# 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:** 968
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19345 "2018-04-19T01:47:32Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Didn’t they have bread, too? Well, yeah, but they also made their beer out of bread. It wasn’t as thick as that of the Sumerians, which was supposed to be like porridge sucked through a straw. And they ate fish. But they lived in a desert with unsanitary water and drank lots of beer. > **[Beer in Ancient Egypt](https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1033/beer-in-ancient-egypt/)** > > Considering the value the ancient Egyptians placed on enjoying life, it is no surprise that they are known as the first civilization to perfect the art of brewing beer. The Egyptians were so well known... ---
**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:** [April 19, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19346 "2018-04-19T03:02:37Z")
beer has holes all throughout it, just like bread ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19347 "2018-04-19T03:03:14Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > When they look up and shout “save us!” I look down and whisper “covfefe”. You owe me a new keyboard! > [@k9bfriender](#): > > And that’s the problem there. You have the later group hiding in the former group, while telling the former group that we despise them because of who they are associated with. I’ve tried to parse this a couple times and am not sure which way you mean it\*, but if you’re saying the wingnuts are telling the bulk of Trump voters that the left hates them because they’re associated with the wingnuts, they’re pretty correct. Also, “When you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.” \*Caffeine deficiency is a horrible thing. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19348 "2018-04-19T03:49:40Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > You owe me a new keyboard! > > I’ve tried to parse this a couple times and am not sure which way you mean it\*, but if you’re saying the wingnuts are telling the bulk of Trump voters that the left hates them because they’re associated with the wingnuts, they’re pretty correct. Also, “When you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.” > > \*Caffeine deficiency is a horrible thing. I parse it as the wingnuts convincing the non-wingnuts that liberals don’t just hate the wingnuts, but hate all conservatives. I’ve seen that logic used all the time. I even think it’s the real reason behind proudly claiming the title of “deplorable.” The real deplorables got upset and convinced the rest that Clinton was attacking everyone, and not just the actual bad people. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19349 "2018-04-19T04:07:36Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Didn’t they have bread, too? Their beer was basically fermented liquid bread. Without carbonation. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19350 "2018-04-19T04:21:47Z")
> [@j666](#): > > But you didn’t think to include, “Yes, women are as capable as men”? Or “Yes, blue-collar and red-necked workers need support”? Or “Yes, now we have to address rural as well as urban development”? > > Yes, there is away of reaching a large number of Trump voters, but that requires acknowledging that he did get well over 40% of the popular vote, and they aren’t all boomers sucking the country dry with their social security and medicare. This seems rather muddled. The first statement is something that Democrats did run on, and is exactly what cost them, as misogyny and voting for Trump were [heavily correlated](https://academic.oup.com/poq/article/82/suppl_1/213/4963814#115341824) in the last election. The other two are indeed issues where Clinton was a fucking idiot and didn’t run on, despite the fact that Democrats have the much better track record on those issues. We’re the pro-union group, so we’re the ones for empowering workers. And we’re the ones who have pushed the various rural development programs that use government funds to help, unlike the Republicans who want to reduce government spending. But then you get into acknowledging that Trump got so much of the vote. But the only thing Trump did in those regards is blame everything on immigrants and talk about wasting money on a wall. And that resonated. He ran on conspiracies theories about Clinton. Those are things we can’t do. And no one thinks they are boomers sucking the country dry except possibly the Republicans who are trying to take away Social Security and Medicare. Those were issues where Trump and Clinton ran the same–in protecting that. The problem was Medicaid, which Trump ran on dismantling, calling it Obamacare. There are Trump voters we can reach. But it’s still the moderates, not the diehards who either support Trump and the evil he stood for, or are willing to give him a pass for conservative ideal they hold so dearly. The only way to reach those would be to bend over backwards and do our own Southern Strategy, and we just can’t do that. Right now, we are focused on the midterms, and that requires bringing out the base. Moderates don’t mobilize well. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19351 "2018-04-19T04:53:36Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > No, just a range-finder and a whisk. A whisk, you say? _A whisk?_ [**RUN!!**](http://schlockmercenary.wikia.com/wiki/Ch%27vorthq) ---
