# 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:** 98
**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 9, 2017, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1941 "2017-03-09T06:44:21Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > As you damn well know, **Trump has said that the Obamacare Replacement bill is open to "review and negotiation**." As well it should be. > > I believe Paul Ryan really screwed the pooch on this one, although I have high respect for him. It’s bad because in its current form it keeps the Obamacare expansion, doesn’t allow selling of healthcare across state lines, etc. But the process isn’t done yet. > > The final product will be much better; the Freedom Caucus in the House and Rand Paul and Mike Lee in the Senate are very principled conservatives and won’t allow this Obamacare-Lite to pass. 🆒 (my bolding) Funny. The Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to insure that there are no amendments to the bill. > **[GOP healthcare plan clears first hurdle | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/house-health-care-markup/)** > > After an 18-hour session, the House Ways and Means Committee has become the first to approve the Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill. On another topic: The Chinese government has granted the Trump Corporation the right to using the Trump brand on 38 items, including escort services and massage parlors. > **[China just approved Donald Trump-branded spas, escort services and massage...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/china-donald-trump-branded-without-us-congress-permission-trademarks-spas-escort-services-hotels-and-massage-parlours-a7619136.html)** > > Preliminary approval has been granted for 38 trademarks which raises further questions about conflicts of interest ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1942 "2017-03-09T06:48:23Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > (my bolding) > > Funny. The Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to insure that there are no amendments to the bill. > [http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/house-health-care-markup/](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/house-health-care-markup/) > > On another topic: > The Chinese government has granted the Trump Corporation the right to using the Trump brand on 38 items, including escort services and massage parlors. > [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/china-donald-trump-branded-without-us-congress-permission-trademarks-spas-escort-services-hotels-and-a7619136.html](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/china-donald-trump-branded-without-us-congress-permission-trademarks-spas-escort-services-hotels-and-a7619136.html) Yeah, as I said before, with the Freedom Caucus conservatives lined up against the plan, as well as pushback from essentially every prominent conservative healthcare expert (as well as the grassroots conservatives and the conservative websites), there’s no way the bill is going to pass in it’s current form. It’s another entitlement, keeps some taxes for a year, it keeps the Cadillac tax forever, and it keeps the big-government Medicaid expansion until 2020, which is a horrible idea. Patience will prove me right, my friend. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1943 "2017-03-09T06:51:17Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > I believe in climate change, and I believe the Bush administration’s torture programs (euphemistically called enhanced interrogation) were wrong. I can see where your enthusiastic support for Trump comes from, then, seeing as how he has declared global warming to be a fraud and has voiced his support for torture in no uncertain terms. Anyway, you didn’t answer my question: since when were supporting science and opposing torture ultraliberal leftist positions? > [@](#): > > Despite what the Left would have you believe, conservative Republicans like myself do believe the climate is changing; we just don’t believe that to deal with it we should destroy the livelihoods of tens of thousands of hardworking coal workers to do it, workers who produce material that is so vital to everyday Americans’ lives. If a carbon tax was passed, thousands of jobs in the coal industry would fizzle, some coal plants would shut down, etc. So naturally you support a party that claims global warming is a fraud and wants to stop cleaning up dirty lakes and toxic waste dumps and the like. Makes perfect sense. Heil Trump. ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1944 "2017-03-09T07:01:18Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I can see where your enthusiastic support for Trump comes from, then, seeing as how he has declared global warming to be a fraud and has voiced his support for torture in no uncertain terms. Anyway, you didn’t answer my question: since when were supporting science and opposing torture ultraliberal leftist positions? > > Anyone with a sense of humor knew that Trump was joking when he said the Chinese invented global warming. It was a five-year-old tweet not meant to be taking seriously. > > So naturally you support a party that claims global warming is a fraud and wants to stop cleaning up dirty lakes and toxic waste dumps and the like. Makes perfect sense. Heil Trump. The Republican Party doesn’t claim global warming is a fraud. That’s bullshit. They just oppose some of the more alarmist claims about it that turned out to be false. The GOP doesn’t oppose cleaning up dirty lakes and toxic waste dumps. Remember the Michigan Flint water crisis? That was the fault of an Obama-administration EPA, a bunch of in competent second-raters. For example, the ultra-liberal John Kerry testified before Congress that by the summer of 2013, the Arctic would be completely free of sea ice because of climate change. He was completely, entirely totally wrong, my friend. It is an ultraliberal leftist thing to do to incorrectly cast all your opponents as climate deniers for not supporting high carbon taxes, draconian coal regulations, etc.–a straw man used to demonize the Right by liberals. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1945 "2017-03-09T07:12:45Z")
From your shiny new President, who heads the Republican party: > [@](#): > > ``` > The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. > > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012 > > ``` > [@](#): > > ``` > Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee – I’m in Los Angeles and it’s freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax! > > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2013 > > ``` > [@](#): > > NBC News just called it the great freeze – coldest weather in years. Is our country still spending money on the GLOBAL WARMING HOAX? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2014 > [@](#): > > Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2014 Those are from Snopes if you feel the need to check them out for yourself. Then there’s James Inhofe; this is from a radio interview from five years ago (five years ago today, in fact): > [@](#): > > Inhofe: Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous. The current head of the EPA is no friend to facts either, but I’m not keen on reading what Republicans have to say on the matter any more and I don’t think it would change your mind anyway. Now: since when were supporting science and opposing torture “ultraliberal leftist positions” as you put it? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1946 "2017-03-09T07:16:17Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > It appears that you ultraliberal leftists still can’t get over the fact that President Trump is president, and he is indeed doing a great job with his conservative agenda, as well as carrying out everything he said he would do. Your choice of terminology belies your lack of perspective. Nobody has “not gotten over the fact that Trump is president”. Quite a lot of people are unhappy that he is in such an important office for reasons Trump makes quite clear on a daily basis. > [@](#): > > So far, Trump has: > \*Repealed an Obama-era coal stream rule that would have resulted in the loss of jobs for tens of thousands of coal workers, in addition to the thousands already out of work Care to provide a cite for this assertion regarding Obama’s rules causing loss of jobs. To date, Trump has done nothing to prevent the loss of any jobs. He has, on the other hand, created jobs for his buds. > [@](#): > > \*Signed an executive order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which bans the funding of international health organizations that perform or promote the abortions of unborn children And you think this is a good policy why? Note that I do not think I have ever made my personal position on abortion public on this board as I am a male and thus do not have the ability to become pregnant. The United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, has made it clear that abortion is a women’s right. > [@](#): > > \*Nominated the excellent Neil Gorsuch, a solid conservative jurist who will uphold the Constitution’s original meaning as written, to replace the late, great Antonin Scalia. Why should he do something that his nominator (Trump) has zero intention of doing, to wit, upholding the constitution? Trump urinates (that’s a metaphor) on the document daily. > [@](#): > > \*Presided over record-breaking stock market rallies, which have been coined the “Trump rallies”. You’re talking about early reactions after the election win? Those don’t really count for much, do they? After all, what’s more important is the fiscal policy implemented and who gets appointed to what positions in the cabinet and how they do. > [@](#): > > \*Given the ICE free reign to crack down on illegal aliens, particularly the criminal ones. Specifically, he unleashed them and gave them more power to apprehend aliens who were given a free pass simply because they hadn’t committed any violent crimes yet. The results are showing. In mid-February, the ICE rounded up 700 illegal aliens alone, 75 percent of whom had criminal records (they’re not all warm and fuzzy, as the Left would have us believe). Yeah, and he’s still pissing on law when he’s supposedly “enforcing law”. Or did you forget the way he’s ordering