# 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:** 992
**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:** [May 1, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19825 "2018-05-01T12:40:27Z")
So who’s gonna complete the trifecta by calling il Doofus an “imbecile”? ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19826 "2018-05-01T12:43:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > So who’s gonna complete the trifecta by calling il Doofus an “imbecile”? I’d be happy to do so, to his face no less, if we can get him to hire me. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19827 "2018-05-01T12:46:14Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Maybe what Zakalwe is really trying to point out is that Michelle Wolf actually made Sanders seem like a sympathetic character, which I think we can all agree that this is not at all what we want. …but that isn’t what happened. Michelle made jokes. She joked about Donald Trump. She joked about Mike Pence. “He thinks abortion is murder, which, first of all, don’t knock it till you try it. And when you do try it, really knock it. You know, you’ve got to get that baby out of there.” She joked about Roy Moore. She joked about Reince Priebus. She joked about Michael Cohen. She joked about Jake Tapper. She joked about Hillary Clinton. She joked about Don Jnr. She joked about Al Franken. She joked about Ted Kennedy, and how he killed someone. She joked about Mitch McConnell, she joked about Paul Ryan, she joked about Chris Christie. She joked about Kellyanne Conway. And she said how perfect her last name is, and that if she had a last name like hers it would be Michelle Jokes Frizzy Hair Small Tits. She made fun of Ivanka Trump. She described her as “the Diaper Genie of the administration: on the outside, she looks sleek, but the inside, it’s still full of shit.” She joked about Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She joked about CNN and Fox News and Sean Hannity. She joked about Morning Joe. “We now know Mika and Joe are engaged. Congratulation you guys, it’s like when a #MeToo works out.” She joked about Rachel Maddow. She joked about Megan Kelly. Why did this story become about Sarah Huckabee Sanders? It wasn’t because of Michelle Wolf. She took shots at everybody. So how did the story become about SHS? Because of things like this. [https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniel-halper/republican-talking-points](https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniel-halper/republican-talking-points) [http://gawker.com/5461548/how-your-right-wing-talking-point-sausage-is-made](http://gawker.com/5461548/how-your-right-wing-talking-point-sausage-is-made) > **['The President Was Entirely Correct': The White House Talking Points on...](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/the-president-was-entirely-correct/537042/)** > > President Trump’s remarks on the deadly white-supremacist rally have sparked widespread outrage, but the administration is asking congressional Republicans to follow his lead. Its how the Republicans stay on message. They literally craft talking points for no other reason but to win the daily news cycle. It doesn’t matter if the talking points are truth or lies, they simply stick to them. When Chris Cuomo held Matt Schlapp’s “feet to the fire” today on CNN about the hypocrisy of his reaction to Wolf compared to his reaction to any one of Trump’s objectively worse insults: Schlapp simply pivoted to the next talking point. He then started claiming he left because of the abortion joke. Because thats how it works. If SHS didn’t gain traction, they would have used the abortion angle. Or “how dare she attack Ivanka!” So why has it worked so well for them this time? Because of access. It has become crystal fucking clear that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is probably a major “behind the scenes source” for many of the White House Correspondents. They’ve become close. In my most humblest of opinions, they are “compromised.” We’ve seen it in their writing for years. So their instant, gut reaction when SHS was attacked was to not just defend SHS, but to attack Wolf, and to demand an apology. The White House Correspondents’ Association put out a press release that threw Wolf under a bus. The press: and their complicity with the Trump administration, has become part of the story. So did Michelle Wolf turn Sarah Huckabee Sanders into a sympathetic character? No she fucking well did not. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a liar. She is the mouthpiece for the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States of America. She is part of an extremely well-executed propaganda campaign and she is a “sympathetic figure” precisely because of that propaganda. Congratulations on getting taken in. > [@](#): > > If this had been a roast by comedians and entertainers, there wouldn’t be a problem. I’m sorry, did you hold the same opinion when Colbert skewed George Bush, when Larry Wilmore called the President "“my n$gga”, when Joel McHale made fun of Chris Christie for being fat? You are aware that this is exactly what happens at this event, don’t you? > [@](#): > > Unfortunately, though, this was an event of journalists, by journalists, and for journalists. Unfortunately, they have been inviting comedians to speak at the dinner since Bob Hope at the very first one in 1944. If this was supposed to be an event of journalists, by journalists, and for journalists, then someone forgot to send them the fucking memo. > [@](#): > > It comes at a time when political figures, both in the US and outside of our borders, are openly assaulting the idea of a free press. It also comes at a time when ordinary people are increasingly skeptical of conventional press figures and outlets. Hilariously, Donald Trump directly verbally assaulted the free press in a rally at the same time as this event. And the “Justice Department Deleted Language About Press Freedom And Racial Gerrymandering From Its Internal Manual.” And we should be skeptical of conventional press figures and outlets. And the reaction by the press to Michelle Wolf’s set is exactly why we should be skeptical. We are being “stage managed.” You shouldn’t be comfortable with that. > [@](#): > > Suit-and-tie events like the WHCD just smack of insider elitism. They have access to political insiders the rest of us don’t. They seemingly have information, and hence power, the average person doesn’t. They are the ones who feed us information and they claim to do so in a manner that is unbiased. And then they throw a dinner party where they invite a comedian to maul the White House press secretary. They didn’t invite a comedian to “maul the White House press secretary.” They invited a comedian to make jokes, which is what comedians do every single time they come to speak at this event. And every single time they come to these events these comedians “poke holes” at the insider elitism that is on display at the WHCD. Which is why Wolf went after everyone. Its why Wolf went after CNN and Fox and Maddow and Hannity, and its why she ended with the line “Flint still doesn’t have clean water.” It was a direct-smackdown of the elitism at play here. That everybody in the room are too busy “patting themselves on each others backs” that a fixable crisis that would cost (comparatively) a tiny amount of money to fix is playing out just beyond the doors. > [@](#): > > Like it or not, agree or not, crass jokes about Trump have unfortunately potentially demonstrated in the eyes of some that the professional press corps are not really professional and impartial journalists merely reporting what happens in Washington, but rather brutal, personal partisans. Your characterization of many of the Washington Press Corps as “brutal, personal partisans” is accurate. Your mistake is pretending that it is not. > [@](#): > > They should avoid blurring lines by not inviting comedians and entertainers to their events in the future. THAT’s your takeaway from this? The problem is the court jester, not the emperor with no clothes? You correctly characterize the WHCD as “smacking of insider elitism”, and your solution is to remove the only person in the room who is pointing this out to everyone? > [@](#): > > If they want to be taken seriously as journalists and not partisans or activists, then they’re going to have to raise their game and take more of a no-nonsense approach to journalism. But at a time when so much of American journalism incorporates and seemingly depends on entertainment to attract viewers, that might be asking a lot. “Raise their game?” Fuck that. They need to forget about “how they are perceived” and simply do their job. That really isn’t a lot to ask of them. > [@](#): > > What’s worse is, this event actually could have been used a lot more effectively. They didn’t need a comedian or a “personality” at all to rally around the cause of good journalism; they simply needed good journalism on display. They could have produced a viral video just as easily by simply inviting Sarah Huckabee Sanders to a dinner of journalists and used that opportunity to ask hard questions - like “Why do you say things that are demonstrably false every fucking day?” The dinner event itself would have been remarkably boring, but it is anyway. You’ve just characterized this event as "“smacking of insider elitism”, and that is exactly what it is. Journalists have every fucking opportunity to ask Sarah Huckabee Sanders “Why do you say things that are demonstrably false every fucking day?” They don’t need to wait for a fucking dinner to ask that question. Do you know who doesn’t have access to Sarah Huckabee Sanders on a daily basis? Me. Or you. Or almost everybody in the United States of fucking America. So when it falls to the comedian to stand up on stage and point to the Press Secretary and say “you lie to the American people every day” that means the press has fucking failed in doing their job. A year and a bit ago we were all saying “we can’t normalize Trump.” Well we are fucking beyond that now. Trump is so normalized that Trump could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and he wouldn’t lose any voters. Trump is so normalized that he can spout utter nonsense, get crowds to “boooo” at the mere mention of the word Mexicans, and the press will ignore that, and instead loose their shit over a comedian who made a decision to “punch up.” > [@](#): > > Conflict is still