**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 19, 2018, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19352 "2018-04-19T04:56:43Z")
In closed-door meetings at the United Nations in March, Trump administration officials pushed socially conservative views on women’s rights issues — including abstinence-based policies over information about contraception — that were further to the right than those expressed by most other countries present, including Russia and the representative for the Arab states. > **[In Closed-Door UN Meetings, Trump Administration Officials Pushed Abstinence...](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoconnor/un-meeting-trump-administration-abstinence)** > > Members of HHS, USAID, and the US Mission to the UN asked for references to contraception, abortion, and comprehensive sex education to be struck from a document on international gender equality, calling the US a "pro-life nation." ---
**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 19, 2018, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19353 "2018-04-19T05:26:44Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > 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. That could explain her husband’s dissing of Chump on his own social media. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19354 "2018-04-19T05:50:09Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > A whisk, you say? > > _A whisk?_ > [**RUN!!**](http://schlockmercenary.wikia.com/wiki/Ch%27vorthq) Coulda been worse. Coulda been a [plunger](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQLbwOGT8eM). ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19355 "2018-04-19T09:16:25Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > When they look up and shout “save us!” I look down and whisper “covfefe”. Very well done. ---
**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 19, 2018, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19356 "2018-04-19T09:27:37Z")
Shucks. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19357 "2018-04-19T10:07:50Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > When they look up and shout “save us!” I look down and whisper “covfefe”. \ > [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > Theirs is the last, dying gasp of an outdated way of thinking. This new world where all people are actually equals frightens and enrages them. Yes, blacks are as good as whites. No, having money is not the end all, be all determination of a person’s worth. No, homosexuals do not need to stay hidden and ashamed. > > It doesn’t much matter how we treat them–everything they thought they knew about how the world works is crumbling around them, and they are going to howl and gnash and latch onto anything that affirms their unsustainable beliefs. > [@j666](#): > > But you didn’t think to include, “Yes, women are as capable as men”? Or “Yes, blue-collar and red-necked workers need support”? Or “Yes, now we have to address rural as well as urban development”? > > Yes, there is away of reaching a large number of Trump voters, but that requires acknowledging that he did get well over 40% of the popular vote, and they aren’t all boomers sucking the country dry with their social security and medicare. A large part of the issue IMO is that in the same period in which women, minorities and LGBT folk made significant progress toward equality those straight white males saw their ability to provide for their family on a single income evaporate as income for the working and middle classes failed to keep pace with the cost of living. That the correlation between the two developments is not borne out by causation doesn’t matter; not only are the two naturally connected by those feeling disempowered (I almost said “emasculated”) by the simultaneous loss of earning power and societal privilege, but the association is strongly encouraged by those who are the actual beneficiaries of the widening income gap - the wealthiest segment of society - in order to allow them to continue to take a disproportionate share of the spoils of economic growth. Unfortunately those people also own or control the media sources that Trump supporters flock to, so it’s difficult to fight back with the big truth. Were I stupendously wealthy and legally allowed to start my own PAC (which I might be - as I’m not stupendously wealthy I haven’t looked into it) I’d be tempted to run a series of local/regional ads on a theme of integrity and broken promises. For example, in coal country (KY, WV and so on) have an unemployed coal miner stating that the Republicans promised to bring coal mining jobs back but all they’ve done is cut safety regulations for mining firms which has made the owners richer but nearly doubled the number of deaths in mining accidents (from 2016 to 2017) and allowed the mines to pollute the water the miners’ families drink. They also cut all the funding to the government programs put in place to help out-of-work miners train for other careers. “You promised us good work and a better life, Mister President. Where are the jobs? Where’s the **integrity**?” I mean, one of their current candidates is someone who went to jail as a result of miners’ deaths. There’s plenty of material there. Now repeat all over the country - in farming country show how the “trade war” is hitting farmers hard (the costs of farming has gone up while exports for things like pork and soy are set to fall hard, and all Trump has done is to say “Hey, they’re patriots - they’re okay making sacrifices” while he continues to make money off the situation. Ditto the Rust Belt, hit hard by the higher steel and aluminum prices. Hell, I’d have some guy in a cowboy hat on the Texas border demanding to know where the President’s plan for a wall was, how he was going to deal with the Rio Grande, and how he was going to get Mexico to pay for it as promised (and why he threatened to shut down the US government if _they_ didn’t pay for it) - “Where’s the _plan_, Mr President? Where’s the _wall_? Where’s the _integrity_?” Show