# 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:** 817
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16325 "2018-02-05T13:56:14Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > “Little”? > > Seriously - we got a president who genuinely and persistently uses playground taunts against people he doesn’t like. This is the world we live in now. I wonder what Trump’s prison nickname will be? ---
**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:** [February 5, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16326 "2018-02-05T14:19:20Z")
[“Constitutional Crisis in Slow Motion”](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/opinion/constitutional-crisis-in-slow-motion.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront) I don’t mind giving Charles Blow credit, even though you read it here first, folks, a year ago. > [@](#): > > We are not dealing with a normal person here, let alone a normal president. > [@](#): > > In the process of turning a vanity campaign into an valid campaign, he had to hurry up and ramp up, and he had to take on some of the only people willing to ally themselves with such a ridiculous, tarnished, vile, scandalous, unscrupulous person. The people he got for his team share many of those same characteristics. > > The president won the election, with Russian assistance and against all odds. The win shocked the world, including Donald Trump himself. He hadn’t had to alter his most negative traits; he won with them on full display. > > He was working-class white America’s rebuff to an erudite black man and a supremely experienced woman. Trump’s defects had been validated. He was loved among those who hate. He won and then found out he doesn’t have to change one thing about himself. In fact, he can amplify and increase his blustering, lying, flip-flopping, posturing, sleeping late, golfing, and insulting everyone from women who love to have their pussies grabbed, to his closest advisors, to other cocky world leaders. He can probably even shoot someone–although he apparently hasn’t done that. Yet. He never even has to read anything–he has people to do that for him–or take anyone’s advice. If someone bugs him or makes him feel stupid, he can just fire them. So far, anyway. The Presidency of the United States–who knew it was the job he really always wanted, a dream job for a demagogue at heart. The one thing he has to watch out for is something he exemplifies but doesn’t know the name of: _hubris_. > [@](#): > > The closer Mueller gets to the full truth, the more Trump’s panic will grow. He will feel more and more like a cornered animal, and it is very likely that he will resort to his final, unthinkable options. > > Firing Mueller is a definite possibility. > > People say that would create a constitutional crisis, but I say we are already trapped in a slow-motion constitutional crisis, or constitutional train wreck. > > Trump will never put the country above himself. And his Republican assistants in the legislature have so bought into Trumpism that they now know that they will share his fate. > > Buckle up, folks: This ride will get much rougher before it finally comes to an end. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16327 "2018-02-05T14:21:04Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > I wonder what Trump’s prison nickname will be? “Orange Crush”? ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16328 "2018-02-05T14:23:19Z")
> [@ThelmaLou's article](#): > > Buckle up, folks: This ride will get much rougher before it finally comes to an end. Hope so. I want America’s political world broken open so that every scurrying cockroach gets brought into the light. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16329 "2018-02-05T14:24:30Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > “Orange Crush”? Nice one! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16330 "2018-02-05T14:24:32Z")
A reporter wrote a story about personnel at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS demanded he change something in the story. He said no, but that he would note that they said it was incorrect. They said if he doesn’t do it, he won’t be allowed on press calls. A few days later, he was kicked off of press calls. I can’t claim this has never happened before, but I’ve never seen it before. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16331 "2018-02-05T14:40:59Z")
[Super Bowl anti-terrorism documents left on plane](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/05/us/dhs-super-bowl-national-security-documents-left-on-plane-invs/index.html?__twitter_impression=true). Only the best people, mind you. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16332 "2018-02-05T15:49:24Z")
As I’ve written elsewhere, I’m going to propose that we build our own Azkaban Prison for these people. I’d previously set a different location, but I’ve come to a better one. Menagerie Island, off Isle Royale in Lake Superior. I think it’s the perfect name and a great place for it. Just think, a high security facility named **The Menagerie**. 🆒 NO ONE is swimming to shore from there. Oh sure, they could swim over to Isle Royal, but it is both a national park and a wilderness area, and they’d be many miles from the visitor areas. And there are wolves. 😃 Right smack in the middle of North America. No good reason for any foreign ships to be in the area (oh, some do pass the area, but there’s a light house there too and an “If you can see the light house, you’re in a restricted area” would be easy). A Coast Guard base in Grand Marais nearby and an Air National Guard base with F-16’s in Duluth, should either be needed. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16333 "2018-02-05T16:15:00Z")
