# The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [December 1, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298 "2025-12-01T20:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 405
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8081 "2026-08-18T15:39:12Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Well, they are in the middle front to back. Maybe a little closer to the stern. The _Ford_ class puts the (smaller) island considerably closer to the stern than all previous classes, including the _Nimitz_es. I’m sure it’s the _Ford_s that he hates, considering that they also have the EMALS system that he wants to ditch in favor of steam catapults. The operational efficiencies that the new island placement provides are irrelevant to Donald Trump of course. What’s the point of being a good ship of war if you don’t look good doing it? > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > We’ve come to expect insanity from trump. What’s really insane is that the Navy appears to be taking him seriously: He’s the C-in-C, so outright ignoring a direct order would be mutiny. On the other hand, a design study committee, packed to the gills with the slowest-thinking, most-procrastinating naval officers who have already missed their promotion opportunities and are barely hanging on to what’s left of their careers in hope of making their 20, might be just the place to refer this presidential directive. Plus, they could work hand-in-hand with the Trump-class battleship design committee and explore the various “synergies” that the two ships working together in a carrier battle group would offer. Just as long as no one from either committee has any notion that they would have a job past 21Jan2029, it’ll be fine. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8082 "2026-08-18T16:24:19Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > The tariff issue has been the top story for days—I’m not sure if the American press is even covering it Nope, haven’t seen it in the mainstream US press. Granted, I was off-line for about a week due to a massive power outage in part of the Midwest due to a derecho. Even so, when I was able to get back on line don’t recall finding a peep about tariffs on the news. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8083 "2026-08-18T16:50:28Z")
Yeah, it’s competing with a war and the midterms and so on. Still an important topic but getting a bit drowned out by the fecal parade we seem to experience constantly ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8084 "2026-08-18T16:50:44Z")
Here’s today’s: Still above the metaphorical fold here. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-tariffs-impact-on-american-business-owners-9.7310238](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-tariffs-impact-on-american-business-owners-9.7310238) ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8085 "2026-08-18T17:55:05Z")
The important thing: Epstein is way out of the headlines. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8086 "2026-08-18T18:46:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Nope, haven’t seen it in the mainstream US press. There was an article in today’s Portland Oregonian about the Canadian tariff thing. It was republished from the Washington Post and only in the on-line edition. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8087 "2026-08-18T20:03:32Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I like the idea of keeping Natalie “the Human Printer” Harp in the conversation. [Binkie, not printer. Human binkie.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-natalie-harp-new-nickname-b3034437.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > The Trump White House staffer once labeled as the [president’s “human printer”](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/natalie-harp-trump-human-printer-b3034890.html) now has a new nickname after she was revealed to be one of the few aides chosen to accompany him during his clandestine escape from Air Force One in Turkey after this year’s NATO summit last month. > > According to _New York Times_ reporter Maggie Haberman, the president chose executive assistant Natalie Harp to be among the trio who joined him in an airline catering truck to secretly transfer from the Air Force One Boeing 747 to a smaller plane for a flight from Ankara to RAF Mildenhall because she serves as a living security blanket for the 80-year-old chief executive. > > " **Natalie Harp, because she is sort of his Binkie** , for lack of a better way of putting it — his comfort blanket,” Haberman said during an appearance on MSNOW Sunday while explaining his choices to host Jacob Soboroff. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8088 "2026-08-18T20:18:05Z")
I feel sick. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8089 "2026-08-18T20:24:14Z")
If you think that’s nauseating, you should read some of the things she’s written about him. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8090 "2026-08-18T21:30:17Z")
Harp was recruited by Melania to take over some of the more odious duties. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8091 "2026-08-18T21:51:37Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > you should read some of the things she’s written about him. Prepare yourself. > “You are all that matters to me,” Harp wrote in a 2023 letter to Trump viewed and confirmed as authentic by The New York Times, a letter that the Times claimed “unnerved people around” the president. “I don’t ever want to let you down.” > > In the same letter, Harp thanked Trump for being her “Guardian and Protector in this Life,” and in another letter, exclaimed: “I want to bring you joy,” and that she felt “like we can get through a day without ever having to talk ‘work.’” > **[Speculation swirls after love letters from Trump’s ‘human binky’ resurface](https://www.rawstory.com/natalie-harp-2677720792/?utm_source=superhead)** > > Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) ignited an online firestorm over the weekend after taking a jab at President Donald Trump’s unusually close relationship with his 35-year-old female aide Natalie Harp, leading to a trove of adoring letters she wrote the... ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8092 "2026-08-18T22:26:16Z")
