২৭ জানুয়ারী, ২০২৫

"[Stephen Miller] had these big thoughts of execution... what I'll just call flood the zone."

"His idea of flood the zone is you do so many things at once, so many aggressive, controversial actions at once, at speed, that your opposition is scattered and almost defenseless when it's one of 50 or a hundred actions that are extremely controversial. There's only so much bandwidth for the opposition to muster resistance, muster resources, muster outrage, muster legal action. So you just flood the zone. You do so many things at once that your opposition, they might stop some of them that they can't stop all of them.... Overwhelm. Overwhelm...."

Says Jonathan Swan, on the new episode of the NYT "Daily" podcast, "Stephen Miller’s Return to Power" (transcript and audio at link).

৫৫টি মন্তব্য:

Spiros বলেছেন...

It's a Steve Bannon quote: "The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with sh*t."

Mike (MJB Wolf) বলেছেন...

Miller is a brilliant sonofagun.

rehajm বলেছেন...

…though the media is no longer the impediment, let us find out shall we?

Eva Marie বলেছেন...

Last week Elon Musk was President. This week Stephen Miller is President.
BTW, tremendous respect for supporting the Duke Lacrosse team. Extremely courageous act.

john mosby বলেছেন...

Well that was the left's strategy with Trump and MAGAism, wasn't it? Although with them it was mostly lawfare. Prosecute and sue Trump and everyone who even thinks favorably on him.

JSM

Dave Begley বলেছেন...

Miller is absolutely correct. And it's working beautifully.

ndspinelli বলেছেন...

It's the blitz strategy. The Germans used amphetamines to fuel their blitzkrieg in WW2.

CJinPA বলেছেন...

"...what I'll just call flood the zone."

Note that "flood the zone" is what NYT editors used to call their practice of sending a team of reporters to cover a controversial issues, such as the Trayvon Martin killing.

They would flood the news cycle with narratives that would cement into place the progressive take on the Outrage of the Moment.

Kakistocracy বলেছেন...

Sort of like a MAGA Harry Hopkins. Except that there is no political genius on the other side of the desk. And then there is the other test -- the policies have to work out.

One can see the future book -- The Rise and Fall of Stephen Miller.

Bruce Hayden বলেছেন...

I like “Shock and Awe”. Like what the US did to Iraq.

Narayanan বলেছেন...

only Bannon will think of shit >> Trump throw out candy

Narayanan বলেছেন...

only Bannon will think of shit >> Trump throw out candy
is Bannon a closet Kakisto

Freder Frederson বলেছেন...

Yeah, and that worked out so well.

Lucien বলেছেন...

The Democrat/media have been shrieking for months about Project 2025. If they really believed what they were saying they'd have prepared responses to everything in it & had them ready to go. Then when Trump tried to do some things lining up with Project 2025, they'd have responses ready to go.
When I was in practice, I sometimes wrote draft Reply briefs before my adversaries filed their Oppositions to my motions. It greatly ameliorated deadline pressure.

n.n বলেছেন...

Professed envy? The audacity of journalism in action.

Lazarus বলেছেন...

Week One executive orders went up from 5 under Obama and Trump to 24 under Biden (with other executive documents going up from 6 or 8 to 11), so this had already started and already may be the new normal when the White House changes hands.

You can also see this as an evolution of the White House's approach to the press. Rather than let newspapers dig up stories on their own, the White House made sure to give them a story to cover every day. It's said that this started with Reagan. More recently, the press stopped digging, and came to rely on stories from bureaucrats and disgruntled or conniving appointees -- or was that always the case? In any case, if you're not on the offensive and ahead of the curve, Washington DC will eat you up and spit you out.

Kathryn51 বলেছেন...

so many aggressive, controversial actions at once,

Controversial??? The only truly controversial action is to challenge birthright citizenship and it's controversial because of judicial precedent, but then challenging Jim Crow was controversial at one time as well.

All of the other actions were promised during the campaign - deporting illegals, securing the border, "drill baby, drill", eliminating DEI, etc. etc. Birthright citizenship is the bright shiny object that they will obsess over while the other s**t gets done.

Big Mike বলেছেন...

And in related news, I am reading that the people who live(d) in Pacific Palisades will be allowed back in their homes today. I hope that’s accurate. If it is, it’s thanks to Trump.

Enigma বলেছেন...

It's easy to throw out 100 meaningful things at once following 4 years of Biden's political games, 4 years of anti-Trump lawfare, and 6+ years of Obama playing agency rule games.

hombre বলেছেন...

Shock and awe. Dog bites man.

hawkeyedjb বলেছেন...

Leftists will never forgive those lacrosse players for not raping that woman.

Big Mike বলেছেন...

@Freder, if you weren’t such an ignorant doofus you’d know that it worked very well. Continuous bombing began on March 19, 2003, and Baghdad fell on April 5th.

hombre বলেছেন...

The NYT no longer has a team of reporters, only a gaggle of journolistas.

Iman বলেছেন...

Bannon is Bannon. Kak - like always - is full of KAK.

hombre বলেছেন...

Lefties look for an alternative President because they think Trump is a moron. My lefty son believes this despite evidence to the contrary. He also believes the 2020 election was copacetic despite evidence to the contrary.

Birches বলেছেন...

I have been an ardent opponent of eliminating birthright citizenship. I'm a product of it myself and see it as a component of American Exceptionalism. But I listened to JD Vance on 60 Minutes this morning and I read a bit on the debate over "subject to the jurisdiction therefore" and I've now come around to their point of view. And the government's own policies have shown that illegal aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction thereof. If they were, ICE detainers would be honored. The left can't have it both ways.

Breezy বলেছেন...

The agents on the hunt have daily quotas to meet, tied to their pay. Way to motivate…!

Peachy বলেছেন...

Kaky - Now do the loyal media McDonalds special sauce treatment - Kamala.

JK Brown বলেছেন...

A wide front spreads the enemies forces. But also, flooding the zone early like this gets the court challenges in the pipe so some number can be decided before the end of Trump's term and those that make the cut can be implemented.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent বলেছেন...

These "controversial" actions will be bog standard in 6 months. In a year they will spread to Europe. In two years they'll be the Democrat's mid-term plank.

Drago বলেছেন...

Big Mike: "@Freder, if you weren’t such an ignorant doofus you’d know that it worked very well. Continuous bombing began on March 19, 2003, and Baghdad fell on April 5th."

Correct. Field Marshall Freder's ignorance and/or malicious intent is showing.

From a miliary execution standpoint "shock and awe" worked closely to expectations.

The complete and total changing of the mission to Nation Building, operating off the lunatic assumptions of the "End Of History" Self-Congratulatory "Elites", thinking they were the modern equivalent of the East Asia Trading Company and British foreign service from and over hundreds of years ago, was demonstrated conclusively to be the Province of Abject Failure.

Interesting: these are the "experts" Freder and his fellow dolts would defer to over and over again.

Third Coast বলেছেন...

Right back at ya Cloward and Piven. Gooder and harder.

Big Mike বলেছেন...

And speaking of floods, on Friday Trump announced that he was sending the US Army Corps of Engineers into Western North Carolina, and by yesterday the first videos of the Corps of Engineers in action were showing up on X. Residents are saying that Trump has done more for them in six days than Joe Biden’s FEMA did in four months.

And unlike Biden’s FEMA, which made a point of not offering aid to Trump supporters, there is no evidence that Trump is withholding aid from Democrats.

Michael Fitzgerald বলেছেন...

"extremely controversial" = anything libtards don't want. Secure borders? Extremely controversial. Arrest illegals and deport criminals? Extremely controversial. Don't mutilate children? Extremely controversial. Voter ID and secure elections? Extremely controversial. Prevent Democrat Party members from corrupt abuse of federal power to suppress and destroy the opposition Party? Extremely controversial. Keep Democrat Party members from engaging in sex trafficking children? Extremely controversial.
Essentially, anything that isn't pure evil is extremely controversial to despicable libtard Party members.

boatbuilder বলেছেন...

I'm old enough to remember that Joe Biden issued 40 EO's immediately upon taking office. And then "flooded the zone" with all sorts of actions while heading out the door.
Did Swan have a problem with any of that?

Narayanan বলেছেন...

which was Shock and Awe - Iraq I or II? or both?

Narayanan বলেছেন...

ask yourself - did 'slaves' need to be naturalized ? you were right first view

Skeptical Voter বলেছেন...

Flood the zone, shock and awe. Meanwhile the lefty press is sputtering that Trump has been in office for one week and grocery prices haven't come down.

Skeptical Voter বলেছেন...

Put food in the dog dish and the dog won't pay attention to what else you are doing. And the MSM goes woof woof.

JIM বলেছেন...

The Left's stenographers still think they are the gatekeepers of all the "correct think". Have they not seen the viewership numbers of the Lefty cable outlets crumble into the bankruptcy zone? Pro tip - it's not because people are changing viewing platforms.