An amazing piece from the folk at [Lawfare](https://www.lawfareblog.com/i-hope-instance-fake-news-fbi-messages-show-bureaus-real-reaction-trump-firing-james-comey) this morning. Reporting on the FBI internal reaction to the Comey firing. > [@Lawfare](#): > > Trump himself blasted Comey too, stating in an interview that the former director was “a showboat. He’s a grandstander” and that the FBI “has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil—less than a year ago. It hasn’t recovered from that.” A few days later, the New York Times reported that Trump had told Russian officials visiting him in the Oval Office the day after Comey’s firing that Comey was a “nut job.” > > Over the next few days, a wealth of evidence emerged to suggest that Trump and Sanders were playing fast and loose with the truth. But we now have the documents to prove that decisively. Their disclosure was not a leak but an authorized action by the FBI, which released to us under the Freedom of Information Act more than 100 pages of leadership communications to staff dealing with the firing. > > \ > > Before detailing the story these documents tell, let’s pause a moment over the story they do not tell. They contain not a word that supports the notion that the FBI was in turmoil. They contain not a word that reflects gratitude to the president for removing a nut job. There is literally not a single sentence in any of these communications that reflects criticism of Comey’s leadership of the FBI. Not one special agent in charge describes Comey’s removal as some kind of opportunity for new leadership. And if any FBI official really got on the phone with Sanders to express gratitude or thanks “for the president’s decision,” nobody reported that to his or her staff. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16334 "2018-02-05T16:54:26Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > An amazing piece from the folk at [Lawfare](https://www.lawfareblog.com/i-hope-instance-fake-news-fbi-messages-show-bureaus-real-reaction-trump-firing-james-comey) this morning. Reporting on the FBI internal reaction to the Comey firing. I came in to post this and found that you had already been here. This is truly excellent journalism, folks. Now we need the rest of the media needs to start, and not stop, asking Mrs. Sanders about what she said last year regarding the FBI and Director Comey. She lied to the American public; I want her held accountable. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16335 "2018-02-05T17:20:36Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > [Super Bowl anti-terrorism documents left on plane](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/05/us/dhs-super-bowl-national-security-documents-left-on-plane-invs/index.html?__twitter_impression=true). > > Only the best people, mind you. Hey, what’s the problem? TSA doesn’t allow terrorists onto planes, do they? ---
**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:** [February 5, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16336 "2018-02-05T18:00:34Z")
They allow only the best terrorists, the very fine people terrorists. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16337 "2018-02-05T18:09:10Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > They allow only the best terrorists, the very fine people terrorists. I’m sure some of them are fine people. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16338 "2018-02-05T20:18:35Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > The improbably cool Jeff Greenfield pointed out on PBS Newshour tonight how преЦАРдент Trump is this “large celestial object with all this gravitational pull toward him”, and that, sure, the Mueller investigations are _and should_ be front and centre news, but it’s also totally eclipsing other important news, like the [CDC has basically run out of money](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/02/cdc-funding-pandemics/552224/) and the[Treasury wants $440 billion more in borrowing power to cover next year’s deficit (which could be at least 3/4 of a trillion dollars)](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/us/politics/federal-deficit-1-trillion.html) > Greenfield described the 'pubs reaction to this as an Emily Latella ‘nevermind’. Holy shit! What kind of sick fuck would let the CDC run out of money? God, I hate this… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16339 "2018-02-05T20:38:34Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > I wonder what Trump’s prison nickname will be? The New Black. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16340 "2018-02-05T20:48:39Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Holy shit! What kind of sick fuck would let the CDC run out of money? God, I hate this… The kind of sick fuck who’s been happy to pander to antivaxers. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16341 "2018-02-05T20:52:37Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > The New Black. I choose to believe you’re using some form of PEDs to get to that level of achievement. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16342 "2018-02-05T20:55:31Z")
[Failing to applaud the Orange Cretin is “treasonous.”](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/5/1738960/-Trump-declares-that-Democrats-are-treasonous-and-un-American-for-not-applauding-his-speech) I’m really busy right now, and need both hands, Donny. But I can spare you a finger. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16343 "2018-02-05T21:06:15Z")
You know who else declared it treasonous not to applaud and salute his speeches? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/16344 "2018-02-05T21:20:51Z")
Kim Jong Un? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=816) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=818)