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In 2018, the egregious Trump strategist Steve Bannon<\/strong>\u2014erstwhile investment banker, Hollywood executive producer, and cofounder of Breitbart News<\/em>\u2014was interviewed by the writer Michael Lewis, who inquired about the Trumpists\u2019 strategy to vanquish the Democrats. \u201cThe Democrats don\u2019t matter,\u201d Bannon said. \u201cThe real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.\u201d <\/p>\n This is brilliant, in a way.<\/strong> If, as increasing numbers of commentators are saying, attention is the chief political currency in these times, flooding the zone with shit has proven to capture attention more effectively than just about anything else, a winning tactic. The MAGA media machine\u2014both its paid operatives and the large numbers of bloggers, podcasters, and social media influencers offering their services gratis\u2014mesmerized the public with one big lie after another, all delivered in crudely shameless and insolent language. Trump and his acolytes keep up a steady beat of self-promotion through acts that had they rolled out slowly and occasionally, as in days gone by, would have amused some, triggered shock in others, but not produced the steady state of stupified transfixion that is now our common lot. <\/p>\n I don\u2019t need to list every wave of the flood for anyone who\u2019s been sentient in recent years<\/strong>, but note that the \u201cstop the steal\u201d story, with as many legs as a centipede, dried up instantly when Trump won the election by a hair, rendering that lie no longer useful. The avalanche of headlines demonizing immigrants\u2014eating pets! murdering innocents! stealing jobs!\u2014will continue so long as Trump\u2019s great deportation wants support. Countless small fires are ignited just to burn up attention: the heartless Elon Musk onstage at the inauguration celebration offering what has been termed a \u201croman salute,\u201d fictitious<\/a> but beloved of fascists and white supremacists, triggering a did he\/didn\u2019t he brouhaha as cover for a raft of horrifying executive orders showing how simple it is to sweep away representative democracy with autocratic rule. Musk\u2019s repulsive gesture has to be denounced, but hold your breath until he issues the empty apology that would shift attention to some other offense: perhaps Pete Hegseth\u2019s taste for sexual abuse, Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s taste for dictators and Svengalis, RFK Jr.\u2019s entitlement to add to the $2.5 million in referral fees he\u2019s already received for suits against the maker of the HPV vaccine. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, over in Democratic Party land, there\u2019s some kind of debate about how many of Trump\u2019s actions and statements to oppose<\/strong>. I don\u2019t completely get this, although there are good reasons not to focus the entirety of one\u2019s energy on railing against idiots. I can\u2019t find the quote on the internet, but I remember well Ken Kesey saying in the sixties that if you resist evil, and evil folds, you\u2019ll fall down. Or more simply, if your identity is what you resist, you depend on it to exist. There\u2019s also the obvious point that using all your energy in resistance leaves none for creativity and proposition. <\/p>\n But what I really think most party operatives urging people to pick a few battles are worried about is something like sounding too negative. They have the idea that it\u2019s important for legitimacy\u2019s sake to look cooperative and to some extent collegial. They look at the scoundrels and sycophants who dominate Trump\u2019s cabinet appointments and try to cherry-pick the least objectionable for approval. Give-and-take and good-faith bargaining have strong roles in society, but only if both sides of the negotiation are practicing the same civic virtues. If your opponents are committed to flooding the zone with shit, they\u2019ll be happy to pretend to negotiate so long as that keeps you up to your neck in the mire. Proclaiming collegiality at a time like this looks weak. It is weak. <\/p>\n So here\u2019s my question<\/strong>: what could we\u2014the many millions who value truth, equity, justice, the planet and the life it supports\u2014flood the zone with that might be more attractive and engaging than shit? Are there ways to capture commensurate, ongoing attention leading to the defeat of many MAGA representatives in two years in the next congressional election?<\/p>\n This is of course a hard question. I don\u2019t pretend to have some easy and guaranteed answer. But the question is worth asking. <\/p>\n We\u2019re up against a deep truth<\/strong>. The thing they always say about the press\u2014if it bleeds, it leads\u2014remains accurate, that bad news captures far more attention than good. The appallingly bright side is that, as Trump\u2019s executive orders foreshadow, there will be bad news galore. How do we use it so it\u2019s not just another horror story, but a pointer toward a real alternative? <\/p>\n Here are a few ideas:<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s now common knowledge that YouTube, X, and large swathes of other major media platforms have been captured in systematic fashion by the right. <\/strong>Here\u2019s a report by a group dedicated to countering anti-immigrant propaganda<\/a> that focuses on how YouTube was used for that purpose and suggests how the platform can be redeployed. <\/p>\n Shut the Fossils Up<\/a> offers a good example of something that could be expanded and go national.<\/strong> STFU is a campaign to expose disinformation to undermine climate action in New York State, naming names and detailing lies. You can see their short YouTube videos here<\/a>. More videos will roll out in the next few months. <\/p>\n Zohran Mamdani is a member of the New York state assembly and a candidate for mayor of New York City<\/strong>. He\u2019s been releasing simple, clever, direct videos exposing inequitable and self-dealing policies. These are not major productions but illustrate what\u2019s within the grasp of able media makers with an iPhone and editing capability. Here\u2019s one about ending the callous indifference of the board that controls stabilized rents by freezing rents if he\u2019s elected. I\u2019m not a voter in New York and am not sharing this Instagram video<\/a> as a campaign contribution, but to show another way to capture attention by calling out wrongdoing and uplifting solutions. <\/p>\n A lot of the liberal-to-leftist media messages out in the zone Bannon et al flood with shit are more local in focus<\/strong>, which makes perfect sense if you\u2019re trying to move a local election or legislation. But that naturally means comparatively few people see them. Right now, the side I\u2019m on has far fewer outlets and far smaller audiences. Trump-inspired anti-immigrant and other hate propaganda targets everyone who\u2019s online, not only as part of his national election campaign but the larger MAGA campaign for a permanent shift in public opinion to embrace authoritarian rule. Just calling MAGA out right now for a chunk of its thousands of lies and misdeeds would flood the zone not with shit, but with truth and possibility. <\/p>\n Have you or your kid been making videos about family life or video games or food?<\/strong> That\u2019s great! Then you have the skill to help flood the zone for good. Please think it over. <\/p>\n