# 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:** 242
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4882 "2025-05-17T18:32:45Z")
To be fair, it is not only the clusterfucker’s fault, it has been a long time coming. But the time to anounce the downgrading of the US’ credit rating is now, under his watch (I use this term very loosely, bear wih me) so here you are: [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/business/us-credit-downgrade-moodys.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.H08.Vbgf.duoqLDqtlaKF&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/business/us-credit-downgrade-moodys.html?unlocked_article_code=1.H08.Vbgf.duoqLDqtlaKF&smid=url-share) And the article ends: > “Years of dysfunction, debt ceiling debacles and fiscal imprudence have brought us to this outcome,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the accounting firm RSM. He warned that “anything financed in both the public and private sector will now be more expensive.” ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4883 "2025-05-17T18:35:31Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Second, the contest should be _to the death_ for the losers. The losers should be dropped in a vat of the acid they used in _Breaking Bad_ they can call it The Melting Pot! ---
**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:** [May 17, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4884 "2025-05-17T21:28:14Z")
As has been discussed here often, the deficit balloons far more under the party which screeches loudest about “deficit control” when the other party is in control. “Tax and spend” may be unpleasant, but IMHO “spend and shove the debt off onto the next generation(s)” is abhorrent. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4885 "2025-05-17T22:17:40Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > “spend and shove the debt off onto the next generation(s)” is abhorrent As is “spend and shove the debt onto the poor while exempting the felon’s cronies”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4886 "2025-05-17T22:35:14Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > That’s borderline defamatory against President Camacho Putin, in the end, will of course, make sure his name is GERONIMO!!..!!..! ---
**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:** [May 18, 2025, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4887 "2025-05-18T03:02:47Z")
> [@dasmoocher quoting Empty Greene](#): > > She continued, “If your home or business or property is damaged or a loved one is killed by their weather modifications shouldn’t you be eligible for compensation? There has never been a statement more deserving of the laconic, “If.” ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4888 "2025-05-18T04:29:00Z")
This is perfect. Sure, China isn’t really paying the tariffs but high prices are still not _his_ fault. Blame the corporations who are ripping you off! [![](https://i.imgur.com/hE72682.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/hE72682.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4889 "2025-05-18T04:48:19Z")
Bwahahahaha, price increases are not from tariffs (or ~~Trumpflation~~ Bidenflation) they’re because of greedy capitalists! ---
**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:** [May 18, 2025, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4890 "2025-05-18T05:43:46Z")
I thought capitalists are the good guys. Did I miss a memo? ---
**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:** [May 18, 2025, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4891 "2025-05-18T05:57:14Z")
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2025, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4892 "2025-05-18T06:03:06Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I thought capitalists are the good guys. Did I miss a memo? Actually there’s a fair amount of hostility towards capitalists and corporations as actual people & organizations, rather than as an ideal. Mainly, because they simply aren’t hateful and tyrannical enough. They have too great a tendency to value making a profit over hurting and oppressing people. An amoral drive for greater profit regardless of the cost is exactly that; amoral. But the Right is about _evil,_ not amorality, and capitalism just isn’t sadistic and bigoted enough to please them. Capitalism doesn’t care if it makes people happy but that’s just it; as long as the profits keep rolling in a good capitalist is perfectly willing to tolerate people being happy as a result, and _that_ is anathema to the Right. The cruelty _is_ the point; and that includes hating a _lack_ of cruelty. Society is supposed to be nothing but an instrument of malice. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4893 "2025-05-18T07:34:55Z")
Oh, Snap! He stepped on WalMart’s Dick! He gonna lose that pissing contest! He don’t even know! ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4894 "2025-05-18T11:54:08Z")
I think the message is, find ways to stop buying so much Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. stuff. Wal-Mart obviously can’t just change their supply chains overnight, but they can’t ignore the threat of a populist president publicly attacking them (see Harley Davidson). ---
**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:** [May 18, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4895 "2025-05-18T12:37:20Z")
> [@natureboy](#): > > I think the message is, find ways to stop buying so much Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. stuff. Can’t be done. There’s simply too many basic things that not only aren’t made in the US, but we don’t even have the existing resources, facilities or expertise to do so. Trump will be dead or out of office before such a shift could be made, to the extent it can. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4896 "2025-05-18T13:24:52Z")
Reducing our trade deficits can totally be done. It certainly can’t be done overnight, which is why Trump’s approach of front-loading the tariff shock isn’t the way to go about changing the modern free trade regime. Moreover, reducing trade imbalances is not simply a matter of pressuring overseas buyers to buy more American-made goods and bringing back industrial plants stateside. We need policies here that encourage less consumption and more saving. I don’t see where that’s been addressed yet. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4897 "2025-05-18T13:43:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Trump will be dead or out of office… No fair teasing like that… 🧐 ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4898 "2025-05-18T13:45:24Z")
> [@G.H. Bush](#): > > The American way of life is not up for negotiations. Period.” And that’s from a conventional Republican. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4899 "2025-05-18T16:07:50Z")
> Qatar’s Gift to Trump Is Unsold Plane It’s Been Trying to Dump for Years. Giving the 747-8 to the U.S. would allow the Qataris to avoid maintenance costs that were only getting higher. [https://www.newsweek.com/qatar-gift-trump-unsold-plane-2072564](https://www.newsweek.com/qatar-gift-trump-unsold-plane-2072564) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4900 "2025-05-18T17:35:57Z")
> [@natureboy](#): > > We need policies here that encourage less consumption Yes, I’m sure the Republicans/conservatives will be right on publicly abandoning capitalism any day now. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/4901 "2025-05-18T18:56:17Z")
Why am I reminded of the term “white elephant”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=241) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=243)