# 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:** 432
**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:** [October 10, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8682 "2025-10-10T22:08:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Did they say _how_ it must be played? ‘Cause I’m thinking of a kazoo Nope. Remember the band on the deck of a ship, in the movie Pearl Harbor? Where they started playing it faster and faster as they realized what was going on? Do that. Have a competition to see who can play it the fastest. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8683 "2025-10-10T22:13:07Z")
That’s why I love the Pit! 💞 > [@dougrb](#): > > Dominion has been purchased Is Dominion not the company that won a defamation case against Guiliani in the hundreds of millions? Who is this Scott Leiendecker, a “onetime St. Louis Republican election director” and founder of the buying company Liberty Vote? I haven’t read anything about it elsewhere and the link is already two days old. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8684 "2025-10-10T22:28:58Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Who is this Scott Leiendecker Obviously, an expert in election integrity. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8685 "2025-10-10T23:32:47Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > we’ll have to wait a bit for Trump’s well wishes and considerate discourse on the choice. Just caught a bit of CNN on TV where it was reported that Trump claims that he spoke with Machado and that she told him he deserved to win it, or she won it because of him, or something like that – it was a panel discussion and I was too distracted by the unanimous WTF??? reactions from everyone to recall the exact phrasing. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8686 "2025-10-10T23:54:47Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > it was reported that Trump claims that he spoke with Machado and that she told him he deserved to win it, or she won it because of him, or something like that Referring to this maybe (posted elsewhere): > [@Nobel Peace Price Announced; It Doesn't Go to Trump](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-peace-price-announced-it-doesnt-go-to-trump/1023845/38): > > [She posted](https://xcancel.com/MariaCorinaYA/status/1976642376119549990#m) (linked to xcancel instead of Xitter for reasons): > > > This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom. > > > > We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy. > > > > I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause! > > Man, that is well played. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8687 "2025-10-11T00:04:34Z")
Wow, that’s a clever way to play on the Toddler in Chief’s vanity. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8688 "2025-10-11T00:14:27Z")
_“It’s not who votes. It’s who counts the votes that counts.”_ What could _possibly_ go wrong (if you’re anything other than a hard-core Republican)? Sigh. _"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”_ –David Frum, former George W. Bush speechwriter [Technically, you could say that Frum said this _before_ the GOP actually went ahead and did 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:** [October 11, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8689 "2025-10-11T00:44:17Z")
Karl Rove wisely/diabolically yet (probably) legally did so much to get as many state legislatures majority Republican. Then left the gerrymandering up to them. But what can you do with Atlanta? Or quite a few somewhat-blue-purple states where Dems can pull out a win because of one or two cities. Didn’t DJT also get impeached over the coercion thing with the Atlanta government or was that not federal? Up-thread, someone posted boxes of classified documents in probably his 3rd bathroom - and that alone ought to have gotten to 2/3’rds even though it would only make him ineligible to be #47. Florida and Texas will count votes any damn way they please. If Austin (in an imaginary world) could swing Texas blue it’s too bad all their votes caught on fire. Right now polling doesn’t look good for the Dems even if it’s clear and warm everywhere on election day in 2026. In my more dystopian/less-Rovian reckoning, DJT will be on the ballot in 2028 and win by an 86% margin. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8690 "2025-10-11T01:19:07Z")
The Trump administration cut funding to the Esmeralda 7 solar project in Nevada that would have covered an area roughly the size of Las Vegas and provided clean solar energy to 2 million homes. > **[Trump officials cancel major solar project in latest hit to renewable energy](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/trump-officials-drop-major-solar-power-project-in-another-renewable-energy-attack)** > > Esmeralda 7 in Nevada would have produced enough energy to power 2m homes ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8691 "2025-10-11T01:20:34Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Didn’t DJT also get impeached over the coercion thing with the Atlanta government or was that not federal? It involved Georgia state officials, especially their Secretary of State. It led to state charges of racketeering; the case is currently paused, due to the removal of the prosecutor, and questions over whether a now-sitting president can be brought to trial. It was not the pretext for either of his impeachments. > **[Georgia election racketeering prosecution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_election_racketeering_prosecution)** > > The State of Georgia v. Donald J. Trump, et al. is a pending criminal case against Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the United States, and 18 co-defendants. The prosecution alleges that Trump led a "criminal racketeering enterprise", in which he and all other defendants "knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome" of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Georgia. All defendants are charged with one count of violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced... ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8692 "2025-10-11T01:41:32Z")
Just like he shut down the wind farms off of RI. He’s not just a moron, he’s in somebody’s pocket. 2 million homes. Good God. I just put solar on my house. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8693 "2025-10-11T01:43:49Z")
Let’s see… Solar, Colorado, Gov’t guy.. You ARE SO ON THE LIST! ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8694 "2025-10-11T01:57:06Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Just like he shut down the wind farms off of RI. He’s not just a moron, he’s in somebody’s pocket. Just a timely reminder: At a Mar-A-Lago fundraiser, Trump told oil executives that – if they contributed a collective ONE BILLION DOLLARS to Trump’s campaign, he would roll back every environmental regulation from Biden’s administration, and he would allow no further environmental regulations in a second Trump administration. Maybe they bought his crypto, his meme coin, his stable coin, or a shit-ton of Trump Bibles instead? ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8695 "2025-10-11T02:08:00Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Maybe they bought I like to believe it was Trumpy Trout. > [@A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-2/984250/7850): > > Fun For The Entire Family Makes A Great Gift Trumpy Trout™ says 18 different phrases ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8696 "2025-10-11T14:29:44Z")
