# 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:** 772
**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:** [January 13, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15425 "2018-01-13T13:33:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Republicans have seen what happened to Roy Moore: black voters turned out in record numbers for a non-presidential election. If that happens this November, the Republicans are in huge trouble. They can’t afford a President who motivates people to show up to vote against his party, even if he’s not on the ballot. I hope so, but please please please, fellow Democrats, be smart about this. I cringe every time a see a news story talking about the upcoming “Blue Wave” election and how the Democrats are going to win it all come November. And I’m seeing a lot of them. And it’s only January. This is just going to motivate the opposition. I don’t want to be hit by that “What Happened?” stun gun on November 6th. Once was enough. Let’s not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again, please. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15426 "2018-01-13T13:35:12Z")
There is no way, not possible, that Dick Durbin would put his very credibility on the line for this if it wasn’t so. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15427 "2018-01-13T13:36:06Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > It would also really, really help if news outlets would stop asking _if_ the president actually said the word “shithole,” as if there is a legitimate doubt about the veracity of eyewitness reports. We can simply assume that it was said and that the anti-truth party will simply deny reality. In all fairness, I heard some witnesses say they thought he said “shit house countries”. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15428 "2018-01-13T14:03:29Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Here’s a headline I never expected to see, from Politico: [Demoralized Trump aides grapple with ‘shithole’-gate](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/12/trump-shithole-comment-aides-react-337961) You know that communications thing about “if you can’t respond to the questions, change the issue?” That’s all that poor Donald was trying to do, as summarized in the Politico story: > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump’s “shithole” remark replaced a national conversation about whether or not the president is mentally stable with a conversation about whether or not he is racist. And people say Donald can’t pivot… ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15429 "2018-01-13T14:15:14Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > In all fairness, I heard some witnesses say they thought he said “shit house countries”. What he actually said was “chic towel” countries— Monaco, Fiji and so forth. The president strongly believes, as he has said many times, that the United States should remain a land of opportunity for immigrants from all walks of life, and not only the very wealthy. ---
**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 13, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15430 "2018-01-13T14:24:50Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > You know that communications thing about “if you can’t respond to the questions, change the issue?” > > That’s all that poor Donald was trying to do, as summarized in the Politico story: > > And people say Donald can’t pivot… It’s clear that Wolff’s book is having a profound impact on Trump’s psyche, and it’s an impact that I probably underestimated. I suspect that Trump now finds it hard to trust anyone outside of his own immediate family and close friends. It was difficult to notice but over the last few months, Kelly had begun to successfully break the chaotic mess and flow of people and information in the White House. He had successfully gotten Trump to ‘follow a script’ from to time to time. Reducing the chaos limited the frequency of distractions, and it probably played a significant role in helping Trump get tax reform over the finish line. Doing all of this required having at least some faith in the staff around him. Now? Every time he looks at his staff, he’s probably wondering what they’re whispering about and to whom. He’s probably finding it very difficult to trust anyone right now. He probably feels safer holing himself up in his bedroom and watching Fox News and using his twitter account. He’s back in ‘break stuff’ mode, and what’s bad for his aides, is that they they’re out of the loop. They don’t know what’s coming or when. We’ve already seen some examples in just the last few days. There were those tweets about Pakistan that threaten our relationship, catching aides by surprise. A bipartisan deal on DACA was shot down by Trump out of the blue (in a remarkably offensive tone). There were tweets about FISA that left his own White House and congressional allies confused. Trump was clearly wounded by the quotes in the book. Trump likes to think of himself as not just a genius but a tough guy, a powerful guy. He probably doesn’t feel that powerful right now, which means he has a need to do things that make him feel strong. That’s what’s scary. Trump wants people to know that he’s the alpha ape. He’s stomping on the floor of the jungle and shaking the tree violently now. Will he break NAFTA? Will he break NATO? Something else? Who knows… ---
**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:** [January 13, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15431 "2018-01-13T14:31:01Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > What happened to Trump’s Fake News awards, that were supposed to come out Wednesday and then again, today? Originally, these ‘awards’, which appear to have popped out of Trump’s head without any prior notice or organization, were to be presented at 5PM on Monday, Jan 8. President Very Stable Genius, however, apparently forgot that he was going to be in transit to the NCAA football playoff at the announced date and time, so pushed it back to Wednesday, Jan 17. ---
**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 13, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15432 "2018-01-13T14:42:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > What happened to Trump’s Fake News awards, that were supposed to come out Wednesday and then again, today? > [@elucidator](#): > > That is _sooo_ last week! “So last week”? Hell, that’s so _an hour ago_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15433 "2018-01-13T15:12:38Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > If Melania were so intelligent, she would not have chose to campaign against cyberbullying since her husband is the world’s number one cyberbully. > > She did nude modeling but she did not have sex on film. In my opinion, she didn’t do porn although YMMV. Yea, but I doubt Melania chose anything other than trying hide from trump. I’m NOT going to look for anything about Melania re: erotica. But I think it went a little beyond nude modeling. Don’t really care. Was just pointing out what our god fearing family value republicans would say about that if the shoe was on the other foot. I’m glad that the Dem’s have not attacked her (remember ‘Michelle looks like a gorilla in high heals?’) ---
**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 13, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15434 "2018-01-13T15:18:01Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > This again. I’ve said the same thing myself various times on this message board. > > The meme that the U.S. is such a religious, God-fearing country is bull. Americans just like to _ **say** _ they’re religious and believe in God. I grew up in Jesus country. The time spent observing how people would talk about believing in a God of love on one hand and a God that can judge and punish misdeeds on the other was interesting, particularly considering how many times I saw people say or do things that a loving but judgmental God would probably frown upon. People tend to use God to justify their greed and they also use God to excuse themselves when they know they’ve gone too far. Gov. Greitens is a classic example. God forgives him, so it’s all good. Now that he’s done screwing around on his wife he can go back to screwing the people of Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15435 "2018-01-13T15:29:56Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I grew up in Jesus country. The time spent observing how people would talk about believing in a God of love on one hand and a God that can judge and punish misdeeds on the other was interesting, particularly considering how many times I saw people say or do things that a loving but judgmental God would probably frown upon. People tend to use God to justify their greed and they also use God to excuse themselves when they know they’ve gone too far. Gov. Greitens is a classic example. God forgives him, so it’s all good. Now that he’s done screwing around on his wife he can go back to screwing the people of Missouri. Beat your wife on Saturday, go to church on Sunday and be forgiven. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15436 "2018-01-13T16:31:07Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > What happened to Trump’s Fake News awards, that were supposed to come out Wednesday and then again, today? Ironically, that turned out to be fake news. Recent developments have made it clear the Republican Party is a bigger threat to the US than Isis or al-Qaeda, let alone Russia or China. Lincoln must be turning over in his tomb. I’m wondering if the day will come when the Republican Party is eventually outlawed in the US, along the lines of the Nazi Party in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15437 "2018-01-13T16:33:58Z")
na, na, na, what he said was he didn’t want immigrants from chill-ass countries. You know - Jamaica, the Bahamas, Okinawa… The US needs only dour, overly serious people, hence the Norway reference :D. ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15438 "2018-01-13T16:46:40Z")
I live in Europe and we don’t want any immigrants here from Cheeto-all countries! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15439 "2018-01-13T16:59:02Z")
What astounds me are people who think that Trump’s base — who were happy Trump “grabbed pussy”, happy he ridiculed a handicapped reporter, happy he told farfetched lies about Cruz’ father, etc. — will care one whit that the ape referred to shithole countries as “shithole countries.” ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15440 "2018-01-13T17:13:03Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > A second porn star says that the first one AND Trump invited her to a threesome. The first one denies it in a written and signed statement. That includes: “When I met Donald Trump, he was gracious, professional and complete gentleman…” Pretty clever I’d say, now she deny breaking the deal, even she practically said “PS. I’m totally lying here.” ---
**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:** [January 13, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15441 "2018-01-13T17:31:24Z")
Quoting septimus: What astounds me are people who think that Trump’s base — who were happy Trump “grabbed pussy”, happy he ridiculed a handicapped reporter, happy he told farfetched lies about Cruz’ father, etc. — will care one whit that the ape referred to shithole countries as “shithole countries.” I don’t think that sensible people expect Trump supporters to care. They’re likely really happy he said it. But when the rest of the people, the ones that didn’t care enough to vote, and the rest of the world react to things like this, it puts pressure on Trump’s enablers and those head-in-the-sand Republicans who may be running for office. Who knows what will be accomplished, but if the alternative is acting like he didn’t say anything, or that what he said was normal, I’m all in favor of the sensible people expressing their outrage. Dick Durbin looked genuinely fucked up over 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:** [January 13, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15442 "2018-01-13T17:35:13Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > What astounds me are people who think that Trump’s base — who were happy Trump “grabbed pussy”, happy he ridiculed a handicapped reporter, happy he told farfetched lies about Cruz’ father, etc. — will care one whit that the ape referred to shithole countries as “shithole countries.” Agreed - they don’t give a damn. There are also a fair number of people who didn’t vote for Trump who don’t care either. Most people - even a fair number of his supporters - agree it’s offensive and wish he wouldn’t say it, but this is within the realm of normal in the Trump age. Unfortunately, it green lights the continued corrosion of discourse among ordinary people. His harshness, his unabashed bigotry is so commonplace now that fewer Republicans even see the need to challenge it. The fact that Dick Durbin praised Lindsay Graham’s “political courage” is telling. Not long ago, saying racist things was something Republicans had to be careful of; increasingly, they’re not afraid of the consequences. And in some cases, I suspect the exact opposite is true: some Republicans fear not being bigoted enough. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15443 "2018-01-13T17:43:05Z")
MLK Jr’s nephew was in the Oval Office for an MLK Day event and later making excuses for President Trash’s comments. Van Jones on CNN was pointing out Trump can only get peripheral relatives who may want some limelight and that it is telling that Chump can’t get MLK’s children or grandchildren to participate. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/15444 "2018-01-13T17:48:28Z")
_Carpe tedium_. Seize the dull! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=771) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=773)