people in lots of little ways how the lies of Trump and his Congressional enablers are affecting them personally and you’ll see his support erode rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19358 "2018-04-19T13:01:01Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Show people in lots of little ways how the lies of Trump and his Congressional enablers are affecting them personally and you’ll see his support erode rapidly. I really want to believe this is true, but I just can’t. None of this economic policy put in place by the Republicans is new. We’ve seen the tax cuts for the wealthy, the tariffs, and the deregulation of corporations many times before, and it never works out the way they say it will. Yet they continue to get elected, continue to enact those policies, and the gap between the poor and wealthy continues to grow. So you can explain it to them for the 45th time; point out the problems Kansas and Oklahoma are facing; use pie charts, mining deaths, and examples of rampant Republican corruption. It won’t matter. I’d love it if it did, but it likely won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19359 "2018-04-19T13:22:37Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I really want to believe this is true, but I just can’t. > > None of this economic policy put in place by the Republicans is new. We’ve seen the tax cuts for the wealthy, the tariffs, and the deregulation of corporations many times before, and it never works out the way they say it will. Yet they continue to get elected, continue to enact those policies, and the gap between the poor and wealthy continues to grow. > > So you can explain it to them for the 45th time; point out the problems Kansas and Oklahoma are facing; use pie charts, mining deaths, and examples of rampant Republican corruption. It won’t matter. I’d love it if it did, but it likely won’t. Agreed. The base votes for GOP because that’s their team, not because of policy. It’s tribalism stoked by Tump, Hannity, and Limbaugh. Which is awful, because I haven’t heard of a good way to counter that. People like **Bricker** or GHWB that will vote for the other side when their candidate is obviously unfit are few and far between. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19360 "2018-04-19T13:23:51Z")
I see trump just said he would **run again in 2020**. Our plan is working. I was afraid he’d announce he wasn’t running, and then retire claiming he was the undefeated king of the world. Now we’re going to get a chance to toss him under the bus. You realize all the campaigning shit is less than a year away? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19361 "2018-04-19T14:02:41Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I see trump just said he would **run again in 2020**. Our plan is working. I was afraid he’d announce he wasn’t running, and then retire claiming he was the undefeated king of the world. Now we’re going to get a chance to toss him under the bus. You realize all the campaigning shit is less than a year away? Except it doesn’t matter what he says. He doesn’t change his mind, he never makes it up and just says whatever he thinks will make him popular at that very moment. If he even puts that much ‘thought’ into it. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19362 "2018-04-19T14:05:47Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Or maybe we don’t. Maybe we let them experience the consequences of their actions. > > When farmers talk in shaky voices about how they can no longer sell their crops for enough to support themselves (given that the consequences of the tariffs have lost them their overseas markets), we remind them that, as Spanky Bonespurs said, they are great patriots. If religious, we tell them that our thoughts and prayers are with them. If not, we express sympathy for their circumstances. We tell them that it must suck to be them. What we don’t do is increase farm subsidies so that they can stay in business. > > When people in small towns in the rust belt complain that those good-paying manufacturing/steel industry/coal industry jobs that barely required a high school diploma haven’t come back as Spanky promised, we express sympathy for their circumstances. We tell them there are many low-paying jobs picking produce available since we no longer have those scary brown people coming in to do those jobs; maybe they should relocate. We tell them it must suck to be them. We don’t put in programs that don’t make economic sense to try to magically give them well-paying jobs. All of that. Yes. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19363 "2018-04-19T15:21:00Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I see trump just said he would **run again in 2020**. Our plan is working. I was afraid he’d announce he wasn’t running, and then retire claiming he was the undefeated king of the world. Now we’re going to get a chance to toss him under the bus. You realize all the campaigning shit is less than a year away? He registered for the 2020 election on Inauguration Day. And he’s had a number of fundraisers/rallies since. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19364 "2018-04-19T15:21:30Z")
There is this ray of hope: [From Steve Lichtman:](https://twitter.com/stevel3000/status/986835322884386816) > [@](#): > > Trump’s high approval rating among GOP voters is misleading–because fewer voters identify as Republican. In the first Gallup poll after his inauguration, party id was 31-37-31 (GOP/Ind/Dem). In the most recent poll party id was 23-45-29. It’s a (t)rump party of true believers. With some further thoughts in the Twitter thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=967) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=969)