“Flunch the area”, Steve Bannon’s strategy implemented by the White House – RTS.CH
Since his return to the Oval Office, Donald Trump has signed decrees in turn. Behind this cascade of decisions hides a strategy theorized by Steve Bannon, his former gray eminence: “flooding the area” to make the opposition suffocate. The historian Lauric Henneton takes stock of a whole world.
Steve Bannon did not last long in his post as an advisor during the first term of Donald Trump. The extreme right spin-doctor only held this function for seven months. But his influence does not seem to have completely disappeared from the corridors of the White House, from which in recent days a torrent of presidential decrees.
“I think you now see the culmination of all the work we have done. You are witnessing what I call ‘the flood of the area’ and there is no better time to be alive that now, when we see the fruits of this great effort, “said Steve Bannon in A New York Times podcast Broadcast four days ago, in which he describes himself as “a populist and a pure and hard nationalist”.
Interviewed Tuesday in the program A whole world of RTS, the French historian Lauric Henneton claims that the avalanche of decisions of the 47th President of the United States follows the operating mode designed by his ex-straat. “Theory [de Steve Bannon]it is that the media can only concentrate and indignant on one subject at a time. For him, if we launch four subjects at once, the media are completely lost. And the opposition, according to him, does not reside in the Democrats, but in the media. Without them, there is not really an opposition, “explains the lecturer in American history and politics at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
>> A lire : The main decrees signed by Donald Trump on his return to power
An opposition that has not been stifled
This “flood of events” causes an “drowning effect”, notes Lauric Henneton. However, he believes that this theory neglects the existence of groups in disagreement with the Republican leader who are taking action.
States have put money aside to be able to finance the opposition before the courts, which makes it possible to put almost in check, directive after directive, this attempt to drown the area
“In practice, [l’opposition] Mainly comes from legal proceedings carried out by people who are interested in a subject, whether associations, lawyers or bodies within the State. They will be interested in a particular question, for example in abortion or immigration. “
This resistance, which has prepared for the power of Donald Trump, does not intend to remain his arms crossed. “States have put money aside to be able to finance this opposition before the courts, which makes it possible to put almost in check, directive after directive, this attempt to drown the area,” illustrates the historian. “In a way, there is still a capacity for reaction, which is fragmented. This is what makes their strength: everyone is a little specialist in their little piece of garden.”
Lauric Henneton believes that opposing judicial means, contesting the constitutionality of decrees, is much more effective than demonstrations or mobilization on social networks, because this makes it possible to block presidential decrees.
Sustainable imprint or fleeting agitation?
What will be the outcome of this confrontation between flood strategy and judicial response? Will American institutions be permanently marked by Donald Trump’s second passage to the Oval Office?
Not everything is necessarily irreversible. But it is certain that practices [présidentielles actuelles] do not correspond to the expected standards in a rule of law
The researcher is cautious. The future remains difficult to predict, especially since the president’s intentions are not easy to identify, despite its abundant declarations.
The result of the mid-term legislative elections of 2026 could also change the situation. If the Democrats regain the upper hand at the Congress, Donald Trump would see his room for maneuver “being restrained fairly quickly”.
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The historian also takes the example of the election of Joe Biden in 2020, which had enabled normal return to the functioning of American institutions after the first mandate of the real estate magnate. Democrats “can win the 2028 presidential election and try to put some order in the machine,” said Lauric Henneton.
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And to launch: “Everything is not necessarily irreversible. But it is certain that practices [présidentielles actuelles] Do not correspond to the standards expected in a rule of law, especially on the part of a country quick to give maintenance lessons to all the democracies of the world “.
Interview by Eric Guevara-Frey
Web text: Antoine Michel