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January 28, 2025 12:02 PM UTC

Trump "Flooding the Zone" with Ridiculous Lies

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  • by: Colorado Pols

During President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and throughout his first administration, his top political adviser talked openly about what became known as his “flood the zone with shit” strategy. Steve “Three Shirts” Bannon claimed that “flooding the zone” was a strategic decision in which Trump or his underlings were always talking about some crazy new idea in order to make it difficult for opponents to focus on any one particular proposal.

Democrats have gotten wise to the “flood the zone” strategy, which has perhaps prompted Team Trump to ratchet up the ridiculousness. Trump fired off this message on his Truth Social platform late Monday evening — a message that was immediately refuted by anyone with a working brain:

As The Los Angeles Times explains:

The California Department of Water Resources responded in a statement: “The military did not enter California. The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days. State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.” [Pols emphasis]

Trump’s post came after he signed an order directing federal agencies to “maximize” water deliveries in California and “override” state policies if necessary, and following a long-standing debate with Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state’s water management policies.

Trump has lambasted Newsom, saying he has held back water supplies in California and impeded the response to Los Angeles’ recent wildfires. Newsom and state departments have repeatedly denied these claims, noting that there is a plentiful supply of water in Southern California.

As Axios adds, Trump’s claim is completely implausible:

“Reservoirs in California are at or above average storage levels for this time of year, thanks in part to years of proactive water management,” the Association of California Water Agencies said in a statement.

Experts also debunked the idea that a “valve” can control the state’s water supply. [Pols emphasis]

Trump may well believe that there is some sort of master “valve” that controls all of California’s water. He may also believe — for reasons he doesn’t try to explain — that nobody in that state had bothered to turn it on.

Via the Department of Defense

So how did Trump come up with this nonsense? He’s been feuding with California Gov. Gavin Newsom about the Los Angeles-area wildfires for weeks, so he’s already predisposed to taking a combative position. The federal government did restart some federal water pumps in California that had been offline for maintenance for three days.

It’s also jarring that Trump would imply that the U.S. Military “entered” California, considering that there are around 275,000 military personnel currently residing in California. After all, California is one of the 50 states that make up the United States of America. Trump is still California’s President, regardless of whether or not either side likes this arrangement.

Perhaps this was part of an effort from Team Trump to draw attention away from the potentially-catastrophic announcement by the Office of Management and Budget that leaked out today; if that’s the case, we can confidently say the ruse was unsuccessful.

Although…someone may need to explain this to Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Weld County), who was happy to cheerlead about something she clearly didn’t understand. It’s entirely possible that Boebert has asked her staff to figure out where the big master water valve in Colorado is located.

The lesson here is that you can’t really trust anything that President Trump spews out into the world.

It’s not great.

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