fed agents to separate minor children from their mothers? By the way, really good “family values”, there, huh? > [@](#): > > \*coordinating the investing of billions of dollars into the United States with companies such as General Motors, Softbank Lockheed, etc. which will create tens of thousands of jobs. Where? > [@](#): > > \*Repealed a ridiculous last-day rule passed by the Obama administration which banned wildlife hunters from using lead bullets, despite the fact that it would cause thousands to stop hunting because of the high price of non-lead ammo, and the fact that scientific studies don’t show any real long-term harm to wildlife from using them when hunting. What about the damage to the rest of the environment? Just asking, mind you. > [@](#): > > Last but not least, as was reported yesterday by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, the number of illegal southern border crossings decreased by a whopping 40% in February—a stunning achievement. How reliable are Trump’s administration’s reports? > [@](#): > > I confess: I am a conservative Republican, I voted for Trump, and I am absolutely satisfied by what I see so far, and I am overjoyed by what the next four years will bring. I can tell the majority of straightdope people are liberals, and I respect their beliefs, but not their distortions of Trump. 😉 Do tell. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1947 "2017-03-09T07:17:50Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > For example, the ultra-liberal John Kerry testified before Congress that by the summer of 2013, the Arctic would be completely free of sea ice because of climate change. He was completely, entirely totally wrong, my friend. Okay, let me make something clear: I am not your friend. I am your total fucking stranger. As for Kerry, I’m not sure what Kerry’s quoting a worst-case scenario has to do with what Republicans believe and you claim they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1948 "2017-03-09T07:19:16Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > From your shiny new President, who heads the Republican party: > > Those are from Snopes if you feel the need to check them out for yourself. Then there’s James Inhofe; this is from a radio interview from five years ago (five years ago today, in fact): > > The current head of the EPA is no friend to facts either, but I’m not keen on reading what Republicans have to say on the matter any more and I don’t think it would change your mind anyway. > > Now: since when were supporting science and opposing torture “ultraliberal leftist positions” as you put it? He. Was. Joking. I never said that opposing torture and supporting science was an ultraliberal leftist position, as people of all political stripes hold those views. What I did say, though, was that this forum is filled with ultraliberal leftists, who support a flood of regulations which ultimately amount to despotic intrusions by the federal government over every brook, creek, cattle tank, mud puddle, slough, or damp spot in every landowner’s backyard. Indeed, many of these Draconian regulations, if passed, would turn the Rust Belt into little more than a theme park. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1949 "2017-03-09T07:25:09Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > He. Was. Joking. No. He. Wasn’t. > [@](#): > > I never said that opposing torture and supporting science was an ultraliberal leftist position, as people of all political stripes hold those views. No they don’t. You don’t either. Your support of Trump makes this clear. > [@](#): > > What I did say, though, was that this forum is filled with ultraliberal leftists, who support a flood of regulations which ultimately amount to despotic intrusions by the federal government over every brook, creek, cattle tank, mud puddle, slough, or damp spot in every landowner’s backyard. What you said was that those who oppose Trump, or as you mistakenly put it can’t get over his being president, were ultraliberal leftists. Lots of opposition to Trump is based on his support of torture and his opposition to science. Therefore these, by your lights, are ultraliberal leftist positions. Since when were they so? ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1950 "2017-03-09T07:34:52Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > No. He. Wasn’t. > > No they don’t. You don’t either. Your support of Trump makes this clear. > > What you said was that those who oppose Trump, or as you mistakenly put it can’t get over his being president, were ultraliberal leftists. Lots of opposition to Trump is based on his support of torture and his opposition to science. Therefore these, by your lights, are ultraliberal leftist positions. Since when were they so? 1.) I’m not going to repeat myself, I’ve already made clear my belief in climate change, and that I am skeptical of carbon tax regulations which may help the environment but is more than ruined by the thousands of fossil fuel industry worker jobs lost. 2.You made the fallacy of connecting two things to produce a statement that I did not in fact, say. I will say again: I don’t believe support of science and opposition to torture is an ultraliberal leftist position, it is a reasonable, humanitarian position which I share.