# 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:** 871
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17405 "2018-03-03T19:09:26Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > On PBS last night pundit Mark Shields described the Trump White House as “a civil war in a leper colony”. I’m not sure what that means, but I love it. (I suspect it’s a polite of way of saying “clusterfuck”.) Basically, all of the words he used [in that rant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NcJvvLBD6w&t=30m55s), added together, work out to “clusterfuck” (with a sign value of “total”). ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17406 "2018-03-03T19:29:23Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > With the crazy number of departures from this Administration, couldn’t Section 4 of the 25th Amendment be invoked, not because of mental illness or incompetence, but simply because Trump cannot keep an effective executive branch team in place? When does it fall apart to the point that the president is simply “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”? Problem with that would be convincing the remaining cabinet members (which at this point, in an ironic twist, only consists of Scruffy the Janitor, Charo the Cockroach, Pepe the Parrot, and Mumbles the Monkey). Good luck getting more than 50% of them to agree on said proposition. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17407 "2018-03-03T19:43:07Z")
I thought Pepe was a frog? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17408 "2018-03-03T20:15:51Z")
If it’s true that trump wants to oust ivanka and jared, why doesn’t he just tell them to scram? Why would someone else have to fire them? ---
**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:** [March 3, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17409 "2018-03-03T20:19:17Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If it’s true that trump wants to oust ivanka and jared, why doesn’t he just tell them to scram? Why would someone else have to fire them? Apparently, in real life, Trump is a spineless wimp who can’t stand to fire people. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17410 "2018-03-03T20:30:38Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If it’s true that trump wants to oust ivanka and jared, why doesn’t he just tell them to scram? Why would someone else have to fire them? If it’s a problem of not wanting to fire family, then while firing them, you learn the lesson of that’s why you don’t hire them in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17411 "2018-03-03T20:52:12Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If it’s true that trump wants to oust ivanka and jared, why doesn’t he just tell them to scram? Why would someone else have to fire them? If I were John Kelly and I wanted to get rid of everyone who could interfere with my running the Presidency (via the half-witted figurehead Trump), I might “leak” the notion that Trump wanted to get rid of his daughter and son-in-law. It’s sort of barely plausible: Trump _does_ have a record of keeping people off-balance by floating rumors, and he _does_ like to keep said off-balance people motivated to try to please him. So Ivanka and Jared might suspect that Kelly made the whole thing up, but they couldn’t be completely certain. Because Trump is prone to doing that sort of thing. While they wait to see if press attention to their various financial adventures dies down, they have to worry that Dear Old Dad d_oesn’t actually have their backs_. Which could lead them to decide that the better part of self-preservation is to get out. Leaving Kelly with a pretty clear mandate to rule (particularly if McMaster is forced out, too). Who’s left to stop Kelly from manipulating the dotard as he pleases? Trump will do _anything_ you ask, as long as you promise him cheeseburgers today, a golf game tomorrow, and a rally next week. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17412 "2018-03-03T21:00:46Z")
Ivanka will pout and sit on her daddy’s lap and that old orange idiot will pick up the phone and have someone tell Kelly he’s fired. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17413 "2018-03-03T21:04:28Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Basically, all of the words he used [in that rant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NcJvvLBD6w&t=30m55s), added together, work out to “clusterfuck” (with a sign value of “total”). And bless his pea-pickin’ heart! _Mark Shields_, ladies and gentlemen, pals and gals, the avatar of frumpy! David Brooks knows how, knows that one needs to actively _wear_ a suit, to set oneself, shoulders, arms, elbows in a pattern that flatters the tailoring. But even if he took Uncle Mark to his favorite tailor and bought him the very best on offer, Mark would still look as though he donned the suit, napped inside a running dryer for a couple hours and then walked onto the soundstage. (Bob Newhart, many years ago, had a bit about the coordinator in charge of Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to the USA. [Note to Puppy Dopers: he was a Russian] He is talking on the phone to the police who are trying to figure out which one he was out of the group exiting the airplane. “See a guy who looks like he slept in his suit for ten hours? That’s him!”) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17414 "2018-03-03T21:04:32Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Trump will do _anything_ you ask, as long as you promise him cheeseburgers today He will gladly do anything Tuesday for a cheeseburger today! Except pay you. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17415 "2018-03-03T21:06:19Z")
By all accounts Trump hates Kelly. And has from the first day Kelly started telling him what he could and couldn’t do. (Trump was fine with Kelly during his Homeland Security tenure.) That he hasn’t found a way to get rid of him yet, tells me Trump is scared spitless of Kelly. He won’t fire him, no matter how sexily Ivanka pouts. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17416 "2018-03-03T21:07:15Z")
Well, Tuesday. Not necessarily the very _next_ Tuesday. But a Tuesday, you can rely on that! ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17417 "2018-03-03T21:08:10Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > He will gladly do anything Tuesday for a cheeseburger today! Except pay you. Yes, he truly is too wimpy. Mr. Never-Take-Responsibility (just as the cartoon has it). ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17418 "2018-03-03T21:15:05Z")
Trump vows to tax European cars if the EU fights back with tariff on U.S. goods > **[Trump vows to tax European cars if the EU fights back with tariff on U.S. goods](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/03/03/canadian-pm-justin-trudeau-rejects-trumps-tariffs-absolutely-unacceptable/391805002/)** > > Trudeau warns of a 'serious disruption' of markets if U.S. imposes steel tariff Trade wars are easy. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17419 "2018-03-03T21:16:46Z")
There was a thread on the big windstorm in the DC area Friday, and it got me to wondering. You cannot (well, ought not at least) take off in a 747 when the wind is gusting 30~40, so how did Shitgibbon get to Florida this weekend? Which got me to imagining the presidential motorcade tooling down I-95 and over to A-1-A. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17420 "2018-03-03T21:19:25Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Ivanka will pout and sit on her daddy’s lap and that old orange idiot will pick up the phone and have someone tell Kelly he’s fired. Does the White House calligrapher have that sort of authority? ---
**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:** [March 3, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17421 "2018-03-03T21:22:58Z")
Something popped up on my feed today. Apparently, last month Paul Ryan blamed ‘entitlements’ for the deficit increase. I’d post a link, but I can’t find text and I hate videos. If you’re OK with videos, search ‘Deficit increase is due to entitlement spending’. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17422 "2018-03-03T21:42:54Z")
Lemme help: [Maria Bartiromo’s Twitter](https://twitter.com/MariaBartiromo/status/965309828838182912). Both text and video at that link. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17423 "2018-03-03T21:45:55Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Something popped up on my feed today. Apparently, last month Paul Ryan blamed ‘entitlements’ for the deficit increase. I’d post a link, but I can’t find text and I hate videos. If you’re OK with videos, search ‘Deficit increase is due to entitlement spending’. He always says that. You know “entitlements” refers to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Stuff those terrible poor people need to live. We should probably ship them to Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17424 "2018-03-03T21:51:51Z")
Build the wall first, otherwise, they’ll just come right back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=870) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=872)