# 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:** 961
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19205 "2018-04-15T14:23:33Z")
I don’t suppose Mr. Jones cared to list these sacrifices? Because as far as I can see the only thing the right has given up is whatever vestiges of their thin veneer of decency they had remaining to them after the past 15 years. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19206 "2018-04-15T14:32:01Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Right. I understand that the lives of American service men and women aren’t terribly important to war mongering cowards, but it’s rare to see one admit it so readily. > > That’s worth a bravo! At least you’re not a coward when it comes to revealing your own cowardice. As Paul Krugman asked, _ **Who wants to be the last man to die for a poss tape.** _ **It’s all about the investigations.** Russia investiagation. Cohen. Neuller. Comey. McCabe. Sessions. Stormy. Ryan “retiring”. Flynn. Manafort. > **[Analysis | Why has Trump been threatening to attack Syria? (Hint: It’s...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/04/13/why-has-trump-been-threatening-to-attack-syria-hint-its-probably-not-about-syria/?utm_term=.8082bf2df1e3)** > > Can you say “Russia investigation” and “Comey book"? … Sometimes there are reasons to publicize military operations before a major offensive — especially if the warning is specific about the intended targets, which Trump’s tweet was not. But the kind of airstrikes that Trump suggested Wednesday require the element of surprise. All of which suggests that Trump’s tweet is less likely to have genuinely been a military announcement, and much more likely to have been **an appeal to his domestic political base as the special counsel’s investigation escalates and midterm elections approach**. … But, while a major ground offensive requires troop buildups and civilian evacuations, a missile strike works only with the element of surprise. In fact, **warning of impending missile strikes — even in the abstract — lets enemy forces move or protect essential equipment, military assets and important personnel**. … Within hours, Syrian aircraft were again launching airstrikes against rebel positions from the base. … Trump is playing to his base **The real reason for the attack threats is probably this: Midterms are approaching, the Russia investigation is escalating and former FBI director James B. Comey’s book is being released.** Research shows that **diversionary wars** — wars started to distract the public from domestic unrest — are hard to start in democracies and rarely have the intended effect. **Military operations in an already existing conflict are much easier to manipulate** — and are not as risky as starting a war. … Trump bookended his tweets about Syria with comments both about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation and relations with Russia. That suggests that the president sees these as linked. And with Republicans expecting to take heavy losses in the midterms, **Trump may see an airstrike on Syria as a way to motivate Republican voters and boost his approval ratings**. … In other words, announcing impending airstrikes against Syrian forces makes little strategic sense. But it makes plenty of sense for domestic politics. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19207 "2018-04-15T14:33:04Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Good question. Why did they??? Ignoring **HL** because he’s a fucking trumplicking idiot. However, my thinking on this action between France, UK and US, was to use Syrian targets as a proxy message to Russia/Putin and his obnoxious meddling and trolling in world affairs. Trump can’t be relied on to send that message so the adults in the room are using military force to send the message that the Trump Clown Posse Administration isn’t competent to send through diplomatic channels. Message delivered, in my opinion. But it is of limited use because Trump undermines it by stepping on the message with his vocal ignorance of policy and diplomacy. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19208 "2018-04-15T14:37:56Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Ignoring **HL** because he’s a fucking trumplicking idiot. However, my thinking on this action between France, UK and US, was\*\* to use Syrian targets as a proxy message to Russia/Putin and his obnoxious meddling and trolling\*\* in world affairs. > > Trump can’t be relied on to send that message so the adults in the room are using military force to send the message that the Trump Clown Posse Administration isn’t competent to send through diplomatic channels. > > Message delivered, in my opinion. But it is of limited use because Trump undermines it by stepping on the message with his vocal ignorance of policy and diplomacy. That at least makes some sense. I think the best way to get Putin, is to go after the oligarchs and gangsters that are in cahoots with him, and their assets/holdings. Squeeze them enough then squeeze them some more. They may then squeeze Putin. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19209 "2018-04-15T14:39:00Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I don’t suppose Mr. Jones cared to list these sacrifices? Because as far as I can see the only thing the right has given up is whatever vestiges of their thin veneer of decency they had remaining to them after the past 15 years. Fuck Alex Jones, with a barb wire wrapped cactus. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19210 "2018-04-15T14:43:58Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > That at least makes some sense. I think the best way to get Putin, is to go after the oligarchs and gangsters that are in cahoots with him, and their assets/holdings. Squeeze them enough then squeeze them some more. They may then squeeze Putin. But even with congress voting 98/2 for the sanctions, Trump has dragged his fat orange ass to implement these sanctions, reluctant to upset his handlers no doubt. And anyway, even if the sanctions are implemented, Putin is in so deep with his various plots to undermine the west, that more than one clear message needs sending on multiple fronts. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19211 "2018-04-15T14:52:17Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > You’ve missed the point. Contributions to a campaign have to be reported, and there are strict limits. But once the campaign has the money, it can spend it on negative advertising. > > A campaign could also spend the money on silencing sex partners, and that would be legal. > > What happened here is that money _that was not campaign money_ was spent on that. > > A better comparison is if a friend of a candidate spent $130,000 of non-campaign money to air negative ads about the opponent. That would be illegal, because money spent on getting someone elected has to play by the rules of campaign finance. I wasn’t missing the point here. I was pointing out that the investigations the the republicans were doing on Clinton was a form of negative advertising. This was not funded out of campaign coffers, this was funded by tax payer dollars. These were never dollars contributed to the campaign. A better comparison would be if you got political allies in the government to spend millions of tax dollars “investigating” your opponent in order to make them look bad. ---
