# 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:** 21
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/401 "2024-11-26T14:30:56Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > And that border with Canada. Wow! That has to be one of the best kept secrets of all time how people and drugs are just illegally flowing southward into the United States. I have a vision - Canadians leverage their decades of experience with cross-border shopping for cheaper stuff in the US, to build US-focussed shopping areas close to every border crossing. Focus on particular things Americans seem to really want to be cheap, like eggs, clothes, and cars. Then, in every parking lot, we have teams of Roving Canadians teaching them how to make it back across the border without paying tariffs or duty. “No, you can’t use the shopping bags, that’s a dead give-away. Just pile it on the floor in the back on the car. And remember to take the tags off and dump them in the trash over there. And while you’re at it, remember that weed is also legal in Canada now!” ETA: and cars and trucks! We’ll set up a website, you put in the make and model of your current vehicle, and when you arrive, we swap it out for a new one of the same make, and same color, just switch license plates, and boom! New car! We’ll spread mud on it to make it look old, for an extra charge, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/402 "2024-11-26T15:02:44Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > [I]t would only be karma if they suffered due to their own stupidity and malice. They decided to inflict misery and death on millions of people… ‘You’re hurting the wrong people!’ > [@Monty](#): > > Wait until he finds out how much of every automobile manufactured in the United States is made in Canada. The window sticker on my 1999 Jeep Cherokee had a percentage of the vehicle that was manufactured in Canada. For some reason, 40% sticks in my mind. Might have been 20%. Might have been another percentage. Anyway, the point is that my Jeep has a lot of Canada in it. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/403 "2024-11-26T15:07:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > > [I]t would only be karma if they suffered due to their own stupidity and malice. They decided to inflict misery and death on millions of people… > > ‘You’re hurting the wrong people!’ > > > [@Monty](#): > > > > Wait until he finds out how much of every automobile manufactured in the United States is made in Canada. > > The window sticker on my 1999 Jeep Cherokee had a percentage of the vehicle that was manufactured in Canada. For some reason, 40% sticks in my mind. Might have been 20%. Might have been another percentage. Anyway, the point is that my Jeep has a lot of Canada in it… My old Chevy was manufactured in Canada. I have Canadian relatives and we are having a family reunion in Canada in July. I’m the family treasurer. Ugh… ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/404 "2024-11-26T16:42:04Z")
Trump seems able to avoid the consequences of his own actions, but the Republicans don’t. They’ve taken heavy election losses in the past as backlash to Trumpism, and I expect that big time in 2026. I also suspect they expect it too and so they’ll try to get as much done as possible in the next couple of years. I’m not sure how much they can, especially when they keep fighting each other. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/405 "2024-11-26T17:57:11Z")
I wouldn’t call it an expectation, but I have at least a little hope that a few Republican Senators might have enough concern about a) the Senate’s reputation (and tradition) as the more deliberative body, and/or b) its possible irrelevance if Project 2025 comes to fruition that the incoming malAdministration’s worst excesses might be sidelined. Or it might stop with Susan Collins being Very Concerned™. To quote Robert Agar in _The Great Train Robbery_, “I’ll hope, but not too excessive.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/406 "2024-11-26T18:07:48Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > I have at least a little hope that a few Republican Senators might have enough concern… [Even Republicans want a check on Trump](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/even-republicans-want-a-check-on-trump/ar-AA1uIUvx) > [S]ome in Trump’s party have essentially agreed that the party should do whatever Trump wants, because he won the 2024 election. > > “Whatever that is, we need to embrace it,” Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Texas) said recently. “All of it. Every single word.” > > But that’s clearly not what the American people want. And as notably, it doesn’t even appear to be what Republicans want. … > > But that doesn’t mean they want Congress or even congressional Republicans to just bow to Trump’s will. … > > But the verdict was basically the same, regardless of how the question was asked. While 75 percent disagreed that Trump should be able to unilaterally appoint people when the Constitution was invoked, 76 percent disagreed when it was not. Republican opposition was at 53 percent when the Constitution was invoked and 55 percent when it was not. > > The split was similar. Americans said 77 percent to 23 percent that congressional Republicans should push back when they disagree with Trump’s policies, and even Republicans sided with pushing back, 56-44. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/407 "2024-11-26T18:30:24Z")
Color me skeptical. I don’t seem to recall the Republicans lining up to hold Trump to account during two richly-deserved Impeachment Proceedings. In the first, he blackmailed/extorted a US ally, using taxpayer funds, in order that they would fabricate dirt on his likely political opponent. In the second, he had – quite literally – fomented an attempted self-coup, trying to overthrow the legitimately-elected US government. [It’s worth frequent and perpetual reminder…] Maybe the Republicans are waiting for him to do something _extra special_ bad. ETA: I think it would take the cold, craven, cynical calculation that Trump did something that couldn’t be spun to the Republicans’ political advantage, and that would likely hurt their chances in the next election(s). Beyond that? I got nuthin’. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/408 "2024-11-26T18:49:41Z")