interesting, though. Challenging people in power is interesting. Demanding answers to serious questions can be interesting - it can be entertaining to watch people squirm. The real problem with the WHCD isn’t the fact that Michelle Wolf made cringe-worthy comments; it’s the apparent fact that the 225 year-old American institution of the professional free press is in a very real war, fighting against a populist with very authoritarian tendencies, and it doesn’t know how to fight him. They need to stop trying to “fight him.” The Trump administration has set the narrative, that this is a battle. Accepting the narrative that “this is a fight” is exactly what the Trump administration wants, and while the press try to figure out “how to fight him” the Trump administration just keep on doing their thing. > [@attributed to Karl Rove](#): > > That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. 'We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do This is how they work. They create a narrative, and while you are busy trying to combat that narrative, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants financial hardship waivers to an oil refinery owned by a billionaire. Its the oldest trick in the book and you are still falling for it. > [@](#): > > I agree with your assessment: this country is in grave danger, but I think what’s happening here proves that the corrosion of democratic institutions is something that can happen in many parts of the world. With information channels such as social media, people can get “news” from any source. It doesn’t have to be the New York Times or the Washington Post. The president understands that, which is why he keeps finding ways to confound his critics in the press, and it’s how he weakens them. And it’s why we’re all in very serious trouble. I agree you are in serious trouble. But the press aren’t weakened because they are “confounded”: they are weakened because information is power, and the White House controls access to information, and (some) of the media are shit-scared of loosing access to information. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2018, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19828 "2018-05-01T13:09:15Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > Do you know who doesn’t have access to Sarah Huckabee Sanders on a daily basis? Me. Or you. This is profound.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19829 "2018-05-01T13:18:21Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Funny you left this out: > Thus the entire rest of the post should be read as with the knowledge that I am aware it’s not her responsibility to be a good Democrat on a public stage. > > No. She’s on HER side. She’s trying to sell a new show (as you noted). Shock sells and any publicity is bad publicity and all that. > > And with that, I’m out. You stay happy in your little bubble where everybody agrees with you and somehow Wolf’s cuts at Sarah Huckabee Sanders wake up the country and result in a tidal wave of rainbows, kittens, and unicorns for the rest of the world. You’re awfully angry about this for someone who isn’t actually directly impacted by it. > > Some of us will keep on doing the work of actually convincing the people who can still be swayed that we’re the better option and trying to get them out to vote. And _that_, ladies and gentlemen, is how you flounce out of a thread! Bravo! 10/10! ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19830 "2018-05-01T13:33:42Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Funny you left this out: …why would I include it? You asked me to show you where you said “The amount of responsibility you put on her shoulders is complete fucking bullshit.” I showed you where you said that. And saying “and I know that as a professional comedian she shouldn’t worry about this, but as someone who cares about more than her career, I do worry about it” doesn’t change that one fucking bit. > [@](#): > > Thus the entire rest of the post should be read as with the knowledge that I am aware it’s not her responsibility to be a good Democrat on a public stage. You actually literally said “The Democratic Party’s chances of taking the House (and the Good Lord willing the Senate) went down because of her performance.” So what exactly is it you want us to take away from that statement? > [@](#): > > No. She’s on HER side. She’s trying to sell a new show (as you noted). Shock sells and any publicity is bad publicity and all that. So thanks for clearing that up. She’s not on your side. And despite you “claiming” that you are “on my side” its pretty crystal clear that you aren’t on my fucking side either. I’m with her. > [@](#): > > And with that, I’m out. You stay happy in your little bubble where everybody agrees with you and somehow Wolf’s cuts at Sarah Huckabee Sanders wake up the country and result in a tidal wave of rainbows, kittens, and unicorns for the rest of the world. You’re awfully angry about this for someone who isn’t actually directly impacted by it. Oh grow the fuck up you whiny little snowflake. Oh…and BYE! Of course I’m directly impacted by it. The United States is the most powerful country in the history of the world, and everything you guys do has a ripple effect all around the