> **[The MAGA-fication of Sports Continues](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/10/white-house-ufc-mma/684538/?gift=QgO_LHw-skz7EqtMG0lcxtfk_JRkxdv2oMhbCX1ysx0&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share)** > > Donald Trump’s partnership with the UFC takes his desire to identify with winners to snarling new heights. Gift link, but is this something a sane person _really_ wants to read? These first two paragraphs will likely make your eggs and toast stick in your throat as they did mine… 🤢 > …Trump styles himself as an “Ultimate Fighter,” a crotch-kicker in chief who will stop at little to force his opponents to submit. > > Ten months into Trump’s second term, he’s made 10 appearances at major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA-wrestling championships, and he’s carried his brawling culture war into all of them. At the Daytona 500, he did a [ceremonial lap](https://apnews.com/article/trump-nascar-daytona-500-sports-20a1f0a75207ec57dfa4c58aa3934875) in his armored limo; told the drivers, “This is your favorite president”; and declared that he loves fender-bumping stock-car racers because they have “guts.” Last month, [he scolded the NFL](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115208143657180249) for its new kickoff rule, which is calculated to limit concussions, complaining on his social-media site: “‘Sissy’ football is bad for America, and bad for the NFL!” And recently, Trump announced that on June 14, as part of the buildup to festivities celebrating America’s [250th](https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2025/10/the-atlantic-presents-the-unfinished-revolution/684485/) anniversary of independence, he will host a blood-speckling Ultimate Fighting Championship cage fight on the White House grounds. There will reportedly be [weigh-ins](https://www.wsj.com/us-news/trump-ufc-white-house-south-lawn-2dbc23a4?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASWzDAgAG7yRTs11kLvFIo3GaEpS3WGo-SpYK536a_v8cxhmW-QDOJ7rBxXKXiAx7P4%3D&gaa_ts=68bb093b&gaa_sig=XXZhWThi-__AbShiZXP8Ymuh_kqcURQdsXawlH3nj5GrFuBqp6rrYfzabZ04GTWcnUsTnuNQwpVDGJGFOCHIBA%3D%3D) at the Lincoln Memorial and stalls with punching bags for tourists. But there is sound, if disgusting, psychology behind this tactic: > More is going on here than [bread and circuses](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/05/russia-trump-autocracy-economy/682699/), distractions to blot out tariff pain or the attempted prosecutions of political opponents. Trump’s pervasive presence in stadiums is rooted in his understanding of the basic power of sports-audience psychology: Fans feel the wins and losses of their favorite teams and athletes as _personal_ successes and failures. Their allegiances come with an emotional sense of direct participation—even “smugness,” [one study](https://www.athensjournals.gr/sports/2021-8-1-1-Harasta.pdf) suggests—as anyone who has seen a municipal trophy parade can attest. Trump and his UFC partnership take this neurotic desire to identify with winners to snarling new heights, given the organization’s kill-or-die ethos. And to literally add insult to injury: > It’s hard to overstate the visceral shock of this “sport” the first time you encounter it, no matter how its proponents [try to philosophize](https://philarchive.org/archive/VEIEOM-2) it, or [loan it form](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/01/meryl-streeps-misrepresentation-of-mixed-martial-arts-mma-trump-kerry-howley-thrown-interview/512564/), or impose ethics upon it. Groin kicks have been barred, but it’s still perfectly legal to choke an opponent to the point of blackout, or to beat their face into sirloin while they’re already on the ground. In fact, the [UFC’s rules](https://www.ufc.com/unified-rules-mixed-martial-arts), which were not unified until 2001, suggest just how much savagery has been practiced over its brief history: No kicking a floored opponent in the head; no “spiking” them to the ground on their head or neck; no fingers may be clawed into orifices or open wounds. Then there is this: No “timidity.” A “sport” that perfectly expresses MAGA/Republican policy. ✔ ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8697 "2025-10-11T15:17:10Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > Donald Trump’s partnership with the UFC takes his desire to identify with winners to snarling new heights “Winners”? Doesn’t he realize that half the people who play sports are actually _losers?_ Why is the president hanging around with so many losers?!? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8698 "2025-10-11T15:59:21Z")
It’s a lot more than half ! ---
**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:** [October 11, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8699 "2025-10-11T16:12:16Z")
Since EVERYTHING in DJT’s pathetic life is a contest that has to have a winner and a loser (including a simple handshake!), it’s impossible for him to comprehend that “winning” v. “losing” is a small part of the mindset/worldview of any committed athlete. I’m not now, nor have I ever been anything remotely close to being an _athlete_, but even **I** can understand this. Oops, there’s where I went off the track… discussing Donnie and “comprehending/understanding” in the same breath. He lives in a ~~black~~ white and whit **er** world with limited amounts of every resource. So sharing, giving away, taking care of others _(unless it’s to “own” them)_ are out of the question. Putting down, depriving, taking away, humiliating, and kicking others in the gonads are what he needs to do to make himself feel … I won’t say feel “_good_,” because I don’t think he is capable of feeling good… but these behaviors temporarily elevate him in his own mind above the piece of shit he unconsciously fears he is (and he’s right). ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8700 "2025-10-11T16:47:56Z")
What possible reason could Qatar have for wanting to maintain an airbase in the middle of the US? It makes no sense. Even less sense for our government to allow it. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8701 "2025-10-11T17:01:48Z")
We live in a country that put Donald Trump in the White House _twice_. Sense is a thing of the past. When in doubt about why something is happening, think Trump’s bank account. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=431) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=433)