# 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:** 900
**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:** [March 15, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17985 "2018-03-15T23:27:35Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I agree. He got out voted last time. If there is a next time, not one democrat will stay home. Of course they will. Or purists will vote for 3rd parties. That’s the way Democrats roll. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17986 "2018-03-15T23:36:12Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > Of course they will. Or purists will vote for 3rd parties. That’s the way Democrats roll. You’d have to be a hell of a purist not to vote against re-electing Trump. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17987 "2018-03-15T23:49:01Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > Of course they will. Or purists will vote for 3rd parties. That’s the way Democrats roll. Yep. There’s more than a little truth to the saying “Democrats fall in love; Republicans fall in line.” Voting for someone from your party just because you’re supposed to vote for someone from your party doesn’t work as well when the members of party think of themselves as anti-authoritarian free spirits. ---
**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 15, 2018, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17988 "2018-03-15T23:52:19Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > They’d just spin it as a baptism. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17989 "2018-03-16T00:02:21Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > Of course they will. Or purists will vote for 3rd parties. That’s the way Democrats roll. I disagree. A lesson has been learned. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17990 "2018-03-16T01:05:10Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I disagree. A lesson has been learned. You mean like in 2000? Right. I bet you can find people on this board who voted for Nader AND Jill Stein AND would defend it because of some mumbo jumbo about how Trump will destroy the Republicans and Hillary Clinton is unclean and it serves her right and people have to EARN their vote, etc. ---
**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 16, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17991 "2018-03-16T01:09:54Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > I know what you’re saying although McMaster’s likely replacement, [John Bolton](https://www.vox.com/world/2018/3/12/17091772/john-bolton-trump-national-security-adviser-war-iran-north-korea), is not exactly a Brad Pitt lookalike. No one will argue with you there. It may all come down to Bolton’s willingness to offer up praise of Trump in the meetings; if he comes through, Trump could always seat him with his back to the cameras, so as to preserve the telegenic values. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17992 "2018-03-16T01:12:24Z")
…and Trump is just so jolly _entertaining!_. Remember how the pundits (I’m looking at you, Maureen Dowd, you asshole) complained about Obama being so “dry and professorial” ? ---
**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 16, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17993 "2018-03-16T01:13:57Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > … I bet you can find people on this board who voted for Nader AND Jill Stein AND would defend it because of some mumbo jumbo about how Trump will destroy the Republicans and Hillary Clinton is unclean and it serves her right and people have to EARN their vote, etc. Too true. And not one of them realizes that the “your vote is the emblem of your soul and must be given ONLY to a candidate of purity and nobility” hogwash they’ve bought into is being vended by the most anti-progressive of forces. (Anyone care to bet against the possibility that the particular hogwash in question is being _explicitly_ pushed by the Internet Research Agency and other Kremlin operations?) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17994 "2018-03-16T01:18:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The only point I’d argue with is that religion is under attack. People don’t have a problem with genuine religion. What’s under attack is a political ideology that’s pretending to be a religion. A lot of what claims to be Christianity in America nowadays has nothing to do with anything Jesus Christ ever said. “Nowadays”? So when were the good old days then? When did America get Christianity right? ---
**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:** [March 16, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17995 "2018-03-16T01:24:17Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I disagree. A lesson has been learned. > [@wonky](#): > > You mean like in 2000? Right. > > I bet you can find people on this board who voted for Nader AND Jill Stein AND would defend it because of some mumbo jumbo about how Trump will destroy the Republicans and Hillary Clinton is unclean and it serves her right and people have to EARN their vote, etc. I’m inclined to agree with **wonky** on this point. I’ll feel more comfortable embracing **enipla** ’s assertion in November, 2040, when we’re celebrating the sixth consecutive electoral victory by a Democratic Presidential candidate. Of course, assuming that this event means that the Republican Party is no longer a going concern, having been replaced on the political landscape by a less-malevolent opposition party, that will probably be when it’s safe to commence the take-down of the Democratic Party… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17996 "2018-03-16T01:27:51Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > “Nowadays”? So when were the good old days then? When did America get Christianity right? Were you not paying attention on that one Wednesday night in '87? It’s a little hard to “get it right” when so many of the first settlers had that Puritan Work Ethic (and plenty of other non-Christian hangups… like, well, being Puritans). ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17997 "2018-03-16T01:31:40Z")
McMasters is out. > **[Trump decides to remove national security adviser, and others may follow](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-decides-to-remove-national-security-adviser-and-others-may-follow/2018/03/15/fea2ebae-285c-11e8-bc72-077aa4dab9ef_story.html?utm_term=.b7d95eb7bc22)** > > The White House’s personnel turbulence creates uncertainty and gallows humor. As one senior official said, “Everybody fears the perp walk.” Trump’s supposedly going to take his time with finding a good person for the replacement. I guess Jared’s got some free time now that he doesn’t have to read the daily briefings. Probably just a coincidence that McMaster’s gave a speech today saying that Russia deserved bonus sanctions for “atrocities” in Syria. > **[McMaster calls for further U.S. punishment of Russia over ‘atrocities’ in Syria](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/hr-mcmaster-russia-syria-crime-punishment-465841)** > > At the museum, he invoked the memory of the Holocaust as he called for greater international action in the region. 1. Fox News is agitating harder than ever for firing Rod Rosenstein, on the news that Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organziation - > **[Minutes after blockbuster report on Russia investigation, the knives are out...](https://thinkprogress.org/knives-out-rod-rosenstein-a64f6af36fb3/)** > > Fox News is on the attack. 3. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are circulating a memo stating that the Trump Organization was doing business with a Russian bank that was under sanctions, while the Org was pursuing hopes of a Trump Tower Moscow in 2016 - > **[Trump Organization 'negotiated with sanctioned Russian bank in 2016'](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/15/trump-organization-negotiated-with-sanctioned-russian-bank-in-2016)** > > Claim is contained in memo by Democratic lawmakers investigating possible collusion between Trump campaign and Kremlin ---
