# 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:** 253
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5102 "2025-05-23T23:36:09Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I think I saw a clip of Karoline Leavitt explaining there’s no conflict-of-interest here because Trump is doing this as a “private citizen” and it’s not hosted/sponsored at/by the White House If that’s true, there’s no presidential immunity for any corrupt act that occurred, and he can be prosecuted. ---
**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 23, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5103 "2025-05-23T23:39:31Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > If that’s true, there’s no presidential immunity for any corrupt act that occurred, and he can be prosecuted. As mentioned before: > [@SunUp](#): > > On Bluesky it was pointed out that this meant that it was not an “official act” and thus he could (via the Supreme Court ruling from last year) be prosecuted for acts associated with the dinner. But then in reality, this will almost surely happen: > [@SunUp](#): > > (Of course, any Trump lawyer could simply claim that Leavitt misspoke and it was _certainly_ an official act…) ---
**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 23, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5104 "2025-05-23T23:45:21Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > The third says he loves UK but they need to get rid of their windmills and start drilling for oil > [@Donald Trump at Truth Social](#): > > Our negotiated deal with the United Kingdom is working out well for all. I strongly recommend to them, however, that in order to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken. A century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub. The old fashioned tax system disincentivizes drilling, rather than the opposite. U.K.’s Energy Costs would go WAY DOWN, and fast! “A century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub”. Huh. I wonder who has property there? I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5105 "2025-05-23T23:55:47Z")
What did that poor cat ever do to you to deserve that? ---
**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 24, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5106 "2025-05-24T00:13:30Z")
“Hey, man. I didn’t _want_ to do it. I _had_ to do it. It was just _one_ hairball too many.” And now we know what that thing on the felon’s head is. [The felon-in-chief approves FEMA aid to 8 states.](https://www.aol.com/trump-approves-fema-disaster-relief-211530995.html) > [@](#): > > JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — President [Donald Trump](https://www.yahoo.com/people/donald-trump/) green-lit disaster relief for eight states on Friday, assistance that some of the communities rocked by natural disasters have been waiting on for months. > > The major disaster declaration approvals allow Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas access to financial support through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. > > Several states requested the aid in response to damage from a [massive storm](https://apnews.com/article/tornadoes-wildfires-deaths-eb53f6b2463a96b18a08ca9e2db266ab) system in mid-March. Besides the delay, do you notice anything about that list? One commenter on that article posted this: > [@](#): > > Nice about time, but how about the Liberal State who have yet to be approved, WA, VT, CA etc. If you have even one brain cell, you already know the answer to that query. [Federal judge puts the skids on the felonials’ latest stunt.](https://www.aol.com/harvard-sues-trump-administration-over-123342907.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from cutting off Harvard’s [enrollment of foreign students](https://apnews.com/article/harvard-trump-foreign-student-457d07268fba9c1f6f7f32fe0424bc3b), an action the Ivy League school decried as unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands. > > In its lawsuit filed earlier Friday in federal court in Boston, Harvard said the [government’s action](https://apnews.com/article/harvard-international-students-trump-2c72d5d0dc83949cfc03f81660419b31) violates the First Amendment and will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.” > > “With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” Harvard said in its suit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.” > > The ruling from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs puts the sanction against Harvard on hold, pending the lawsuit. [But all is well with the economy, right? Right? Right?](https://www.aol.com/stocks-tumble-trump-reignites-trade-123441644.html) > [@](#): > > Markets thought they had a serious [debt problem](https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/investing/bond-market-selloff?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo). Now they have a trade war problem to worry about again. > > Stocks and the dollar fell Friday after President Donald Trump brought the trade war back to the forefront with threats of massive tariffs against one of America’s most valuable companies and one of its most important trading partners. > > Trump posted on Truth social Friday morning that he would impose a [25% tariff on Apple](https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/23/economy/trump-threatens-tariff-apple?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo)if it refused to make iPhones in the United States. Minutes later, Trump said he would [recommend a 50% tariff](https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/23/economy/trump-eu-tariffs?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo)on goods imported from the European Union. > > The Dow closed lower by 256 points, or 0.61%. The broader S&P 500 fell 0.67%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 1%. > > All three indexes finished the week in the red. The Dow and Nasdaq each posted their worst week in five weeks. The S&P 500 notched its worst week since the first week of April. > > Dow futures had tumbled as much as 600 points Friday morning after Trump posted his tariff threat. Stocks opened sharply lower before paring losses throughout the day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Bloomberg TV interview that he expects “several large deals” will be announced in the coming weeks. Every time he says tariff, the market tanks. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5107 "2025-05-24T00:21:09Z")
