Like his dear leader, Steve Bannon is an asshole. Unlike his dear leader, Bannon is a smart asshole. Those still searching for an answer to what happened in the 2024 election should take a look at Steve Bannon’s unique role in Trump World.
You’re probably asking yourself: why Bannon? He was incarcerated for a big chunk of the campaign and remains an outside, not inside, adviser to the Kaiser of Chaos. That’s all true but he was the one who came up with the notion of flooding the zone with shit.
Unlike his dear leader, Bannon takes the long view. He first spoke about flooding the zone with shit back in 2016. Bannon knows that chaos is Trump’s natural milieu and understood that he was born to flood the zone with shit.
Bannon-style flooding the zone with shit involves misinformation, disinformation, and downright lies on an array of subjects from Hunter Biden’s laptop to the Dipshit Insurrection to the “stolen” election of 2020. It’s a perfect setup for the Kaiser of Chaos. He’s a born liar who some find convincing. I do not but I’m a lawyer, so I’m always on the prowl for liars. Few liars are as prolific as the Insult Comedian. Some of his supporters know he’s a liar but don’t care. They prefer his alternate reality to their mundane everyday lives. I may find Trump appalling, but many find him entertaining. Team Harris offered good government. Team Trump offered bread and circuses.
Your average Trumper views politics as an extension of sports or reality TV. I loathe professional wrestling but much of Trump’s shtick is derived from it. Who else would name Linda McMahon of WWE fame to their cabinet?
Given my propensity to sniff out liars, I am guilty of underrating the power of flooding the zone with shit. I should have known better. Propaganda was vital to the rise of Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany. Propaganda is spin elevated to the Nth degree. Republicans have been better at spin since the Reagan administration, which ran one of most successful PR operations in history. The ability to spin without shame has been vital to the GOP’s political successes ever since.
Over time spinning has morphed into flooding the zone with shit. If you plant seeds of confusion and doubt with people who will never support you, they’ll stay home and not vote. Why vote if everyone sucks? That was what the zone flooders were counting on.
Policies did not decide the election. If they had, Harris would have won.
Running mates did not decide the election. Tim Walz was a hit. That fucking donut JD Vance bombed.
Racism and misogyny were clearly factors in Trump’s win. They flooded the zone with enough racist and sexist shit to cause Harris curious voters to doubt that a woman of color could be elected president.
Campaign tactics did not decide the election. If they had, Harris would have won since she ran a better campaign. If you don’t believe me, check out Tim Alberta’s piece about Team Trump’s end game. The wheels came off the crazy train, but they still won. Why? They flooded the zone with enough shit to depress Democratic turnout.
It’s time for Democrats to get up off the floor, stop fighting with one another, and oppose the Trump agenda. The job of the opposition is to oppose. That sounds simplistic but so are the endless arguments about how the election was lost.
In 2004, John Kerry looked like a winner. After that defeat, Democrats were reeling but got up off the deck and opposed Bush’s unpopular war and attempt to privatize social security. Trump’s actions will be equally unpopular, if not more so, making the 2026 midterms crucial. We know he’ll overreach. It’s what greedy people do. Ain’t nobody greedier than the Kaiser of Chaos.
The last word goes to Oasis:
