# The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 11, 2024, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068 "2024-11-11T06:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 205
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4141 "2025-04-19T17:21:36Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Are there _any_ in the cabinet who aren’t of the toady persuasion? This time around? What’s lacking are the “adults in the room,” which he started out with in 2017, and eventually fired. I don’t think that they are 100% toadies, however; I do think that there are some in his staff (like Musk, Stephen Miller, RFK Jr., and even JD Vance) who have their own agendas, and are sucking up to Trump in order to get him to let them pursue their goals. ---
**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, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4142 "2025-04-19T17:24:00Z")
A difference without distinction in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4143 "2025-04-19T17:25:49Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > A difference without distinction in my eyes The difference, IMO, is this: - The toadies will happily follow whatever Trump tells them to do, and praise him for his brilliance. - The manipulators will convince Trump to adopt and support their personal agendas, and then praise him for his brilliance in doing so, telling him that it was his idea all along. The latter are even more dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4144 "2025-04-19T17:46:27Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Are there _any_ in the cabinet who aren’t of the toady persuasion? Rumors are that Bessent is doing his best to dampen Trump’s worst instincts, and his toadiness is because he knows it’s necessary to keep his job. That’s what I read on some political sites, but I cannot know if it is true. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4145 "2025-04-19T18:27:34Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > Rumors are that Bessent is doing his best to dampen Trump’s worst instincts Bessent and Musk are butting heads. Musk supposedly appointed the new IRS Commissioner without approval of either Bessent or Trump, so Bessent went whining to Donald. Bessent won this round. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > - The toadies will happily follow whatever Trump tells them to do, and praise him for his brilliance. > - The manipulators will convince Trump to adopt and support their personal agendas, and then praise him for his brilliance in doing so, telling him that it was his idea all along. > > The latter are even more dangerous. This is spot on. Stephen Miller is the most dangerous man in America right now. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4146 "2025-04-19T19:55:49Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > When you think about it, Trump’s cabinet is the ultimate DEI. Your education, expertise or even gender don’t matter. I’ve seen this meme about DEI in reference to the people in the Trump admin: Didn’t Earn It ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4147 "2025-04-19T20:35:48Z")
My rather cursory check of the sites security and what it’s loading is curiously surpassed by what it is probing my computer/browser for. I also admit I’d not seen the two parallel bars in the upper left and what they suggest they do. They kind of shift top and bottom in opposite directions when you hover over them. They appear to bring up a broad white house menu - an entire slide-in from the left. Nothing I’d use in one of my web pages unless I’ve missed some new thing - for now it’s the meatless hamburger icon. I’m not set up ATM to go all black-hat hacker on the site. Had he blamed it on the Irish… I still am awaiting his science team to develop the intravenous UV. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4148 "2025-04-19T22:13:46Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > > [@DesertDog](#): > > > > When you think about it, Trump’s cabinet is the ultimate DEI. Your education, expertise or even gender don’t matter. > > I’ve seen this meme about DEI in reference to the people in the Trump admin: Didn’t Earn It Oh, they earned it. It’s just they didn’t earn it by actual qualifications for the work entailed in the office. As **DesertDog** mentioned, they earned it by the ass-kissing. And that’s what you always get when you have an abolute monarchy or dictatorship\*: an administration staffed by ass-kissers galore. \*I’m unsure if a benevolent dictatorship would qualify for inclusion here. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4149 "2025-04-19T23:27:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I think Trump just got dunked on by _the Pope_. Followup: the Pope snubbed JD (who is allegedly Catholic) during his visit to the Vatican today. [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:bkz5iy23uveimdkeinwm42a2/bafkreihjoukloqugc2f5fm5n5dul7sml4q5rrri5zk64a4nav6qq4zaxwe@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:bkz5iy23uveimdkeinwm42a2/bafkreihjoukloqugc2f5fm5n5dul7sml4q5rrri5zk64a4nav6qq4zaxwe@jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2025, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4150 "2025-04-19T23:34:10Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > The Times says the White House told Harvard that the letter was “unauthorized”. Haaahvaaahd’s response; “The letter was signed by three federal officials, placed on official letterhead, was sent from the e-mail inbox of a senior federal official, and was sent on April 11 as promised. Recipients of such correspondence from the U.S. government - even when it contains sweeping demands that are astonishing in their overreach - do not question its authenticity or seriousness.” > **[New York Times: Trump administration sent letter of demands to Harvard...](https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/19/us/harvard-trump-administration-letter-mistake/index.html)** > > The Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard University that outlined a slew of demands – like reforming its programs, discontinuing DEI practices and additional policy demands tied to federal funding – in error, according to a report by The New... ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4151 "2025-04-20T03:05:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > who is allegedly Catholic I’m definitely a lapsed Catholic. Last mass was Christmas 2023 at the Anglican across the street. All I got from Wiki about JD was: > has acknowledged the influence of Catholic theology on his sociopolitical positions. Oh bull fucking shit. Was that somewhere in his “Hillbilly Elegy”? Theology me arse. I like a lot of what the Dalai Lama says. I like Buddhism. I suppose I am acknowledging them. In all due respect (like swearing on a bible) I don’t wanna hear shit about what Mark fuckin Rubio or JD believes. It was ballsy to send the Veep to see the Pope right around Easter. Tomorrow, fire the tear gas and rubber (or real!) bullets at the protesters to clear Lafayette Park (eta: yeah it’s a square technically, yet French, so “La place”? It should be Jackson Park after our favourite presidents #2) and send our great president in for another photo-op. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4152 "2025-04-20T03:33:04Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > All I got from Wiki about JD was IIRC, he used to profess to be an atheist but “became” Catholic sometime around when he decided to run for Senate. > [@Coriolanus](#): > > In all due respect (like swearing on a bible) I don’t wanna hear shit about what Mark fuckin Rubio or JD believes. I’d like to know what Trump sees when he closes his eyes and thinks about the afterlife. My guess would be that it’s something like The Apotheosis of Washington with a blurry Poraroid of his own face taped over George’s. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4153 "2025-04-20T03:46:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d like to know what Trump sees when he closes his eyes and thinks about the afterlife. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to learn that Trump doesn’t believe in an afterlife. (Or, he doesn’t care, one way or the other.) ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4154 "2025-04-20T03:56:18Z")
> **“The Apotheosis of Washington”** is a fresco painted in 1865 by Constantino Brumidi on the U.S. Capitol Rotunda ceiling. It depicts George Washington rising to the heavens, flanked by female figures representing Liberty and Victory. Around him are thirteen maidens symbolizing the original colonies, and six surrounding scenes showing gods and goddesses like Minerva and Neptune, each symbolizing aspects of American strength—war, science, commerce, marine, mechanics, and agriculture. The artwork glorifies Washington as a deified figure and celebrates American ideals and progress through classical imagery. Nope, his brain has gone “la la la” after “female figures” The Anglican across the street has a (added today) cross I reckon has not seen a table saw. There should be two - I’ll be Barabbas, the scoundrel even Pilate (apparently on Passover we let one go as the crowd demands) reminded folks was not a good guy. I am curious to see what they do, yet I believe Crucifixes (the one’s with Jesus on them) are a Catholic thing. Tomorrow’s itinerary: Clear Lafayette Square/Park even if it takes Blackhawk’s, and get the president his photo op. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4155 "2025-04-20T04:01:32Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to learn that Trump doesn’t believe in an afterlife. (Or, he doesn’t care, one way or the other.) Like many rich/powerful people, the concept of his own death is incomprehensible. What the fuck would he care about what comes after, since (a) it won’t come and (b) if it does come, the fuck does he care about those left behind, and (c) there’s no way that if an afterlife existed, he wouldn’t be running it within 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4156 "2025-04-20T12:21:38Z")
Only thirteen maidens? “Those are rookie numbers.”\* \*see Wolf of Wall Street ---
