# 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:** 80
**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:** [February 25, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1581 "2017-02-25T22:03:28Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > 2009: "We’re going to treat them [Fox News] the way we would treat an opponent,” said Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, in a telephone interview on Sunday. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.” Banned poster **handsomeharry** was from the great state of “Okrahoma.” I wonder why I’m thinking of him right now. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1582 "2017-02-25T22:20:52Z")
A word of warning to _The Washington Post_: This time around, don’t name your secret source Deep Throat, because that will be a dead giveaway it’s Melania. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1583 "2017-02-25T22:26:40Z")
“Deep”? You forgot about tiny hands (his, not hers). ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1584 "2017-02-25T22:27:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > A word of warning to _The Washington Post_: This time around, don’t name your secret source Deep Throat, because that will be a dead giveaway it’s Melania. If it were Melania, it’d be Shallow Throat. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1585 "2017-02-25T22:33:06Z")
Just call the source **Nelson Stool**. No one will get the reference, and no, I’m not talking about the furniture. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1586 "2017-02-25T22:36:12Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > If it were Melania, it’d be Shallow Throat. Seems I beat you by a minute. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1587 "2017-02-25T22:52:14Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > The real difference, right now, if that yesterday’s incident with the media was part of a clear and concerted campaign not simply to control information, but to undermine the whole notion of a critical and independent media as an integral part of democracy. If the Obama administration overstepped the mark early in its terms with its treatment of FOX News—and i think you could make the argument that it did—it paled in comparison to the outright attack that is going on now, and that is very dangerous for public discourse and democratic ideals. And, in terms of validity and credibility, we also have to remember that the current attack on the media for its alleged dishonesty and unfairness, is coming from an administration that seems to have no trouble declaring, with a completely straight face, that black is white, up is down, and left is right. I presume you meant “The real difference, right now, is that …” and with that, I’ll say that I agree completely with a well articulated post. The equivalence that some have tried to draw between the way Trump and his henchmen treat the media and the arguments that the Obama administration had with Fox News are bullshit for another reason, too: one thing that the left and the right can agree on is that Fox News is unique. To a liberal, Fox News is a cesspool of lies that offers ample material for a long-running thread like “Is Fox News really all that bad?” in GD (the consensus is “God, yes!”). To a right-winger cloistered in his world of delusion, Fox News is the only major network that validates those delusions and so all the other news channels are deemed infested with liberal bias due to some inexplicable cause. The right-wing ideologue hears things on Fox that he hears nowhere else, he gets a different sense of priority, and he hears things that contradict what everyone else is reporting – all in the service of right-wing ideology. So both sides agree that Fox News is something else, as the saying goes. One cannot rationally compare Obama’s war with Fox to prevent misrepresentation to Trump’s war on virtually the whole of the media establishment to suppress accurate reporting if it’s unfavorable to him. Trump’s objective is nothing less than an Orwellian undermining of a major pillar of democracy. I’m encouraged by the fact that his motives are so blatantly transparent that he’s slowly hanging himself. Nixon had a war with the media, too, and though he filled the White House with thugs he was ultimately far more intelligent and less relentlessly damaging, and that did not end well. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1588 "2017-02-25T23:13:43Z")
> **[Dan Rather](https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10156957001515716)** > > I felt a shudder down my spine yesterday watching Donald Trump's fusilade against the press. This is not a moment to be trifled with. It wasn't his first tirade and it won't be his last. > > I was... ---
**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:** [February 25, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1589 "2017-02-25T23:17:34Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > If it were Melania, it’d be Shallow Throat. I dunno. Hear she’s pretty talented. Who knows whether she’s a favorite among the kitchen staff and such. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1590 "2017-02-26T02:47:14Z")
So Trump’s administration is signalling that the states that have legalized marijuana may not be able to get away with it much longer. > **[Trump administration signals a possible crackdown on states over marijuana](https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-marijuana-20170223-story.html)** > > The White House on Thursday put states that have legalized recreational-use marijuana on notice that federal law enforcement agents could be targeting them soon. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2017, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1591 "2017-02-26T05:43:38Z")