Peachy বলেছেন...

OT: VDH on Davos.

Christopher B বলেছেন...

Narayanan ... as best I can tell, the phrase was specifically used by Gen Tommy Franks in 2003, so Iraq II. It might have been used in the First Gulf War but references are eluding me.

Readering বলেছেন...

There is no shortage of lawyers to deal with all the EOs coming out of the White House. So in that sense flooding the zone is of dubious utility. Both sides need to pick their battles. Birthright citizenship seems a hard one. Humiliating Colombia seems shortsighted too. Gulf of America. Sure.

William50 বলেছেন...

I believe Flood The Zone was originally a football term.

JaimeRoberto বলেছেন...

I'm ok with birthright citizenship as long as we enforce the border. What I don't like is allowing in millions of illegals who then have anchor babies that will be used to keep the illegals here. And I have little faith that the Dems will enforce the border when they eventually return to power.

Krumhorn বলেছেন...

So much winning!

- Krumhorn

Birches বলেছেন...

@Narayanan

Slaves didn't need to be naturalized but they were always held to the same standards, perhaps even stricter standards than regular citizens. If I commit a traffic violation as an illegal alien, there's no consequence for me. Even serious felonies are ignored because of sanctuary city policies. In practice, being illegal is a lot like diplomatic immunity.

Michael Fitzgerald বলেছেন...

"Humiliating Colombia"... They refused to allow official USA aircraft to land in their country. Who's humiliating who? I know you libtards despise America and Americans, but try a thought experiment and change the nationalities of the countries to one's that you don't hate reflexively, then see if your answer is the same.

Drago বলেছেন...

The leader of Colombia humiliated himself by going off half-cocked with bizarre toothless threats that have zero actual weight in the real world.

Precisely what was his gameplan here?

Perhaps readering could explain. In detail.

Mason G বলেছেন...

"Precisely what was his gameplan here?"

The leader of Colombia was acting as though Joe Biden was still president, and expecting that his denial would be rewarded with an apology and maybe a foreign aid check for his trouble.

Readering probably understands this but would be unlikely to say so publicly.

Leland বলেছেন...

Is there a preference then to have the President sign orders or pardons when nobody is watching and then release them when other major events are occurring, so the orders or pardons won't get as much coverage?

Asking, because it appears that some pardons that Biden claimed were for non-violent criminals might have been for violent criminals. Double homicide seems pretty violent. But that's old news that was hardly worth covering when it happened, except it was just two weeks ago.

Saint Croix বলেছেন...

At least he said "flood the zone" instead of

"It's a blitzkrieg, like Hitler did."

wildswan বলেছেন...

Flood the zone? Yeah, but also Trump is doing things that people have been talking about or asking for, for years. Vaccine safety - Trump gives them RFK Jr. He won't conduct a coverup. Drill, Baby, drill. An Interior Secretary who knows about farmers. A real fashion star in the White House. Really challenge California to clean up the forests. Send water to the farmers in the Imperial Valley. Round up foreign criminal gang members - the Hispanics are behind that kind of deportation. Stop the fentanyl pouring in. Understand warriors - they are not HHS. Save the whales and birds - get rid of windfarms. Support Israel. Assad falls and his jails empty. Someone talks about letting the Gazans out of that hellhole - who knows what that might do? All these things are happening. Mostly, things good for the country, in my opinion, but, for sure, things a lot of people have wanted.

I'm trying to say that quite suddenly millions got deep wishes fulfilled. If the Dems try to take it all away - the consequences are predictable.

walter বলেছেন...

Conservative media's hunger for content and chest beating gives Dems too much preface for what's to come. Once the vote is over, STFU and wait till power is fully in hand.

mikee বলেছেন...

The OODA loop -- Observe, Orient, Decide and Act -- is a four-step approach to decision-making. The goal is acting and adjusting your actions so rapidly that you eliminate or make ineffectual the opposition's ability to react - you "get inside their OODA Loop." So yes, flood the zone, and keep the spigot open, and float outrageous balloons and shoot for the moon and do it all so well and so fast that it gets done rather than overwhelmed by opposition.

I, for one, regret the Executive Action warfare waged at higher and higher frequencies, and destruction through the 17th Amendment of the Senate's legislative responsibility to represent their states and eliminate the more silly and bad ideas floated in politics. A pre-17th Senate might just see the Obama/Trump/Biden/Trump EO behavior as impeachable. Heck, they might even resent the Administrative State we suffer under now, that Trump is throwing his EOs at as fast as he can.