**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:** [April 20, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4157 "2025-04-20T14:55:22Z")
Mr. Art of the Deal strikes again! Even though this is terrifying, it still cracks me up….its like being trapped in a burning theatre but the show on stage is really funny, not clever or insightful funny, but funny in its stupidity and cringe. It sounds like Trump’s lawyers and Harvard’s lawyers were actually having productive conversations that might have lead to a “deal” that everyone would be happy with. _Whats with all this blabbering about “making deals” anyway? No one really says that. Real businessmen don’t use that phrase, even drug dealers don’t talk about “making deals”. There might be one clueless used car dealer in bumfuck Oklahoma that talks about “making deals” but I bet he gets laughed at a lot. Now we have all these high level government officials approaching high level government official from other countries like cartoon used car salespeople trying to “make deals”……what would take to get you into a new trade agreement today? Oh, you’re happy with the trade agreement you’re driving…..we’re determined to put you in a new agreement TODAY because we MAKE DEALS, that’s what we do. It’s so cringe_. But back to Harvard. It looks to me that they might have been close to striking an agreement that worked for everyone, but not for Trump. He’s not happy with a deal that doesn’t involve crying and begging, so I suspect they hatched this little plot to try and panic Harvard, to make them call Trump with tears in their big strong eyes, begging to kiss his ass. But old Fart of the Deal still hasn’t figured out that you can’t control what the party on the other side of the deal-making table might do. So when they decided not to pick up the phone, instead opting to publicly tell Trump exactly how hard he could go fuck himself……they were like “You weren’t supposed to do that, you were supposed to call and beg, and if you’d called we would’ve told you the letter was a mistake, even though it wasn’t. That’s MALPRACTICE. That was the best part, in 2025 America refusing to kiss Trump’s ass is considered malpractice. I’ve frequently said that Trump was probably the worst “deal-maker” in the history of business, that all the real negotiations were done by his underlings and the hardest part of their job was white-knuckling the 10 minutes when Trump and the other party were in the room together at closing, because they knew if their boss opened his mouth he’d fuck it up. And this looks like that exact dynamic in action. And Trump’s still waiting for Xi to call him. ---
**Author:** ![Kelby2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@Kelby2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4158 "2025-04-20T15:00:36Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > I’d like to know what Trump sees when he closes his eyes and thinks about the afterlife. > > It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to learn that Trump doesn’t believe in an afterlife. (Or, he doesn’t care, one way or the other.) As mired in narcissism as he is, he probably believes he’ll live to be 200, as one of his quack doctors claimed a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4159 "2025-04-20T15:27:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d like to know what Trump sees when he closes his eyes and thinks about the afterlife. I suggest that trump is one of those people who don’t have a “visual imagination.” > **[Aphantasia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia)** > > Aphantasia (/ˌeɪfænˈteɪʒə/ AY-fan-TAY-zhə, /ˌæfænˈteɪʒə/ AF-an-TAY-zhə) is the inability to voluntarily visualize mental images. > The phenomenon was first described by Francis Galton in 1880, but has remained relatively unstudied. Interest in the phenomenon renewed after the publication of a study in 2015 conducted by a team led by Adam Zeman of the University of Exeter. Zeman's team coined the term aphantasia, derived from the ancient Greek word phantasia (φαντασία), which means "appearance/im... It’s not considered a disability or handicap. > **[Aphantasia within the framework of neurodivergence: Some preliminary data and...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810023001046)** > > Aphantasia is a neurocognitive phenomenon affecting voluntary visual imagery, such that it is either entirely absent, or markedly impaired. Using both… > Aphantasia is a neurocognitive phenomenon affecting voluntary visual imagery, such that it is either entirely absent, or markedly impaired. Using both the social and medical models of disability, this article discusses the extent to which aphantasia can be understood as a disorder or just a form of neutral neurodivergence, given that imagery plays a central role in thinking and memory for most other people. Preliminary [school performance](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/academic-performance) data are presented, showing that low imagery does not necessarily complicate life, especially given compensatory strategies and low societal barriers. In addition, we discuss the consequences of labelling aphantasia a disorder with regard to self- and public stigma, and we provide further data regarding a confidence gap, by which aphantasics perceive themselves as performing worse than they objectively do. We conclude that aphantasia should be understood as neutral neurodivergence and that labelling it a disorder is not only wrong, but potentially harmful. BUT to the extent that it hinders trump’s ability to “grasp the big picture,” as it were, IMHO (non-scientific and non-medical) it seems to me that, combined with his obvious narcissism, it really gets in the way of any possibility of empathy or looking down the road to consequences of one’s decisions and behavior. Or maybe he’s just a MF asshole. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4160 "2025-04-20T18:41:13Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Or maybe he’s just a MF asshole. “No; I’ve got arms and legs; I’ve got everything.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=204) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=206)