Flood the Zone with Shit
The Play
New authoritarians overwhelm the public and opposition with an overload of conflicting information. Steve Bannon's phrase "flood the zone with shit" perfectly captures their strategy: saturating the media with endless content—false, exaggerated, or decontextualized but always strategic—to create confusion and shift focus away from critical issues.
By flooding the media with policy announcements, provocations, disinformation, and smear campaigns, they dominate public discourse and keep themselves at the center of attention. This relentless flow ensures that no issue gains enough traction to seriously damage them, leaving the opposition disoriented and trapped in a cycle of constant reaction, diverting energy from advancing a positive agenda.
Moreover, by normalizing extreme rhetoric, elected authoritarians blur the line between truth and fiction, discrediting institutions, media, and experts. This erosion of trust breeds confusion and fatigue, making it harder for the opposition to mount a coherent response.
Be warned: The rise of AI could supercharge this strategy.
What does it look like?
1. Flooding
New authoritarians saturate the media scene with a deluge of content. This overwhelming flow of information muddies the waters of public attention with an avalanche of competing stories. As our brains tend to associate repetition with truthfulness, they make use of their distribution channels to flood the ecosystem with stories -true or false- to gain traction and control the conversation. This tactic ensures support for their narrative and that no single scandal gains enough attention to harm them.
2. Strategic provocation
This feature involves calculated moves designed to provoke shock, incite responses, and garner attention. By leveraging controversial remarks or radical policy announcements, authoritarians seize control of media cycles, directing the public's and media's focus wherever they desire. This tactic keeps opponents busy countering these provocations, often sidelining their own agendas in favor of responding to the authoritarians' latest actions. Moreover, regular media coverage of provocative and polemical remarks can sometimes normalize rather than debunk them.
3. Disinformation
Authoritarians often inject disinformation into the public discourse to disrupt rational debate. By crafting stories that blend truth with fiction, they play with the audience's ability to discern reality, trapping them in a climate of doubt and confusion. This tactic injects skepticism and nihilism into the population. When faced with different versions of the same story, people either become apathetic or rely on tribal and polarized heuristics to make sense of things. Over time, this persistent dissemination of falsehoods erodes the trust in institutions, established news sources, and experts.
4. Smear campaigns
Authoritarians have perfected the art of the smear, using misinformation to fuel distrust toward opposition leaders and oversight institutions. Smear campaigns often begin with a kernel of truth but are amplified through exaggeration, distortion, and spin to maximize outrage. Their goal is clear: to silence critical voices and create the perception that dissent comes at a high cost. Even when debunked, smears leave a 'belief echo'—a lingering doubt that sustains negative perceptions of the target.
Who's done it?
USA: Donald Trump
The Flooder
Since entering politics, Trump has mastered flooding the zone—not just with an endless stream of tweets but through a relentless tsunami of media spectacles, policy shocks, and political feuds. His political persona is synonymous with a daily barrage of controversies, executive orders, and inflammatory rhetoric, ensuring he dominates the news cycle—sometimes with just a few tweets. What Steve Bannon calls "muscle velocity" makes it nearly impossible for opponents and journalists to focus on any single issue long enough for meaningful scrutiny. By leveraging a far-right media ecosystem, Trump floods public discourse with narratives that keep him in control while eroding trust in institutions.
"The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit." - Steve Bannon
Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte
The Strategic Agitator
Duterte frequently used strategic provocation to dominate media narratives and rally support in the Philippines. His inflammatory statements—ranging from drug policy to international relations, often laced with vulgarity and threats—kept him in the headlines, energized his base, and intimidated critics. This tactic reinforced his image as a decisive leader unafraid to challenge the status quo while diverting attention from substantive policy critiques, allowing him to control the conversation.
"Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now, there are three million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter them."
Russia: Vladimir Putin
The Tzar of Disinformation
The Kremlin has mastered the art of using state-controlled media first, and then digital media, to shape public perception by spreading fake news. For Putin, disinformation is not just a byproduct of political discourse but rather a central strategy. The goal is not just to sell an ideology or a vision of the future; instead, it is to convince people that the "truth is unknowable" and that the only sensible choice is to follow a strong leader.
Putin has an inclination toward the "Tu Quoque" tactic, known today as "whataboutism." This tactic involves deflecting his own violations by addressing those of Western countries. The ultimate goal is not reaffirming a rule-based order but rather pointing to its insignificance.
"We are often told our actions are illegitimate, but when I ask, 'Do you think everything you do is legitimate?' they say 'yes'. Then, I have to recall the actions of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya."
What can democrats learn?
1. Don't Always Be Reactive
Choosing if, when, and how to engage in the presence of strategic provocation is crucial. Sometimes, covering up and responding to outrageous comments from an authoritarian can be more harmful than beneficial. To be effective, democracy defenders must practice selective engagement. You should respond based on the scale of the provocation, its relevance to your agenda, and the timing and context.
If a provocation is likely to fade away without significant impact, ignoring it might be the best option. And remember, when dealing with a new authoritarian, it is essential to have your key messages crystal clear so that when the alarm of strategic provocation goes on, you can hold on to them like the mast of a ship.
2. Fact-Checking Is Not Enough
In this over-flooded ecosystem, the sheer abundance of messages and news makes debunking a particular false statement have little impact on the public conversation or public opinion. By the time the denial arrives, the conversation has already moved to another topic. Thus, it is more effective to work alongside journalists, opinion leaders, and influencers to expose the true purpose of these tactics so the general population does not fall for these distracting maneuvers.
3. Don't Dismiss Authoritarian Narratives as "Mere Disinformation"
Yes, they often lie. But if democracy defenders simply respond with 'That's a lie' and move on, they miss the real reason authoritarian narratives are effective: they tell people what they want to hear, reinforcing their existing beliefs. Rather than countering these narratives with rational, abstract arguments, a more effective approach is to use personal stories and testimonials that directly challenge authoritarian claims and resonate emotionally.
4. Don't Take the Bait and Don't Copy the Model
Research suggests that escalating radical rhetoric—on any side—fuels delusion, deepens polarization, and erodes faith in politics. This, in turn, demobilizes and breeds apathy among moderate voters. As tempting as it may be to counter authoritarian misinformation with the same tactics, it's essential to recognize the core of their strategy: undermining truth and trust. By engaging in this same assault, democracy defenders risk reinforcing authoritarianism. If nothing can be believed, authoritarianism thrives.
5. Play the Game
Flooding the zone with shit is partially the result of strategic decisions, but it is also one of the consequences of how the communication ecosystem works nowadays. There is no way back to the era of information gatekeepers and reasonably calm and clear waters. The game now is about memes and narratives, and the only way to confront new authoritarians is to recognize that political messages must blend substance with entertainment and forge emotional connections with the public.
Learn more
- Applebaum, Anne. 2024. "Autocracy, Inc."
- Ezra, Klein. 2025. "Don't Believe him." The Ezra Klein Show.
- Illing, Sean. 2020. "'Flood the zone with shit': How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy." Vox
- Pomarantzev, Peter. 2019. "This Is Not Propaganda."
- The New York Times. 2025. "Trump's 'Flood the Zone' Strategy Leaves Opponents Gasping in Outrage."
- The Technology and Social Change Project. 2023. "Distributed Amplification." The Media Manipulation Casebook.
Download the Volume Today
Take your copy with you and learn how to fight back against authoritarians