The MAGA movement is so 'flooded with excrement' it may drown itself: analysis

The movement former President Donald Trump birthed is now threatening to tear itself apart from within, columnist Greg Sargent argued in The Washington Post on Monday.

"Our democratic culture remains deeply vulnerable to being swamped by disinformation," wrote Sargent, noting that longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon proclaimed in 2018 the key to winning an information war was to "flood the zone with sh*t." However, "with Donald Trump out of the presidency and his allies in Congress mired in infighting, we’re now seeing what happens when the zone gets so flooded with excrement that it threatens to drown the MAGA movement itself."

This was demonstrated clearly at the latest House hearing chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) interrogating FBI Director Christopher Wray — himself a conservative and a Trump appointee — and pushed so many conspiracy theories about the FBI that none of them had any time to linger and the whole exercise was unfocused.

"At last week’s hearing, Republicans alleged that the FBI investigated conservative parents at school board meetings. (That’s entirely baseless.)" wrote Sargent. "They insisted FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, a registered Republican, personally sicced the FBI on conservatives. (Wray called this 'insane.') They claimed the FBI has eagerly persecuted Trump. (The FBI has actually been rule-bound and cautious.) They railed that FBI plants incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. (The central evidence of this has collapsed.)"

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All of this contrasts with the GOP's relentless messaging after the 2012 terrorist attack at the consulate in Benghazi, where they basically managed to weave together a narrative and hammer it for years — something now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) freely admitted at the time was nothing more than a ploy to damage Hillary Clinton's image before she ran for president. Here, Republicans can't choose a narrative to land on and are talking over each other to try to push their favorite conspiracy theories.

The result, argued Sargent, is that "mainstream media outlets appear inclined to cover Trump-aligned conspiracy-mongering with more skepticism than the Benghazi hearings. Matt Gertz has detailed for Media Matters that attacks on the FBI have taken on a Keystone Kops quality: New whistleblowers and revelations are forever promised to reporters and never materialize."

The fact that it doesn't appear to be working will not sway them, however, Sargent concluded.

"The zone-flooding conspiratorial antics will keep on coming," he wrote. "The MAGA persecution complex requires no less."