**Author:** ![NotFromOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@NotFromOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotFromOne)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19212 "2018-04-15T17:42:52Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Fuck Alex Jones, with a barb wire wrapped cactus. I’d pay a dollar to see that. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19213 "2018-04-15T17:49:53Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Then we should also open our doors to refugees from Syria, right? That’s doing the right thing. Right. The one unambiguously right thing to do in this case would be to admit more Syrian refugees. Therefore you know we definitely won’t do 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:** [April 15, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19214 "2018-04-15T17:59:37Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Good question. Why did they??? May did it because of domestic politics. She’s so badly stained by Brexit she has to look resolute. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19215 "2018-04-15T18:06:45Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Right. The one unambiguously right thing to do in this case would be to admit more Syrian refugees. Therefore you know we definitely won’t do it. That’s my solution. Take ALL the refugees. Don’t just take the ones who are able to leave, go in there and give them transportation out. They don’t need to leave anything behind, have them bring it with them. Then you can have a bunch of asshole fight over a patch of desert, and we don’t really need to care. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19216 "2018-04-15T18:10:41Z")
[Lyin’ Huckabee Sanders](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/04/15/sarah-sanders-situation-room-photo-pence-trump-misleading-tweet-sot-newday.cnn/video/playlists/sarah-huckabee-sanders/). ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19217 "2018-04-15T18:58:30Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > [Lyin’ Huckabee Sanders](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/04/15/sarah-sanders-situation-room-photo-pence-trump-misleading-tweet-sot-newday.cnn/video/playlists/sarah-huckabee-sanders/). The tweet in question. > ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19218 "2018-04-15T19:25:25Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Jubilant news everyone! It’s [Mission Accomplished](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mission-accomplished-president-trump-declares-in-tweeted-response-to-syria-strike-2018-04-14)! Now, where have we heard that before? Hmmm. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > [_Fire and Fury_ author Michael Wolf says Trump is having an extra-marital affair in the White House.](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/michael-wolff-claims-trump-affair-white-house-article-1.3767521) If there was not already speculation it’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, I’d be tempted to think it was Sarah Sanders, judging from the brownness of that cunt’s nose. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19219 "2018-04-15T19:27:53Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You’re advocating that American men and women, many of whom are my friends that I served with, be put at serious risk of death, without being willing to share that risk yourself. What’s your excuse, if not cowardice? Go on, tell us. Maybe you’ve got a good story to tell. > > Or maybe you’re just another gutless chickenhawk. > [@SteveG1](#): > > So until you enlist and REALLY do support fighting for a god damn piss tape, YOU shut the fuck up. Now, now, now; the poor fellow deserves sympathy, what with his painful bone spurs… ---
**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:** [April 15, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19220 "2018-04-15T23:28:40Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > [Lyin’ Huckabee Sanders](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/04/15/sarah-sanders-situation-room-photo-pence-trump-misleading-tweet-sot-newday.cnn/video/playlists/sarah-huckabee-sanders/). > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The tweet in question. > [https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/985329759759601665](https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/985329759759601665) Okay… Let’s all take a breath and not bring ourselves down to their level. It’s entirely possible that this was a situation room briefing on Syria leading up to the eventual decision to strike. It was taken days before, obviously, when Pence was in attendance. SHS may not be lying. About this specific thing. This one time. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19221 "2018-04-15T23:30:49Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The tweet in question. > [https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/985329759759601665](https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/985329759759601665) Wow. It’s hard to be sure because of the angles, but out of the 15 people I can see deciding on military action, only one seems to be in uniform. Fortunately for the world, Bolton is there. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19222 "2018-04-15T23:46:05Z")
Come back, Ron Ziegler! All is forgiven! Most all, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19223 "2018-04-16T02:00:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > If there was not already speculation it’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, I’d be tempted to think it was Sarah Sanders, judging from the brownness of that cunt’s nose. Haley seems too smart to get personal with Trump (plus she backed Trump’s molestation accusers during the height of the MeToo movement). I would be astonished if Conway and Trump haven’t had sex. She seemed very comfortable on her knees in the couch of the Oval Office. But I suspect that she’s too old for him to use regularly (apologies for the callousness there, but it’s Trump’s callousness not mine). She probably just offers him BJs and quickies every once in a while if she’s made him angry somehow. Hope Hicks seemed to be free to date other men for her and Trump to have still been an item while she was in the White House. Omarosa denies anything. I would venture to guess that it’s someone we don’t know, or Omarosa was referencing Kellyanne even though that’s not quite the same thing as an affair. Again, I would be surprised if Omarosa had never slept with Trump, but I’m willing to believe that they weren’t a deal while in the White House. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19224 "2018-04-16T03:40:49Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Okay… Let’s all take a breath and not bring ourselves down to their level. > > It’s entirely possible that this was a situation room briefing on Syria leading up to the eventual decision to strike. It was taken days before, obviously, when Pence was in attendance. > > SHS may not be lying. About this specific thing. This one time. Why not? It works for them and nobody gives a damn. Why keep taking the “high road” only to see it do no good? The crusty ass ho bitch is lying. Again. It’s what she does. Always. So, it is reasonable to expect the same behavior. Pence was in Peru. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=960) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=962)