Trump s clown car

'Flood the zone': Trump's clown car Cabinet attempts to overwhelm the limits of public attention
NBC
Wed, November 20, 2024 at 12:34 AM EST
Alex Wagner looks at how Donald Trump has returned to the tactic Steve Bannon described as "flood the zone," by overwhelming the capacity of the media and the public at large to process the sheer volume of inappropriate behavior and decisions that might cause a bigger scandal in isolation.


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flood the zone
1. In sports, to apply a large amount of pressure to a particular area of play.
Their left safety is shaky, so let's try flooding the zone with the tight end and both wide receivers on the next play.
We know she's going to flood the zone with high fastballs, so lay off 'em.
It's a must-win game for them, so you know they'll flood the zone with shots right from the puck drop.
2. To put forth or provide a large quantity of something.
We need to flood the zone as best we can to get this story heard. That means I want everyone posting about it on social media, blogging about it, anything to get it out into the public consciousness.
His opponent flooded the zone with ads that proved devastating to his chances of reelection.
We couldn't get anywhere near City Hall because protestors had flooded the zone.
3.  to overwhelm the limits of public attention
See also: flood, zone
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
See also:
Let's get down to brass tacks.
(there's) no point (in) (doing something)
let's get out of here
let's see
let's go
leave it at that
let's rock and roll
Let's rock and roll!
let's get the/this show on the road
let's talk

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Meaning of jump on the bandwagon in English
 
jump on the bandwagon
idiom (also get on the bandwagon)
Add to word list
to join an activity that has become very popular or to change your opinion to one that has become very popular so that you can share in its success:
After a couple of politicians won elections by promising to cut taxes, most of the others jumped on the bandwagon.
(Definition of jump on the bandwagon from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
 
Browse
jump in with both feet idiom
jump into sth
jump leads
jump on someone phrasal verb
jump on the bandwagon idiom
jump out at someone phrasal verb
jump rope
jump scare
jump shot
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Clown car
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Find sources: "Clown car" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Lou Jacobs miniature clown car (1951–1952) with gas pump

A clown car is a prop in a common circus clown routine, which involves a large number of clowns emerging from a small car. The first performance of this routine was in the Cole Bros. Circus during the 1950s. The effect is usually produced by removing all of a car's internal components like door panels, headliners, engines, seats, and any interior barrier to the trunk, and then filling the enlarged space with as many clowns as possible. Greg DeSanto of the International Clown Hall of Fame estimates that somewhere between 14 and 21 clowns and their props could fit into a car prepared in this manner.

See also
Clown bicycle
References
 Feiler, Bruce (2003). Under the Big Top. HarperCollins. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-06-052702-0.
 Huffman, John Pearley (March 28, 2011). "The Physics Of: Clown Cars". Car and Driver. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
vte
Clowns
List of clowns / List of jesters
Types
BillySkomorokh

Organizations
World Clown AssociationClown ConservatoryClowns of America InternationalThe World Festival of Clowns in YekaterinburgLoldiers of OdinClandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army
Related
2016 clown sightingsClown alleyClown bicycleClown carClown CareClown societyCoulrophiliaJuggaloMotley


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This infamous Steve Bannon quote is key to understanding America’s crazy politics
Brian Stelter
By Brian Stelter, CNN Business
 
Published 11:09 AM EST, Tue November 16, 2021

A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.

While watching the news coverage of Steve Bannon’s initial appearance in federal court on Monday, I kept thinking about his 2018 confession to the acclaimed writer Michael Lewis. His quote is like a compass that orients this crazy era of American politics. “The Democrats don’t matter,” Bannon told Lewis. “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”

That’s the Bannon business model: Flood the zone. Stink up the joint. As Jonathan Rauch once said, citing Bannon’s infamous quote, “This is not about persuasion: This is about disorientation.”

So, with that in mind, here’s what Bannon did: He streamed his arrival at an FBI field office, to turn himself in, on his GETTR account. He told his fans to “stay focused and stay on message” despite the “noise” of his indictment. He proclaimed that “we’re taking down the Biden regime.” He used the scene for all the publicity, and presumably political donations, that it was worth.

Inside the courtroom, Bannon was “a lot different,” according the CNN’s Evan Perez, who added that he “answered respectfully to the judge when the judge advised him of his rights.” But after his appearance in court, Bannon came back outside to the cameras; vowed to fight the criminal contempt of Congress charges; claimed that Democrats “took on the wrong guy this time;” and said “we’re going to go on the offense.” He told Vice’s Elizabeth Landers that he “100 percent” plans to continue podcasting: “They’ll never shut down The War Room.”

That’s how he floods the zone – by spinning lies for his podcast “posse” on a daily basis – and by attracting outside and outsized attention. Throughout the day on Monday, I noticed journalists and social media commenters wrestling with this issue. As Charlie Warzel said in 2019, “content creation and shamelessness” is a “potent combination.” That’s even more true today…

The “disorder” report
Aspen’s Commission on Information Disorder report landed on Monday. You can delve into it here. The commissioners are urging big fixes to the “federal approach” to disinfo, among other recommendations.

NiemanLab’s Joshua Benton said it’s a “solid report” that “had me nodding a lot more often than shaking my head,” but he was less than wowed by some of the proposals. “I just think the ‘information disorder’ is both (a) a very real issue that naturally attracts the attention of Big Commissions and Big Think Tanks and Big Reports, and (b) a problem that is uniquely immune to Big Commissions and Big Think Tanks and Big Reports,” he wrote.

Indeed, the report notes this challenge several times, pointing to broader societal ills that are “exploited to promote false information online.”

“The Internet is an amplifier,” Benton wrote in his reaction column on Monday. “It increases both the reach and awareness of society’s ills. As long as the root causes exist — and as long as there are people who seek power, wealth, or fame through exploiting them — things will keep getting louder.” Or to put it another way, the zone will be flooded with more and more shit…