Stop Flooding the Zone: “Flooding the zone” is an unethical form of politics and distracts the media from important policies

“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.” 

“We’re going back to plastic straws, these things don’t work.” 

“We need Greenland for national security purposes.” 

These are just a few of the intelligent ideas President Donald Trump has said to the press in various interviews just weeks after inauguration. 

And while the media focuses on points like those that make headlines, Trump is able to employ the tactic of “flooding the zone” to sneak by other egregious policies. “Flooding the zone” is an immoral political tactic that Trump is using to manipulate the media through an overwhelming amount of executive orders. 

The term, coined by former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon in 2018, refers to a strategy used to overwhelm political opposition in Congress. 

So while everyone is focusing on the ridiculous executive orders in the news, they’re ignoring things like ending COVID-19 vaccine mandates in schools.

There are so many executive orders coming out that Congress and the Supreme Court don’t have time to analyze each and enact checks and balances. While they still look at each order, they don’t have the time to battle each individual one.

While technically legal, the ethics of “flooding the zone” are extremely questionable — not to mention the integrity of its fraudulent creator, Bannon who was convicted of defrauding donors earlier this month and no longer works in the White House.

In simple terms, “flooding the zone” is similar to all of the receivers on a football team running to one area and creating a distraction while one stays behind and is able to sneak past the other team’s defense — but instead of 200 pound receivers in shoulder pads, it’s a flurry of executive orders and signing statements. 

Trump is the leader in first-day executive orders among the previous seven presidents. According to USA Today, Trump signed 26 orders on inauguration day. Former President Joe Biden is the runner up with just nine orders.

And as of Feb. 19, he’s signed a total of 66.

With so many executive orders being released, the media — and the congressional Democratic minority — are only able to grasp a few at a time. Trump is overwhelming the press with unnecessary and unconstitutional orders, like ending birthright citizenship, that will be reversed in due time.

By the end of January — 11 days into his presidency — Trump had already signed 46 executive orders. Considering he averaged 55 executive orders per year in his first term, according to USA Facts, Trump’s clearly overloading more than his previous term. 

The pure quantity of orders completely diminishes the constitutional purpose of checks and balances. The checks and balances are supposed to slow down the political process and make sure one branch doesn’t have all the power, but with “flooding the zone,” Trump is completely bypassing it all. 

This tactic makes it very difficult for Congress to focus on any of the specific orders and will take years for the congressional process to be completed. 

You’ve heard about ending Diversity Equity and Inclusion and Elon Musk running the Department of Government Efficiency, but what you haven’t heard of is eradicating anti-Christian bias  or the lame-duck collective bargaining agreements. . 

These more serious orders like bringing religion into the White House or reversing actions made by the former President just days before that will have a far-reaching effect on the American population are overshadowed by the influx of other orders that make the headlines. 

Luckily, the White House website is organized well enough where you can find all of Trump’s actions since entering office, as well as press briefing and statements about “important” topics like the Daytona 500 and the opening of White House tours. 

The briefings and statements have barely any mention of Trump’s policies, meaning the White House isn’t publicizing his actions. If someone wants to be informed on everything, they need to dig through 12 pages of political jargon just to get a basic understanding. 

Trump needs to stop “flooding the zone” and start practicing being an ethical and honest leader that’s able to take accountability of their actions and not try to bypass the constitutional processes that have supported our country for the last 238 years.