[Editor’s Note: @Bartleby is this publication’s attempt to fill the void left by the great William Safire’s “On Language” columns in the Sunday New York Times Magazine which ended their run around the time of his death in 2009. If there any comments, please note my policy as relates thereto: “I would prefer not to make any change.”]
The political strategy known as “flooding the zone” has existed since 2018, and the former Trump administration strategist and convicted felon Stephen K. Bannon boasted of the ability to overwhelm any media opposition (and by virtue of that, any Democrats) through a determined effort to “flood the zone” with initiatives (he used a far coarser term at the time).
What Bannon was describing, in part, was the phenomenon of Information Overload, something FBT and The Travelist Editorial Director described as “drinking from a fire hose” when he was the chief analyst at Basex, a think tank focused on Information Overload.
If flooding the zone was practiced to great effect by Trump 45, it has been honed into a fine art by Trump 47. In his first term, Trump shattered political normalcy via outrageous early morning tweets; now he accomplishes the same with a constant stream of new initiatives, some of questionable legality.
Each time Democrats, independents, and some Republicans think they can come up for air, the flood seems to resume. Were initiatives such as cutting the cost of government not in some cases illegal, as several members of the federal judiciary have already ruled, they might even be applauded by both sides, but many of them go beyond the scope of presidential power.
In firing inspector generals, Trump defied a 2022 law that required congressional notice of the terminations along with a rationale for doing so.
On birthright citizenship, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, ruled that “Citizenship by birth is an unequivocal constitutional right. The president cannot change, limit, or qualify this constitutional right via executive order.” Trump’s freeze on federal funding was put on hold by two federal judges. The Trump administration ultimately rescinded the freeze after lawsuits were filed, although some groups contend they have yet to receive promised funds.
The vaunted buyout offers for federal workers were also placed on hold, as a federal judge blocked the buyouts pending a hearing this week, and an executive order that would be seen the transfer of transgender women to men’s prisons was blocked by a federal judge.
To the opposition Trump can appear to be like a raging storm that never blows itself out, as his late night policy changes trigger outrage that makes days feel like weeks, weeks feel like months, and months feel like years.
Regardless, all of this makes it hard to attend closely to any one story. Rather, they all seem to come together into one saga of epic length.
Bannon came up with a new term to describe flooding the zone, using it in his “War Room” podcast this week to describe the pace of the new administration.
“All pedal, no brake.”
William Safire and Edwin Newman, wherever you both are, please take note.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