I agree. They’ve been consistently spineless when it comes to Trump ever since 2016. They talk big but fold if he so much as glances harshly at them. Really, it’s one of the things I found most surprising about Trump’s takeover of the Republicans. While I was never foolish enough to consider that any of them might have the slightest moral scruples, I really thought that their pride would have convinced them to stand up to him; but they just fell on their faces and groveled. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/409 "2024-11-26T18:58:28Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I really thought that their pride would have convinced them to stand up to him Pride goeth before a fall. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/410 "2024-11-26T19:00:49Z")
It is not that Republicans want a check on Trump-It is that Republicans want _someone else to put_ a check on Trump. Those that have the initiative to do so don’t have the power, and those that have the power to do so don’t have the initiative. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/411 "2024-11-26T19:42:01Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I don’t seem to recall the Republicans lining up to hold Trump to account during two richly-deserved Impeachment Proceedings. > > In the first, he blackmailed/extorted a US ally, using taxpayer funds, in order that they would fabricate dirt on his likely political opponent. > > In the second, he had – quite literally – fomented an attempted self-coup, trying to overthrow the legitimately-elected US government. I think/hope that there is a significant difference in the courage required vote to hold back on supporting nominees/legislation that are broadly unpopular and harmful to the country vs voting to actively throw the selected leader of your party from the highest seat in the land. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/412 "2024-11-26T19:46:23Z")
This time he’s fucking with the big money. That may be too much. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/413 "2024-11-26T19:46:36Z")
Please count my hope right along side of your own. My concern, however, is that Trump’s legendary, infantile, and insatiable sense of grievance, and subsequent obsession with vengeance, is all too binary, and will only have worsened with time, age, additional non-existent transgressions against him, and a big EC win. I’d love to be wrong. I’d love for there to be a new, Republican _pamphlet_ version of “Profiles in Courage” at this point 😉 ETA: > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > This time he’s fucking with the big money. That may be too much. That’s a really interesting take. I’ll definitely be staying tuned… ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/414 "2024-11-27T01:49:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It is not that Republicans want a check on Trump-It is that Republicans want _someone else to put_ a check on Trump. The [“Who will bell the cat?”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belling_the_Cat) fable come to life. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/415 "2024-11-27T03:19:57Z")
Acftually, I’ve been reminded of this one since T\*\*\*\* 1.0. It’s almost like Aesop was Nostradamus or something. [Library of Congress Aesop Fables](https://read.gov/aesop/048.html) [“The Frogs Who Wished For A King”] ---
**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:** [November 27, 2024, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/416 "2024-11-27T09:14:39Z")
I suppose after seeing RFKJR grifting into the upcoming maladministration, I should not be shocked to see [this bit of news from AOL](https://www.aol.com/trump-picks-jay-bhattacharya-backed-022046759.html). > President-elect [Donald Trump](https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump) has chosen health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates, to lead the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s leading medical research agency. > > Trump, in a statement Tuesday evening, said Bhattacharya, a 56-year-old physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., [his pick to lead](https://apnews.com/article/trump-rfk-hhs-health-kennedy-f40ee2398e3a280c1586eecdd80bdf7c) the Department of Health and Human Services, "to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives.” > > “Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease," he wrote. Yes. I did choose the correct descriptor for Project2025/T2. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/417 "2024-11-27T13:02:54Z")
Those numbers are very similar to Republican support for at least some reasonable access to abortion, but that support by voters doesn’t translate into support by the elected officials. Even when some Republican-majority states are voting to add abortion rights to State constitutions, other Republican States are enacting and enforcing very strong bans on abortions. So I don’t really expect those numbers to translate into any significant opposition to Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/418 "2024-11-27T13:09:00Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > > Jay and RFK That sounds like a great title for a series of children’s books about their adventures running the NIH together. “Jay and RFK and the Raw Milk Adventure” “Jay and RFK and the Mystery of the Vaccines” “Jay and RFK and the Great Fluoride Conspiracy” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/419 "2024-11-27T13:30:30Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > “Jay and RFK and the Raw Milk Adventure” Has he been to California lately? > **[Bird flu detected in raw milk sold in California, health officials say](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bird-flu-detected-raw-milk-sold-california-health-officials-say-rcna181598)** > > California health officials warned the public to avoid drinking one batch of whole raw milk from Raw Farm, which has issued a voluntary recall. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/420 "2024-11-27T13:41:15Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Has he been to California lately? That’s the one I’ve been laughing about all week. At least this time they won’t be able to infect the rest of us by just breathing on us. Yet, anyways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=22)