I saw a video clip of the event and the Presidential Seal is clearly attached to the podium, which means he’s using his office to make money and peddle influence. ---
**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 24, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5108 "2025-05-24T00:24:32Z")
The only bright point in his peddling influence is he cannot stay bought. Well, unless the buyer is another dictator. ---
**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 24, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5109 "2025-05-24T00:29:31Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > What did that poor cat ever do to you to deserve that? It gave me heartburn in Springfield, OH. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5110 "2025-05-24T00:55:10Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > The only bright point in his peddling influence is he cannot stay bought. Well, unless the buyer is another dictator. I think for many people paying Trump to influence something for them is akin to buying a product from a company whose warranty expires as soon as you purchase it. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5111 "2025-05-24T02:18:28Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Karoline Leavitt explaining there’s no conflict-of-interest here because Trump is doing this as a “private citizen” and it’s not hosted/sponsored at/by the White House. So who was President during this event? He’d have to pass authority to Vance in writing. Hell, he would trust Pence during Trump’s colonoscopy. So, she was full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5112 "2025-05-24T02:43:46Z")
Apparently, we’ve got Trump’s seeming grift all wrong. He’s just making sure he can’t be bribed or influenced: [Trump Thinks It Was ‘Stupid’ Not to Cash in Harder on His First Term. He’s Making Up for It](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-cash-in-presidency-corruption-sky-palace-crypto-1235345468/) _As the president mixes public service with personal profit, he’s making the world safe for corruption_ > Both in public and behind closed doors, Trump often repeats a new mantra: It does not matter how much lucrative new business the Trump Organization or his children engage in while Trump is the president, because he and his family are so wealthy that he doesn’t _need_ that new cash flow or windfalls — and therefore, he must be unbribable. Oh, wait. That’s safe _for_ corruption, not safe _from_ corruption. I first saw this mentioned on The Damage Report: [Trump Press Secretary SNAPS At Reporter Over Insane Crypto Dinner Secret](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWS-CTVNc3c) [Investors] > White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt snaps at a reporter over Donald Trump’s blatant corruption after throwing Trump under the bus by explaining his crypto dinner for secret investors was on his personal time which would put his immunity in jeopardy. John Iadarola and Brett Erlich break it down on The Damage Report. ---
**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 24, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5113 "2025-05-24T03:12:54Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Hell, he would trust Pence during Trump’s colonoscopy. I believe you dropped a word here. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5114 "2025-05-24T03:23:30Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > At this point in the Second Felonial Era, his demise at any time will be timely. Nope. “Timely” would have been some time in 2017 (at the latest). ---
**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 24, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5115 "2025-05-24T03:49:53Z")
True. ---
**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 24, 2025, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5116 "2025-05-24T04:48:51Z")
Fear not, my fellow Americans! Felon47 is keeping us safe! How, you ask? Am I glad you did! [Wasting money on inspection and assessment of Alcatraz.](https://www.aol.com/us-officials-visit-alcatraz-amid-230448052.html) > [@](#): > > Federal prison officials visited Alcatraz last week after [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump)’s [announcement earlier this month](https://www.aol.com/news/trump-orders-reopening-alcatraz-prison-141306194.html) of plans to rebuild and reopen the infamous island prison, which has been closed for over 60 years. > > David Smith, the superintendent of the Golden Gate national recreation area (GGNRA), told the [San Francisco Chronicle](https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/alcatraz-federal-prison-visit-20342013.php) that officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons are planning to return for further structural assessments. > > “They have been out here. They’ll be coming out again to do assessments of the structure,” Smith told the news outlet. > > The island facility has been closed since 1963, when then attorney general Robert F Kennedy ordered its shutdown amid high operating costs, limited space and multiple escape attempts. [Putting over one hundred national security staffers on administrative leave.](https://www.aol.com/multiple-national-security-council-staffers-210249556.html) > [@](#): > > The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter. > > CNN [previously reported](https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/14/politics/rubio-national-security-council-overhaul?