# The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070 **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:** 1 **Showing post:** 17776
### Author: ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire) #### Post date: [March 13, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/17776 "2018-03-13T14:20:46Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’m more interested in the person that he’s appointing to head the CIA. > > It sounds like she oversaw the worst of the torture sessions that Bush II approved. While I’m sure that the media will go insane over that, I suspect that there’s more to the woman than that one factoid, but that one factoid is also probably the whole reason that Trump chose her; it keeps the media fed and boosts his image as a tough guy. > > In reality, she may be more the type who will jump on a grenade if her commander tells her to sort of person. That she oversaw a torture scheme that was ordered from above could, certainly, mean that she’s into that sort of thing. But it could just as well tell us that she’s gung-ho for law and order and duty to ones country. > > I doubt that Trump did much vetting. On the whole, I think he’s running in crazy mode because of the latest Mueller revelations about the Internet Research Agency, Gates Flipping, the Mitt Romney issue, Van Der Zwaan, and the Seychelles meeting and is just going around everyone in his cabinet rather than listening to anyone anymore. > > So that could mean that she could just become a further extension of Trump, doing whatever he orders blindly, even if it means sending an assassin after Mueller or running a money laundering scheme through the CIA. It could mean that she starts suggesting some supremely heinous activities for the CIA to start getting involved in - if she is a psychopath - which Trump would immediately jump all over. > > In general, I think, the CIA doesn’t tend to have one of its own promoted to lead the organization and that’s probably because the CIA has a sufficient potential for shadiness that you really want an outside, clean, and trustworthy person to oversee it. It’s likely that, whatever sort of personality that this lady has, whatever brakes the CIA has on it are about to come off. > > In thinking about what that means, probably the most likely target will be the Middle East - specifically, Iran. > > Traditionally, the CIA mostly seemed to be best on destabilizing governments (often by outright giving different groups money and weapons, in a fairly non-secretive manner). In terms of intelligence gathering, they’ve always been more a collector of intel that other gleaned, rather than great at gathering intel themselves. (Though, possibly that has improved over the last few decades.) > > My expectation will be that the CIA becomes the puppet force of Israel and the UAE. Both countries will want all of the intel that they have access to. Israel will probably team up to start destroying shit in Iran. The UAE will probably meander, paying Trump to give them access to all of the training and trinkets that the CIA has at its disposal, so that they can build and squander the world’s most overly trained and financed intelligence force. > > And, obviously, they’ll torture some people along the way. > > I suppose, overall, not the worst thing in the world. But it probably will crank up the Middle Eastern war another notch. To quote my post from the more topically specific thread: > [@Tillerson fired](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tillerson-fired/810484/6): > > So, Pompeo’s deputy is nominated to run the CIA, which probably leaves the Tea Partier in effective control of both our foreign intel and our foreign policy. What could go wrong? I guess it’ll be easier with one guy in charge of our “diplomats” and our diplomats. As for Pompeo and the UAE, he’s even more buddy-buddy with Saudi Arabia, so Qatar should probably be worried. He once traveled to S.A. to honor the then-Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Nayef with the CIA’s “George Tenet” Medal. > [@](#): > > But the Mike Pompeo who accused Assange of “making common cause with dictators” is the very same Mike Pompeo who – just eight weeks ago – placed one of the CIA’s most cherished awards in the hands of one of the world’s most savage tyrants, who also happens to be one of the U.S. Government’s closest allies. Pompeo traveled to Riyadh and literally embraced and honored the Saudi royal next-in-line to the throne. > This nauseating event – widely covered by the international press yet almost entirely ignored by the U.S. media – was celebrated by the Saudi-owned outlet Al Arabiya: “The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, received a medal on Friday from the CIA . . . . The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo after the Crown Prince received him in Riyadh on Friday in the presence of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.” > The description of this Pompeo/Saudi award ceremony was first reported by the official Saudi Press Agency, which published the above photographs. It gushed: “In a press statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), following the reception, the Crown Prince expressed appreciation of the CIA for bestowing on him such a grace, laying assertion that this medal is a fruit of endeavors and instructions of the leaders of the kingdom, notably the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, bravery of security men and cooperation of all walks of the community to combat terrorism.” > **[Trump's CIA Director Pompeo, Targeting WikiLeaks, Explicitly Threatens Speech...](https://theintercept.com/2017/04/14/trumps-cia-director-pompeo-targeting-wikileaks-explicitly-threatens-speech-and-press-freedoms/)** > > Why is the U.S. press corps so silent about an actual threat to press freedom? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070)._