world. The only difference is that I don’t get a vote. > [@](#): > > Some of us will keep on doing the work of actually convincing the people who can still be swayed that we’re the better option and trying to get them out to vote. I would suggest that a much better strategy to adopt is the one that China Guy suggests: “focus first and foremost on getting out the vote and doing all they can to reverse the gerrymandering and vote suppression.” When you say that the next election is likely to play out on the margins I think you are entirely correct. I also think that it is possible to “convince some people” to change their vote, and if you want to do that then all power to you. But its a high risk strategy. The reality is that there are plenty of people who like Trump and will vote for Trump again at the next election. And there are plenty of people who don’t like Trump and will vote for Trump at the next election. There are people on these boards, smart, intelligent life-long republicans who were well aware of everything Trump stood for, who went to the polls with the intention of voting for Clinton but very nearly voted Trump: not for any logical reason, but because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a democrat. You can try and reach out to people who are so “tribal” that they will vote Republican, not because its the “logical choice”, but because its what “they have always done, and what they will do until the day the die.” Or you could instead put your efforts into getting some of the 100 million people who didn’t vote last year out to vote at the next elections. Get stuck in at the grass-roots level to fight gerrymandering and vote suppression. You do what you want to do. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19831 "2018-05-01T13:46:34Z")
My favorite line in the speech was one that has gone largely unnoticed. Wolfe said, in reference to Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski - “ “it’s like when a Me Too works out”. Now if J and M had remained Trump supporters there would be OUTRAGE —-How dare the bad comedian accuse the fiancé of a “wife and mother” of sexual assault!! ( OK, ex-wife or soon to be wife). But since these two former Trump supporters split with him after the election, it’s OK. Just like it was OK for Trump to use The National Enquirer and extortion to try to get them back. I disagree with the assessment that Mika is defending SHS just to maintain access to the White House. That ship sailed about 14 months ago and Morning Joe could easily be renamed “What Did the America-Fucking Asshole Lie About Today?” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19832 "2018-05-01T13:46:51Z")
The contretemps about the WHCD is kinda predicated on the assumption that: the strategy for dealing with Trumpism at the WHCD dinner is parallel and equivalent to the strategy for dealing with Trumpism in the November mid-term elections – which may or may not be a valid assumption. Assuming it is: Robert Reich has said that the way for Democrats to win in November is not to be the party of Not Trump, but to present alternative, progressive ideas. To appeal to the disaffected middle class that put him in office, in ways that address their concerns without attacking Trump. And if you buy that strategy (and I do), then Michelle Wolf’s performance was counter-productive. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19833 "2018-05-01T13:59:29Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > This is profound.:rolleyes: …jesus-fucking-jack-shit-on-a-fucking-pogo-stick-christ. I literally don’t know how to respond to this. We don’t have access to the White House. I’m not trying to be “profound.” Its reality. As people who don’t have daily access to the White House we are reliant on the press to ask the questions we want answers to, we are reliant on the press to hold these people to account. If anyone should be pointing at the White House and calling them out on their lies, it should be the fourth estate. Instead many have abdicated that responsibility to the comedians, to the late-night talk hosts. The idea that you had: > [@](#): > > They could have produced a viral video just as easily by simply inviting Sarah Huckabee Sanders to a dinner of journalists and used that opportunity to ask hard questions - like "Why do you say things that are demonstrably false every fucking day? Is just fucked up in the context of this discussion. They don’t need to invite her to dinner to ask her that question. They see her every fucking day. They have access. The over-reaction to Wolf’s comedy routine is a direct response to the threat to that access. Wolf did what the journalists should be doing: she held SHS to account. She had the very rare and privileged opportunity to call her a liar to her face and so she did. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19834 "2018-05-01T14:31:20Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Assuming it is: Robert Reich has said that the way for Democrats to win in November is not to be the party of Not Trump, but to present alternative, progressive ideas. To appeal to the disaffected middle class that put him in office, in ways that address their concerns without attacking Trump. …any strategy predicated on “not attacking Trump” is doomed to fucking fail. The year is 2018. You can’t stop people from “attacking Trump.” I can log into twitter right now and when I start scrolling every third tweet will be someone attacking Trump. There are blog posts and medium posts and gifs on tumbler and “talking heads” on TV who are all right this minute attacking Trump. People are going to attack Trump. We are in a thread on the internet that is nearly 400 pages long that is dedicated to attacking Trump. It wasn’t the “disaffected middle class” that put Trump into power. It was [rich, white people](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/09/white-voters-victory-donald-trump-exit-polls) with [authoritarian inclinations](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533). > [@](#): > > And if you buy that strategy (and I do), then Michelle Wolf’s performance was counter-productive. So what are you going to do about it? No seriously: if your strategy is dependent on comedians “not attacking Trump”, then how the fuck are you going to make that work? It isn’t remotely realistic, not in 2018, not in a world where any random nobody can have their opinion heard all around the world. I suggest you get a new strategy, and quick. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19835 "2018-05-01T14:42:44Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > The contretemps about the WHCD is kinda predicated on the assumption that: the strategy for dealing with Trumpism at the WHCD dinner is parallel and equivalent to the strategy for dealing with Trumpism in the November mid-term elections – which may or may not be a valid assumption. > > Assuming it is: Robert Reich has said that the way for Democrats to win in November is not to be the party of Not Trump, but to present alternative, progressive ideas. To appeal to the disaffected middle class that put him in office, in ways that address their concerns without attacking Trump. > > And if you buy that strategy (and I do), then Michelle Wolf’s performance was counter-productive. It’s hard to run honestly against a liar. Say you want to run for junior high school President and you have lots of great ideas, such as a casual Friday dress code and more electives in the curriculum. But your opponent is a blowhard juvenile delinquent promising to put Coca-Cola in the water fountains and to “give all the teachers detention.” And he wins. Are you going to try the same tactic next time or do you need to convince his supporters that he’s full of crap? ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19836 "2018-05-01T14:58:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Its how the Republicans stay on message. They literally craft talking points for no other reason but to win the daily news cycle. It doesn’t matter if the talking points are truth or lies, they simply stick to them. When Chris Cuomo held Matt Schlapp’s “feet to the fire” today on CNN about the hypocrisy of his reaction to Wolf compared to his reaction to any one of Trump’s objectively worse insults: Schlapp simply pivoted to the next talking point. He then started claiming he left because of the abortion joke. quoted for truth, you GO Banquet Bear ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19837 "2018-05-01T15:00:03Z")
We need to be the emulate the party of polite people and graphically mock the disabled a bit more. ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19838 "2018-05-01T15:28:50Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > We need to be the emulate the party of polite people and graphically mock the disabled a bit more. They are tough to watch though. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19839 "2018-05-01T16:23:34Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > It’s hard to run honestly against a liar. Say you want to run for junior high school President and you have lots of great ideas, such as a casual Friday dress code and more electives in the curriculum. But your opponent is a blowhard juvenile delinquent promising to put Coca-Cola in the water fountains and to “give all the teachers detention.” And he wins. Are you going to try the same tactic next time or do you need to convince his supporters that he’s full of crap? Indeed. I am reminded of the Adam West “Batman” episode where Batman and the Penguin were running for mayor, and the Penguin presented the argument that he was more trustworthy because Batman was regularly seen in the company of criminals while he himself was regularly seen in the company of police officers. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19840 "2018-05-01T16:28:41Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > . Journalists have every fucking opportunity to ask Sarah Huckabee Sanders “Why do you say things that are demonstrably false every fucking day?” They don’t need to wait for a fucking dinner to ask that question. Do you know who doesn’t have access to Sarah Huckabee Sanders on a daily basis? Me. Or you. Or almost everybody in the United States of fucking America. So when it falls to the comedian to stand up on stage and point to the Press Secretary and say “you lie to the American people every day” that means the press has fucking failed in doing their job. > > A year and a bit ago we were all saying “we can’t normalize Trump.” Well we are fucking beyond that now. Trump is so normalized that Trump could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and he wouldn’t lose any voters. Trump is so normalized that he can spout utter nonsense, get crowds to “boooo” at the mere mention of the word Mexicans, and the press will ignore that, and instead loose their shit over a comedian who made a decision to “punch up.” I like your whole post, but these two paragraphs especially. Someone had to say to Sanders “you’re a fucking liar.” Not that she doesn’t know it, but she needs to know that everyone knows it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19841 "2018-05-01T18:16:29Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Indeed. I am reminded of the Adam West “Batman” episode where Batman and the Penguin were running for mayor, and the Penguin presented the argument that he was more trustworthy because Batman was regularly seen in the company of criminals while he himself was regularly seen in the company of police officers. That was the day the Penguin became Mayor. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19842 "2018-05-01T18:52:39Z")
Betsy DeVos wants to do away with public schooling for military families and replace them with vouchers. [https://www.thenation.com/article/betsy-devos-is-facing-backlash-for-her-plan-to-push-school-vouchers-on-military-families/](https://www.thenation.com/article/betsy-devos-is-facing-backlash-for-her-plan-to-push-school-vouchers-on-military-families/) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19843 "2018-05-01T21:31:11Z")
[2 top aides leave EPA amid ethics investigations](https://apnews.com/01f5284618f344b3b305139c9d94038c/2-top-aides-leave-EPA-amid-ethics-investigations): > [@](#): > > The top security official for embattled Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt abruptly left office ahead of his scheduled questioning before a congressional panel, one of two top aides whose departures were announced Tuesday amid a series of federal ethics investigations of the agency. > > In statements, Pruitt gave no immediate reasons why the two men — security chief Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta and Albert Kelly, a former Oklahoma banker who ran the EPA’s Superfund program — were leaving. On Perrotta: > [@](#): > > Perrotta is due to appear Wednesday for a transcribed interview by staffers of the House Oversight Committee. Committee aides said his resignation was not expected to affect his appearance. > > Pruitt’s spending on security, and some of EPA’s security contracts with Perrotta, are among the topics of more than a dozen federal probes involving the EPA under Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general. > > Pruitt said Perrotta was retiring, and praised him for hard work and dedication. On Kelly: > [@](#): > > Pruitt thanked Kelly for what he said was his “tremendous impact” in Kelly’s year overseeing the nation’s Superfund program, charged with handling the cleanup of toxic waste sites. > > Pruitt hired Kelly, an Oklahoma banker, at EPA after federal banking regulators banned the man from banking for life. Regulators have not publicly specified the actions that led to the banking ban. Days ago, Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., pressed Pruitt for more details about why exactly Kelly had been sanctioned by regulators. > > “I think Mr. Kelly, if he’s willing to share that with you, he should do that,” Pruitt said Thursday. And the article ends with: > [@](#): > > Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., who has pushed for investigations of ethical problems under Pruitt, said in a statement Tuesday that “Pruitt should be the next to go.” > > “Albert Kelly was never qualified to run Superfund, his banking ban was a huge red flag and his resignation is a positive development,” Beyer said. I find myself in agreement with Rep. Beyer on this issue. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2018, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/19844 "2018-05-01T22:43:21Z")
A lightweight piece of fluff for your enjoyment – just an example of how this administration could screw up a one-car funeral. Trump had a staged event today, congratulating the crew of that Southwest flight with the exploding engine. I won’t go into his inane babble – the usual, of no consequence. It was the staging that was weird. For some reason, they set it up like a bill signing ceremony: Trump seated at his desk, with a crowd of people (the crew and, I believe, some passengers\*) behind him. So Trump would speak, and talk about particular individuals on the crew: but to make eye contact with those individuals he needed to swivel from side to side and crane his neck looking over his shoulder. WTF? Why not just, I don’t know…stand at a podium?? You’re not signing anything, you idiot…you don’t need a desk! \*Trump often referred to the heroic passengers on the flight. I was under the impression that they were primarily concerned with screaming and praying, but that’s neither here nor there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=991) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=993)