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo) that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels. > > An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices. [Failing to recognize REAL ID when one is shown.](https://www.aol.com/news/u-citizen-real-id-handcuffed-214202735.html) > [@](#): > > A U.S.-born citizen who was wrestled into the dirt, handcuffed and detained in a vehicle as part of an immigration raid [had a REAL ID on him](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/real-id-deadline-requirements-explained-rcna204898) that was dismissed as fake, the man’s cousin said Friday. > > Video of the arrest, [aired by Noticias Telemundo](https://www.telemundo.com/noticias/noticias-telemundo-en-la-noche/inmigracion/video/empleado-de-la-construccion-estadounidense-narra-como-ice-lo-arresto-en-su-sitio-de-tmvo12932038), showed authorities grabbing Leonardo Garcia Venegas, 25, while at a job site in Foley, Alabama, on Wednesday and bending his arms behind him. Someone off-camera can be heard yelling, “He’s a citizen.” > > [Garcia told Noticias Telemundo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gH1VRi19G4) that authorities took his ID from his wallet and told him it was fake before handcuffing him. [REAL ID is the identification U.S. citizens](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/real-id-deadline-requirements-explained-rcna204898) are required by law to have in order to travel through airports and enter federal buildings. It is considered a higher security form of identification. > > “Apparently a REAL ID is not valid anymore. He has a REAL ID,” his cousin Shelah Venegas said. “We all made sure we have the REAL ID and went through the protocols the administration is asking for. … He has his REAL ID and then they see him and I guess because his English isn’t fluent and/or because he’s brown it’s fake, it’s not real.” [And if you’re planning on traveling overseas, take heed and avoid countries with travel warnings like…wait, what? WTF? SWITZERLAND?!](https://www.aol.com/5th-safest-country-world-now-131022527.html) > [@](#): > > A major European country has a new travel alert. > > The United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs has issued a Level 1 Travel Advisory for the country of [Switzerland](https://www.travelandleisure.com/switzerland-travel-8650770). The agency did not provide any immediate cause on why the travel advisory was published on May 20, but it says to “exercise normal precautions in Switzerland.” I, for one, feel safer as the felon and his cohorts keep on rolling, rolling the country, if not the whole planet, up shit river. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5117 "2025-05-24T05:05:41Z")
Well, obviously, Swiss cheese has holes in it. Illegal aliens (all of them rapists and gangbangers, of course) might crawl through the holes. ---
**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 24, 2025, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5118 "2025-05-24T05:12:34Z")
Switzerland is a chocolate ~~[city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_City_speech)~~ country. ---
**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 24, 2025, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5119 "2025-05-24T07:36:38Z")
The Swiss Miss will seduce you with her “hot chocolate” and then entrap you with **MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE**!!! [![](https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/projects/404/9214083.547b52be5a4a4.png) ](https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/projects/404/9214083.547b52be5a4a4.png) ---
**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 24, 2025, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5120 "2025-05-24T08:24:01Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Switzerland is a chocolate ~~[city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_City_speech)~~ country. Why is this reminding me of what Trevor Noah said about his parents, especially his father? ---
**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:** [May 24, 2025, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/5121 "2025-05-24T10:03:07Z")
> **[Travel.State.Gov CSI](https://travelmaps.state.gov/TSGMap/)** Took me a while to find what looks like an updated map. Unless Switzerland previously was colored white (Level zero) like that place left and south of Canada, Level 1 seems to be a default / “safe country”. I reckon somewhere on this site it suggests “Don’t be an American Idiot” but maybe they erased that bit and Switzerland themselves asked for a fresh warning. I suspect if you look at the consular pages of most of the world, that country in white does not have whatever corresponds to “Level 1”. I’ve been to the Eastern parts of Finland and Estonia and they may not _yet_ deserve the slanted white lines parts of some other countries have, and as an American you’d _probably_ be okay currently in those areas (that used to belong to the big red country to their East). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=252) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=254)