**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:** [March 16, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17998 "2018-03-16T01:37:25Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > In the past 8 years: gay marriage became legal, LGBTQ rights rose to the forefront, race has become a national dialogue, as has pay equity and gun control. Even religion itself is under attack. Keep in mind, America is the stagnant backwater when it comes to these issues when compared to the rest of the first world. > > They will not beat back the tide but I think they’re just glad to get a bit of respite before they are drowned by the next progressive wave. Trump is the flotsam they cling to while they take their last gasping breaths. They are really doing a ton of damage to health care. A ton. It’s nice to think of another administration undoing it all, but you can’t undo a lack of health care and that’s what we’re getting. They are eroding Medicaid and Medicare, doing profound damage to the individual and small group market, and giving religion more power in health care. And that’s not even considering the disasters that have struck the EPA and State and Education and the judiciary and on and on. Yes, we will eventually win. No, they can’t actually stop history by standing athwart it and shouting. But they are hurting a lot of people very much, and that can’t be undone. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17999 "2018-03-16T01:38:02Z")
Oh did we talk about Buzzfeed’s latest response to Michael Cohen’s lawsuit against them? I’ve lost track. Anyway - Cohen sued Buzzfeed for publishing the Steele Dossier last year, saying it was defamation because it hurt Cohen’s reputation. Buzzfeed today sent Stormy Daniels a letter telling them to preserve any evidence and documents she might have of her dealings with Michael Cohen, because Buzzfeed is going to want to use those documents in its defense against Cohen, to establish that the things said about him the Steele Dossier are the sort of shenanigans he gets up to on the regular, thus - it was not defamatory to publish the memos about his shenanigans in the Dossier. The Good Part is that if Daniels is called to testify about her agreement with Cohen, her testimony would be allowed in court, regardless of any private NDA’s Cohen & Daniels might have together. > **[BuzzFeed maneuver could free Stormy Daniels to speak on Trump](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/14/buzzfeed-stormy-daniels-trump-462261)** > > BuzzFeed is using Cohen’s libel suit as a vehicle to demand that Daniels preserve all records relating to her relationship with Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/18000 "2018-03-16T01:38:46Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Fair and balanced Fox News is reporting a possible cabinet “bloodbath” by Friday. McMaster is a goner for sure but Trump may want to cull the herd in one fell swoop. > > [McMaster, Shulkin and Kelly could be next to go in White House ‘bloodbath,’ sources say](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/14/mcmaster-shulkin-and-kelly-could-be-next-to-go-in-white-house-bloodbath-sources-say.html) The Washington Post is now also reporting that McMaster is toast. WaPo cites five anonymous sources. > **[Trump decides to remove national security adviser, and others may follow](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-decides-to-remove-national-security-adviser-and-others-may-follow/2018/03/15/fea2ebae-285c-11e8-bc72-077aa4dab9ef_story.html?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.2922dae29904)** > > The White House’s personnel turbulence creates uncertainty and gallows humor. As one senior official said, “Everybody fears the perp walk.” I guess Mattis and Kelly are hearing footsteps now too. If they’re cashiered, surely Trump will lose support among the military, right? Mattis us like a superhero to the military! Ha! I crack me up! They won’t desert Trump either. Just look at all the respect Trump gives the Marine Core. Not like Obama! ---
**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 16, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/18001 "2018-03-16T01:51:41Z")
Live on CNN now, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, says has been approached by 6 additional woman with similar stories to Stormy. 2 of the 6 women have non-disclosure agreements with Trump. He is evaluating whether to represent these women. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/18002 "2018-03-16T02:02:08Z")
In real news, most people wouldn’t know it now, but we’re getting closer and closer to the tipping point at which Trump’s economic policies seriously fuck the economy. A tandem of tight off-the-charts treasury debt, tighter money supply in the private sector, a slow-down in the home building market, tariffs, and the fact that when the US gets to the point where it needs an international sucker, er, banker to jump start our increasingly stagnant economy…those bankers might just tell us to go fuck ourselves. And what incentive would they have to say otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/18003 "2018-03-16T02:06:11Z")
Ok, [this](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-15/russian-hackers-attacking-u-s-power-grid-aviation-fbi-warns) is a sphincter pucker: > [@](#): > > Russian hackers are conducting a broad assault on the U.S. electric grid, water processing plants, air transportation facilities and other targets in rolling attacks on some of the country’s most sensitive infrastructure, U.S. government officials said Thursday. > > The announcement was the first official confirmation that Russian hackers have taken aim at facilities on which hundreds of millions of Americans depend for basic services. Bloomberg News reported in July that Russian hackers had breached more than a dozen power plants in seven states, an aggressive campaign that has since expanded to dozens of states, according to a person familiar with the investigation. > > … > > Cyber-attacks are “literally happening hundreds of thousands of times a day,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry told lawmakers during a hearing Thursday. “The warfare that goes on in the cyberspace is real, it’s serious, and we must lead the world.” (Bloomberg) The story as reported on MSNBC by Maddow makes the point that the penetration by hackers is not just any longer administrative in nature. It now includes actual control of the facilities, to shut them down and/or even blow them up. Including nuclear facilities. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/18004 "2018-03-16T02:08:46Z")
For any other human being on earth, one fifth of the news that’s currently circulating around Trump would be enough to send them into the fetal position while whimpering “Mommy” and contemplating a self-imposed dirt nap. For this guy it’s just Thursday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=899) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=901)