"How do you like how we’re flooding the zone?" Bannon asked me. Indeed that perfectly described it. The initiatives were so varied, so widespread, that none could be isolated without giving up on all the others, and therefore, none could be attacked with Alinsky tactics.
But the genius of what followed is still either ignored by even "conservative" writers, or not understood at all. Team Trump also understood that they needed a window of a few months to lay the groundwork for all of this, to get the necessary people in place, and to begin drafting all the paperwork necessary. Their biggest enemy was the leak. If word began leaking out to Republicans, especially, who could be harassed, lobbied, and bullied before the whole package was drafted, many pieces would never see the light of day.
Sometime in this period, I’m convinced Trump (but most likely Trump and Bannon, because this is pure Anti-Alinskyism at work) came up with the "Cheese in the Maze" deception program. The idea was to constantly leak stories of chaos or disaffection within Team Trump in order to get the Fake News media chasing those rather than the policy stories. Hence, the "Bannon-Kushner fight," "Trump Furious with Sessions," "Bannon on the outs," "McMaster Seeking a Coup," and, the latest, "Sessions Considers Resigning." At no time did I ever get confirmation from within Team Trump that any one of these was even remotely true--but on the other hand I couldn’t get Team Trump to admit to the "cheese in the maze" strategy. Nevertheless, along with "Muh Russia," the Fake News media was 100% absorbed in what were essentially National Enquirer headlines while oblivious to the earthquake under their feet.
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