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1951 "2017-03-09T07:40:41Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Care to provide a cite for this assertion regarding Obama’s rules causing loss of jobs. To date, Trump has done nothing to prevent the loss of any jobs. He has, on the other hand, created jobs for his buds. I sure can. The National Mining Association released a reputable report showing that over 70,000 jobs would have been lost by the coal-stream regulation rule passed by Obama, had it not been repealed by President Trump and the Republican Congress. See this:[http://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Fact-Sheet-SPR.pdf](http://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Fact-Sheet-SPR.pdf) ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1952 "2017-03-09T07:43:46Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > 1.) I’m not going to repeat myself, I’ve already made clear my belief in climate change, and that I am skeptical of carbon tax regulations which may help the environment but is more than ruined by the thousands of fossil fuel industry worker jobs lost. You’ve made clear your belief that the Republican party shares your belief in climate change. When faced with evidence to the contrary you come up with “But he didn’t meeeean it, mom!” Lack of repetition is welcome. > [@](#): > > 2.You made the fallacy of connecting two things to produce a statement that I did not in fact, say. I will say again: I don’t believe support of science and opposition to torture is an ultraliberal leftist position, it is a reasonable, humanitarian position which I share.🙂 Your support of the Republican party indicates otherwise. It is a reasonable, humanitarian position which you oppose. Otherwise you wouldn’t be happy with a pro-torture president gutting the EPA and the NOAA and making sure no organization is churning out facts that contradict the Republican Party’s claims and goals. ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1953 "2017-03-09T07:47:37Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > You’ve made clear your belief that the Republican party shares your belief in climate change. When faced with evidence to the contrary you come up with “But he didn’t meeeean it, mom!” Lack of repetition is welcome. > > Your support of the Republican party indicates otherwise. It is a reasonable, humanitarian position which you oppose. Otherwise you wouldn’t be happy with a pro-torture president gutting the EPA and the NOAA and making sure no organization is churning out facts that contradict the Republican Party’s claims and goals. Trump is not pro-torture, he abandoned his support of waterboarding long ago, after a thoughtful talk with Mr. Mattis at Trump Tower. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1954 "2017-03-09T07:55:02Z")
Trump is pro-torture. You can tell by the way he said he wanted to have people tortured. Oh, and their families put to death, too. Let us not forget that. Convincing him it’s not politically expedient does not mean he doesn’t support it. Next you’ll be telling me that he’s not a creep because he only said he WOULD date his daughter (the one he went along with being called “a piece of ass”, not the other one who wouldn’t let him kiss her cheek at the debate) but didn’t actually date her. ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1955 "2017-03-09T07:57:59Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Trump is pro-torture. You can tell by the way he said he wanted to have people tortured. Oh, and their families put to death, too. Let us not forget that. Convincing him it’s not politically expedient does not mean he doesn’t support it. > > Next you’ll be telling me that he’s not a creep because he only said he WOULD date his daughter (the one he went along with being called “a piece of ass”, not the other one who wouldn’t let him kiss her cheek at the debate) but didn’t actually date her. I understand and respect your point of view, Tooth, even though I disagree with it as a conservative, and Because Trump could have reinstated water boarding or lobbied very hard to if he really wanted to. He didn’t. Despite our political differviews McGee Tooth, I want to thank you for this discussion; it is health and good to have a reasoned, political debate with someone of opposing views every once and a while. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1956 "2017-03-09T08:07:07Z")
President Trump [Congratulates Exxon Mobil](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-exxon-mobil-press-release_us_58bdd143e4b0d8c45f45ad5c) for Job-Creating Investment Program. And who is our new Secretary Of State? Oh yeah… ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1957 "2017-03-09T09:20:48Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > I sure can. The National Mining Association released a reputable report showing that over 70,000 jobs would have been lost by the coal-stream regulation rule passed by Obama, had it not been repealed by President Trump and the Republican Congress. See this:[http://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Fact-Sheet-SPR.pdf](http://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Fact-Sheet-SPR.pdf) National Mining Association? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1958 "2017-03-09T10:21:41Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > I sure can. The National Mining Association released a reputable report showing that over 70,000 jobs would have been lost by the coal-stream regulation rule passed by Obama, had it not been repealed by President Trump and the Republican Congress. See this:[http://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Fact-Sheet-SPR.pdf](http://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Fact-Sheet-SPR.pdf) That’s not a reputable report. [This](https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=OSM-2010-0018-10631) is a reputable report. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1959 "2017-03-09T10:34:39Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > National Mining Association? You know how unbiased the National Mining Association is, as do we all. You know, a quick Google search of “is coal a dying industry” brings up, among the first half dozen results: [“The coal industry is dying, and it isn’t coming back”](http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-coal-industry-is-dying-and-it-isnt-coming-back/) by [outsidethebeltway.com](http://outsidethebeltway.com) [“Don’t blame renewable energy for dying US coal industry”](https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2016/03/18/whats-killing-the-coal-industry/#5a3dc9ec7dd4) from [forbes.com](http://forbes.com) [“Coal isn’t dying because there’s a war on it”](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-17/coal-isn-t-dying-because-there-s-a-war-on-it) from [bloomberg.com](http://bloomberg.com) [“The coal industry isn’t coming back”](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/opinion/the-coal-industry-isnt-coming-back.html) from [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com) [“Coal industry is dying, no matter what a President Trump might do”](http://www.newsweek.com/coal-industry-dying-no-matter-trump-507079) from [newsweek.com](http://newsweek.com) And, on a personal level, I live in Kentucky. I’ve spent the last 8 years on an ambulance, at times having to interact with coal miners, either at those mines, or as a result of the years that they spent having their health affected by those conditions. I don’t claim to speak for all of them, or to be an expert on coal mining because of that, but it allowed me to see glimpses into the industry, and the people who made their living as a result of coal mining. My impression from talking to the people that I interacted with is that they seem to be aware that it’s a dying industry (to quote Huey Lewis, “the old boy may be barely breathing”), and it seems that they knew this before the Obama administration. I don’t claim to be an expert, though. That’s just my observations from very limited interactions with miners. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2017, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/1960 "2017-03-09T10:49:19Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > I understand and respect your point of view, Tooth, even though I disagree with it as a conservative, and Because Trump could have reinstated water boarding or lobbied very hard to if he really wanted to. He didn’t. Despite our political differviews McGee Tooth, I want to thank you for this discussion; it is health and good to have a reasoned, political debate with someone of opposing views every once and a while. There’s no reasoned debate. One guy is showing you that you are wrong. You’re trying to pretend politics allows you to have alternative facts. You’re even pretending you came here to debate, when you clearly started out attacking ultraliberals with bullshit about us not accepting Trump is president. He’s president. He’s also evil. You guys saw an obviously, cartoonishly evil man and voted for him. He’s now ineptly fucking shit up. He still a whiny toddler who can’t handle the job, and has to farm it out to other people, two of whom are white supremacists. We have a greater chance of having a nuclear war than ever in my lifetime, because the man is mentally unstable, with a huge narcissism and temper problems. Trump has the lowest approval ratings ever, and has fucked up nearly everything he’s tried to do so far. People are already talking of Nixon, with the Russia investigation. And, well, he’s an asshole and an awful human being who enjoys hurting other people. Hence beefing up our military, when he’s supposed to be US first, and pulling people out. He is as psychopath, and people are increasingly realizing that. He’s not enacting any sort of conservative agenda. No previous Republican president has done what he did. And, yeah, you’re probably a troll and I’m playing into it, but I’m pissed at Trump again, and you decided to defend that awful shitstain, and I needed the outlet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=97) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=99)