Trump’s approach is the same as Red China or Communist Russia, and differing only by degree (thus far). How can a Republican cornerstone of counter acting Russia disappear in a matter of days? ---
**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:** [February 26, 2017, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1592 "2017-02-26T05:48:46Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > As hard as it may be to believe, Betsy DeVos is actually defending transgender kids in a fight with Jeff Sessions. > [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/devos-sessions-transgender-students-rights.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/devos-sessions-transgender-students-rights.html) Call me cynical, but there is a not insignificant chance that this is orchestrated Kabuki Theater. Just like the 2 R congresswomen that broke ranks only to have President in Waiting cast the senate tie breaker. Jus’ sayin’ ---
**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:** [February 26, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1593 "2017-02-26T07:05:33Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Trump’s approach is the same as Red China or Communist Russia, and differing only by degree (thus far). > > How can a Republican cornerstone of counter acting Russia disappear in a matter of days? The Great and Glorious Dear Leader says so. We have always been friends with Russia. Only trust your leader. The Leader is all powerful. Only The Leader can save you. Now it is time for your 5 minute hate against the real enemy of the people… The evil media. If things don’t turn around in the next 6 months, your country as we know it is toast. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1594 "2017-02-26T14:28:58Z")
In other news, [Donald Trump Butt Plug Now Available For Your Pleasure](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/14/donald-trump-butt-plug_n_7796138.html). Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1595 "2017-02-26T15:12:23Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > In other news, [Donald Trump Butt Plug Now Available For Your Pleasure](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/14/donald-trump-butt-plug_n_7796138.html). > > Carry on. Can’t sleep…plug’ll eat me. Can’t sleep…plug’ll eat me. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1596 "2017-02-26T15:13:03Z")
Trump stupidity is rubbing off on Pence [That’s Not the Israeli Flag, Vice President Pence](http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a53431/israeli-flag-pence/) > [@](#): > > “If the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel,” Vice President Mike Pence told the Republican Jewish Coalition on Friday night. Meanwhile, Pence’s Twitter account was sending an entirely different message: America stands with Nicaragua. > > The person managing Pence’s Twitter account mistakenly tweeted that "the world will know America stands with Israel ������������ " and "Under @POTUS Trump, we will stand with Israel ������������ " except, there’s one problem: that’s not Israel’s flag. The person tweeting used the Nicaraguan flag in both tweets, which vaguely resembles the Israeli flag if you squint and are completely ignorant of world politics. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1597 "2017-02-26T15:17:08Z")
```php ``` > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I dunno. Hear she’s pretty talented. Who knows whether she’s a favorite among the kitchen staff and such. 😉 You should be careful, she has already sued to protect her image. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1598 "2017-02-26T15:20:35Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > You should be careful, she has already sued to protect her image. Anyone who marries agent orange doesn’t have any image worth protecting. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1599 "2017-02-26T16:04:26Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > In other news, [Donald Trump Butt Plug Now Available For Your Pleasure](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/14/donald-trump-butt-plug_n_7796138.html). Hey, are they allowed to use Chris Christie’s Secret Service codename for commercial gain? ---
**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:** [February 26, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1600 "2017-02-26T20:21:07Z")
[We _will_ find out who stole Donald’s strawberries!!](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/sean-spicer-targets-own-staff-in-leak-crackdown-235413) > [@](#): > > Press secretary Sean Spicer is cracking down on leaks coming out of the West Wing, with increased security measures that include random phone checks of White House staffers, overseen by White House attorneys… > > Upon entering Spicer’s office for what one person briefed on the gathering described as “an emergency meeting,” staffers were told to dump their phones on a table for a “phone check," to prove they had nothing to hide… The best part: > [@](#): > > Spicer also warned the group of more problems if news of the phone checks and the meeting about leaks was leaked to the media. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=79) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=81)