# 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:** 446
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8962 "2025-10-21T20:47:41Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > There’s always an upside. > The postcard image of the resurrection of American democracy might well be of the bulldozers tearing down the 45/47 ballroom and replacing the roses. I still want the ballroom to become a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Mar-a-Largo too. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8963 "2025-10-21T21:36:25Z")
[Sign-off? We don’t need no stinkin sign-off.](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/photos-white-house-starts-east-wing-demolition-to-build-trumps-ballroom) > The White House has moved ahead with the massive construction project despite not yet having sign-off from the National Capital Planning Commission, which approves construction work and major renovations to government buildings in the Washington area. ---
**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 21, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8964 "2025-10-21T21:40:26Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Unless you are just going to tear it down. Bingo! Got it one! ---
**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:** [October 21, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8965 "2025-10-21T21:45:44Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > The postcard image of the resurrection of American democracy might well be of the bulldozers tearing down the 45/47 ballroom and replacing the roses I’m imagining it more like the destruction of the top of the Nuremberg gate. > **[File:Swastika blasted from the Nazi party rally grounds - Nuremberg (1945).gif...](https://www.google.com/share.google?q=CU2Jwq9aJyvvn8y4f)** ---
**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:** [October 21, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8966 "2025-10-21T22:04:12Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Jesus. That is > NOT. > HOW. > YOU. > DO. > AN. > ADDITION. > TO. > A. > HOUSE. Due to a quirk in the regulations it is far easier here to get permits for an addition or renovation for an existing house. Therefore you will often see a house torn down but for one interior wall and an entirely new house put up around it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8967 "2025-10-21T22:12:29Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I’m imagining it more like the destruction of the top of the Nuremberg gate. Except, before that, we were supposed to kill nazis and fascists – now we have to treat nazis with deference, and anti-fascists are “terrorists”. This vicious circle needs to be snipped through and laid flat before we can move forward. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8968 "2025-10-21T22:29:57Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Who chickened out? TACOtrump or Fleein’chin Vlad the Pun? Maybe [S.V. Dante’s mom](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/white-house-press-secretary-karoline-153224177.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH1UuYmr-E6dqeJW4SY4IQDrQiYZOFn7qOLidXbzXToZSN4DMW8OxFRqb02wURcKIozQkbxebODntY4E4wZymUSU5Ae3LlpHAJDssIkD3jRGV_ybNHDBhIOil74dJl1blwh3Ur2nMSs07cbM7ObN-0wIPeyGTY1zTuFRc3RWmCNw) nixed it. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8969 "2025-10-21T22:51:46Z")
It appears Trump intends to demolish and replace the entire historic East Wing of the White House. [https://wapo.st/4qi1Uwp](https://wapo.st/4qi1Uwp) ---
**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:** [October 21, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8970 "2025-10-21T22:56:08Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Just when you think he can’t sink any lower….[Trump demands $230M from the Justice Dept as compensation for being investigated.](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/us/politics/trump-justice-department-compensation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vE8.5H-i.XTVT0B9y70KV&smid=url-share) If you ever go on the Seattle Underground Tour, they talk about how Henry Yesler, one of the city’s early mayors, was one of the most corrupt politicians the city had ever seen, and as an example they talk about how, as mayor, he had the city sue itself on his behalf and nearly bankrupted the city lining his own pockets as a result. Feels kinda familiar right now. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8971 "2025-10-21T23:26:55Z")
How is that going to work? He will be both plaintiff and defendant- will he just instruct the DOJ to concede the case? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8972 "2025-10-21T23:28:38Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > [https://wapo.st/4qi1Uwp](https://wapo.st/4qi1Uwp) I’m getting really sick of these “free” articles posted as “gifts” that require you to give an e-mail address to access. ---
**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 21, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8973 "2025-10-21T23:53:53Z")
I have a throwaway yahoo address that I use for these occasions. * * * Some of us considerate Dopers post more than a bald link. We also post the headline and a paragraph or so. Just sayin’. * * * > # White House expands East Wing demolition as critics decry Trump overreach > > Much of the structure was torn down Tuesday to make way for President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom, despite complaints about the project’s lack of transparency. > > A demolition job that began Monday with the disappearance of the White House’s eastern entrance advanced Tuesday with the destruction of much of the East Wing, according to a photograph obtained by The Washington Post and two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the scene. > > Photos of construction teams knocking down parts of the East Wing, [first revealed by The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/20/white-house-begins-demolishing-east-wing-facade-build-trumps-ballroom/) on Monday, shocked preservationists, raised questions about White House overreach and lack of transparency, and sparked complaints from Democrats that President Donald Trump was damaging “The People’s House” to pursue a personal priority. > > … > > White House officials dismissed the criticism as “manufactured outrage,” arguing that past presidents had pursued their own changes to the executive campus as necessary. They said that the privately funded ballroom will be a “bold, necessary addition” to the presidential grounds. > … DECRY??? Critics “decry” the overreach?? Here, let me ship these _critics_ a case of kleenex for them to (de)_cry_ me a river into! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8974 "2025-10-22T00:00:10Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I have a throwaway yahoo address that I use for these occasions. I feel I shouldn’t have to exert myself even that much. Anyhow, at the rate he’s going there won’t be any White House left to weep over in a week or two. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8975 "2025-10-22T00:14:22Z")
I’m amused anyone thinks the felon has any plans to reconstruct the ~~White~~ Orange House. Look, there are only two scenarios: 1. He leaves the presidency and thus the state of the building no longer matters to him. 2. He manages to, like Julius of old, get appointed as dictator for life and then he will, of course, move the official residence to his shithole in Florida. And thus the state of the bulding in Washington, Dictatorship of Criminal1 no longer matters to him. ---
**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 22, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8976 "2025-10-22T00:16:44Z")
God, the ego of this man. He can’t even take a compliment. > > > Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump ---
**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:** [October 22, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8977 "2025-10-22T00:18:06Z")
Not only did Washington not stop eight wars, _neither has the felon!_ What eight wars does he think he’s stopped, anyway? And let’s not forget he’s already started the Second Civil War. ---
**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 22, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8978 "2025-10-22T00:28:30Z")
What odds that the demolition of the East Wing “accidentally” takes out part of the central building, necessitating its “renovation”? ---
**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:** [October 22, 2025, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8979 "2025-10-22T01:06:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Plans to hold [a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/16/zelenskyy-tomahawk-missiles-trump-putin-budapest) have been put on hold as Ukraine and its European allies rallied in pushing for a ceasefire without territorial concessions from Kyiv. I guess “your mom” was a bad source. [Plans for Trump-Putin talks in Budapest shelved | Ukraine | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/21/plans-for-trump-putin-talks-in-budapest-shelved) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8980 "2025-10-22T01:12:23Z")
If you are wondering how Donnie and Scotty excellent Argentina adventure is going, the dollar today rose to 1515 pesos from it’s previous record of 1485 despite the efforts of Bessent and co to keep it stable buying pesos with dollars from the Treasury. After the elections next sunday it’s going to go up “like a deep sea diver’s fart” and the Treasury is going to be left holding a lot of paper with animals and argentine “founding fathers”, another incredible business venture by Donald “Casino Bankrupcy” Trump. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2025, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/8981 "2025-10-22T01:21:31Z")
In the course of just the past three days, Trump has gone from posting a meme of himself shitting on people exercising their First Amendment rights; to shaking down the Justice Department for $230 million—money controlled by his own appointees, of course, in a sickeningly blatant conflict of interest—and now abruptly demolishing the East Wing of the White House with no notice or review, and after promising the ballroom project would be near but not touch the existing building. I don’t think I can keep up with the clusterfuck that is this administration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=445) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068.md?page=447)