desist” letter from the Dotard’s very own lawyers regarding his making “disparaging” comments about POTARD. > Apparently, Bannon signed one of those pesky NDA things. Wonder if they’ll go after the book as well? ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14899 "2018-01-04T04:50:05Z")
Ok. Here’s one of the things that really gets me. I was listening to _Fresh Air_ in the car on my way home from my book club this evening. Terry Gross was interviewing a _New Yorker_ reporter who has an article in the current issue called “Making China Great Again” or something like that. They’re talking about thump and his tweets about North Korea and how easily he is manipulated by the Chinese and about how he has undermined the moral authority of the USA around the world. Terry cited something that happened during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. President Kennedy went to France to President de Gaulle and told him that the USA had evidence that the Soviets were placing missiles in Cuba, that we had CIA surveillance pictures and could prove it. De Gaulle said, “The word of the American president is good enough for me.” That isn’t true any more. The word of the American president is worth less than day-old dog shit. Thump has done that all by himself in less than one year. What further damage will he have done a year from today? But here’s the main thing that’s bugging me: commentators like Terry and this guy and others sit around and talk about thump and analyze him and try to discern any policy or principles behind and beneath his statements (which means his tweets :rolleyes: ) when the only thing behind and beneath him and them is day-old dog shit. BUT NO ONE WILL SAY THAT. I will go back to my example of the first time Uncle Harold comes to Sunday dinner with his underpants on his head, everyone is shocked and alarmed. But after he does it enough times, it becomes normal. So now these commentators are, in effect, analyzing the underpants and commenting on how last week they were Fruit of the Looms, but this week they’re Hanes, and does that mean anything. What about Jockeys–what happened to them? And boxers, briefs, or boxer briefs–so much to analyze. And they do it so seriously. As if he were a normal president. When what they should be doing is shouting at the top of their lungs, _“This bozo is a freaking lunatic who doesn’t have the intelligence of a potato or the education of a trained seal! He is dumb as a box of hair and dangerous as a loaded gun. He has the emotional maturity and self-control of a two-year old. These things are intuitively obvious to the most casual observer. He is an embarrassment, a threat to our country domestically and internationally, and he must be removed from office immediately, if not sooner.”_ “My button is bigger”??? We’re seriously treating this statement as something worthy of being analyzed seriously on a respected NPR program??? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14900 "2018-01-04T06:51:31Z")
This just in! Trump disbands his voter fraud commission! **GIGObuster** mentions it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20701501&postcount=10762) along with an excerpt from some news article. Washington Post also has the story: [Trump abolishes controversial commission studying alleged voter fraud](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-abolishes-controversial-commission-studying-voter-fraud/2018/01/03/665b1878-f0e2-11e7-b3bf-ab90a706e175_story.html) ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14901 "2018-01-04T06:54:59Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > This just in! > > Trump disbands his voter fraud commission! > > Washington Post also has the story: > [Trump abolishes controversial commission studying alleged voter fraud](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-abolishes-controversial-commission-studying-voter-fraud/2018/01/03/665b1878-f0e2-11e7-b3bf-ab90a706e175_story.html) I think there is a typo. Shouldn’t it read: “Trump abolishes alleged controversial commission study?” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14902 "2018-01-04T07:04:20Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > De Gaulle said, “The word of the American president is good enough for me.” > > That isn’t true any more. The word of the American president is worth less than day-old dog shit. Thump has done that all by himself in less than one year. What further damage will he have done a year from today? While Trump has brought his office particularly low, I have one word for you: WMD. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14903 "2018-01-04T09:33:48Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Why, Bannon is so little-known to the President’s team that he has the singular honor of being hit with a “cease and desist” letter from the Dotard’s very own lawyers regarding his making “disparaging” comments about POTARD. > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/yashar/status/948763482601742336) > > Apparently, Bannon signed one of those pesky NDA things. Wonder if they’ll go after the book as well? Here’s the quote from [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/steve-bannon-trump-cease-and-desist/index.html)- > [@](#): > > The statement from attorney Charles Harder said: “This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent.” IU’d love to see how that agreememt would hold up under scrutiny - and if that agreement is why others are still quiet. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/14904 "2018-01-04T11:47:32Z")
Gotta love the [New York Daily News cover today.](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-daily-news-steve-bannon-donald-trump-cuck_us_5a4ddeb2e4b025f99e1feb25) One must take Wolff’s book with a wee bit of salt. It isn’t well sourced enough to be called journalism, but if only a little bit is true we have a catastrophe in progress. He insists on removing his own sheets personally? Why? Is he a bed-wetter? Has to have a lock on his bedroom (which he does NOT share with Melania) door? Why? Afraid of getting caught slamming the ham? It seems every single person in the White House hates his guts, does not respect him, and has the same regard for every other person in the White House. The depiction of election night is spooky. They clearly did not expect to win and did not want to. Melania cried, but not tears of joy. Donald was said to looked like he saw a ghost. So the unwilling are being led by the unknowing to do what the people don’t want them to do. What could go wrong? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=744) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=746)