🤮 🤮 🤮 ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8093 "2026-08-18T22:31:14Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Prepare yourself. 🤢 I wonder if she honestly believes that somehow she won’t end up under the bus with all the other blond discards. Can anyone be that naive? The thing is, some men would keep a woman like her dangling and hoping by throwing her a compliment or whisper sweet nothings every now and then. He is the type to treat her like crap, knowing that she thrives on a cocktail of neglect and abuse as long as he _permits_ her be around him. And when he’s done, i.e., when he’s tired of her and another, updated model strolls in—or more likely—crawls in on her knees while batting her eyes at him, Natalie goes out the door and under the bus. Then, after a suitable recovery time, she’ll (ghost) write a book and make the rounds of the talk shows. Except AI will be her ghost writer like it is now. Isn’t there a character like her in literature or in the movies? ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8094 "2026-08-18T22:38:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The important thing: Epstein is way out of the headlines. I’m sure our brave servicemembers are happy about this. 😒 ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8095 "2026-08-18T22:46:12Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Isn’t there a character like her in literature or in the movies? There have been a few treatments in both (literature and movies) of Henry VIII’s habit of discarding wives for younger versions. And of course there are ‘ **from the viewpoint of the women** ’ stories like _The First Wives Club_. A story of a US President discarding a hot young aide for one even hotter or younger…I can’t think of one. As always with Donald, it’s a case of “if someone pitched this as a book or movie they’d be laughed out of the room for being overly-cynical.” ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8096 "2026-08-18T23:01:19Z")
Not only did she drink the Kool-aid, it appears she’s _mainlining_ it. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8097 "2026-08-18T23:03:28Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Not only did she drink the Kool-aid, it appears she’s _mainlining_ it . She’s probably making out financially quite well. She might also be diagnosably mentally ill. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8098 "2026-08-18T23:07:06Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > A story of a US President discarding a hot young aide for one even hotter or younger…I I didn’t mean something that literal. But a myth, or a Victorian novel–a Dickensian character maybe? > [@Sherrerd](#): > > “if someone pitched this as a book or movie they’d be laughed out of the room for being overly-cynical.” You got that right. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8099 "2026-08-18T23:19:09Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Isn’t there a character like her in literature or in the movies? There’s a biblical character that comes to mind: > **[Abishag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abishag)** > > In the Hebrew Bible, Abishag (/ˈæbɪʃæɡ/; Hebrew: אֲבִישַׁג, romanized: ʾăb̲išag̲, lit. 'My Father is a wanderer') was a beautiful young woman of Shunem chosen to be a helper and servant to King David in his old age. Among Abishag's duties was to lie next to David and pass along her body heat and vigor because "they put covers on him, but he could not get warm". When brought to David, she was a naʿarā (נַעֲרָ֣ה), which indicates youth but not specifically a virgin. However, in the preceding verse ... ---
**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:** [August 19, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298/8100 "2026-08-19T00:13:28Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > She might also be diagnosably mentally ill. Sure sounds that way… > It was October 2023, and Donald Trump was due at a New York City courthouse to fight his latest set of legal troubles. But as the motorcade idled outside his Trump Tower residence, staffers confronted a more immediate problem: There wasn’t room for Harp, the hyper-loyal aide whose devotion to Trump had quickly entrenched her within his orbit. > > A screaming match in the lobby ensued, with Harp insisting that Trump had personally asked her to attend the court appearance, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Denied a seat but determined not to be left behind, Harp jumped into an SUV trunk, according to the two sources and confirmed by a photo obtained by CNN. > **[Meet Natalie Harp, the aide so close to Trump she once rode in an SUV trunk...](https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/politics/natalie-harp-trump-aide)** > > Natalie Harp has become a main conduit between President Donald Trump and the outside world, sources say. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298.md?page=404) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-2/1025298.md?page=406)