Trump carries out his ‘flood the zone’ strategy, creating a week of whiplash

This story originally appeared on NPR

‘This has been a wild week, with way more news coming out of the new administration than anyone can follow.

And that’s likely by design.

“The opposition party is the media,” Steve Bannon, who helped run Trump’s 2016 campaign, told PBS Frontline five years ago. “And the media can only — because they’re dumb and they’re lazy — they can only focus on one thing at a time.”

So the solution, per Bannon? Overwhelm them.

“All we have to do is flood the zone,” he said. “Every day we hit them with three things. They’ll bite on one, and we’ll get all of our stuff done, bang, bang, bang. These guys will never — will never be able to recover. But we’ve got to start with muzzle velocity.”

The first three weeks of the Trump presidency have lived up to that idea, often with far more than three things happening each day. There have been dozens of executive orders, an attempted remaking of the federal government led by Elon Musk, potentially consequential Cabinet appointees confirmed, some promised tariffs put in place (and others delayed), deportations, far-reaching and controversial assertions and a new version of America put forward on the world stage.

Through this analysis, we will attempt to wade through the flood, identify and explain some of the biggest things that happened each week, and draw attention to some that have been overlooked.

Just this week:

• President Trump said he wants the U.S. to take over Gaza and make it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
• Musk’s informal Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, pushed forward accessing agencies’ records, including sensitive payment information at Treasury; encouraging federal workers to resign (a court pushed the deadline to Monday for the “deferred resignation” program); and pushing for the shutdown of USAID, responsible for doling out about half of U.S. foreign aid.
• Trump’s Cabinet appointees moved forward, including two who were seen as the most controversial — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. Both faced tough questioning from Democrats and Republicans in their confirmation hearings, but they cleared hurdles and were advanced out of committee.
• Pam Bondi was confirmed as attorney general. Among her first moves was to create a “weaponization working group” to review all cases undertaken against Trump.
• The first migrants in the U.S. without legal status were deported to Guantánamo. El Salvador offered to take not just immigrants, but even American criminals. Trump said he liked the idea — if it could be done legally. Trump promised to level significant tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China. He wound up delaying tariffs against Canada and Mexico for 30 days, but put 10% tariffs in place against China.
• Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes in the NCAA. And there was a memo circulated from West Point banning various clubs, including for women, Black cadets and Hispanics.
• Russia confirmed that Trump and Vladimir Putin had spoken about Ukraine, and Trump said in a separate press conference that he wants Ukraine to turn over rare earth minerals in exchange for continued U.S. funding.
• Trump called for a new air traffic control system, and he revealed that his private jet uses a system from another country, though he did not reveal which.

Here’s everything that happened this week, by day:

Sunday:

Tuesday:

• Federal judge temporarily blocks moving transgender women to men’s prisons and ending their medical care.
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announces on Fox News that the first flights of immigrants in the U.S. without legal status arrive at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.
• El Salvador offers to put immigrant criminals — and even Americans — in prison, for a fee. Trump says he likes the idea — if it’s legal.
• Trump accuses USAID of being corrupt and getting kickbacks. USAID website goes back up with a message stating that all staff overseas were being recalled with some minimal exceptions. A Congressional Research Service report is published and notes that “the president does not have the authority to abolish it [USAID]; congressional authorization would be required to abolish, move or consolidate USAID.”
• Musk, per The New York Times, “has told administration officials that he thinks they could balance the budget if they eliminate the fraudulent payments leaving the system.” But it’s not clear what his basis for that is because the “federal deficit for 2024 was $1.8 trillion. The Government Accountability Office estimated in a report that the government made $236 billion in improper payments — three-quarters of which were overpayments — across 71 federal programs during the 2023 fiscal year.”
• There are reports about what young DOGE workers are doing at agencies, including installing a server at OPM and having the ability to rewrite code at the Treasury Department. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., call for the Government Accountability Office to investigate.
• Workers at the quasi-independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are told to halt work by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Trump tapped Bessent to also act as CFPB director.
• Trump nominee to lead National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, draws controversy because of ties to far-right extremist groups. Darren Beattie is also put in an acting role despite also having ties to white nationalists and a tweet he wrote four months ago, stating: “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.” He was fired as a speechwriter in the first Trump term for attending a conference with white nationalists.
• FBI agents sue over probe into those who worked on Jan. 6 cases.
• Sen. Bill Cassidy votes for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite concerns he raised over RFK Jr.’s stances on vaccines. With Cassidy’s vote, RFK Jr. clears a key Senate committee on a party-line vote, 14-13. Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard also clears a key committee for director of national intelligence despite concerns raised by senators in both parties.
• Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet and hold a bilateral news conference. Trump calls for Gaza to come under U.S. control and for Palestinians to be permanently resettled out of Gaza. “I see it as a long-term ownership position.” He says it potentially could be “The Riviera of the Middle East.” He says he might use troops if necessary. (Later in the week, he walks back saying he would use troops.) Stakeholders in the region and U.S. allies publicly shoot down the idea. That includes Saudi Arabia, which Trump said “is going to be very helpful.” The Saudi Foreign Ministry affirmed that its support for a Palestinian state was “firm and unwavering.”
• 10% tariffs on China go into effect. China issues retaliatory tariffs.
• Trump signs executive order pulling out of U.N. Human Rights Council.

Wednesday:

• Democrats engage in an all-night talk-a-thon in the Senate to protest Russell Vought’s nomination to be director of the Office of Management and Budget. Democrats could not stop the nomination because of a change implemented a decade ago that eliminated filibusters for presidential nominees.
• Employees working with former USDS, now DOGE, told to stop using Slack until they can transition to a platform that is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
• Ahead of the “deferred resignation” deadline, federal workers use spoon emojis in response to Musk’s “Fork in the Road” email subject line. It’s the same subject line Musk used when he downsized Twitter, now X.
• IRS workers told they have to stay on the job through at least May 15, even if they already resigned, if they are deemed “critical” during tax season.
• Leavitt partially walks back Trump’s comments about Gaza, saying the U.S. would not be paying for a rebuild of Gaza, that he’d instead work with stakeholders in the region and there would be no U.S. military boots on the ground: “It’s been very made very clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort, to ensure stability in the region for all people. But that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza. It does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort. It means Donald Trump, who is the best dealmaker on the planet, is going to strike a deal with our partners in a region.”
• Trump signs executive order banning transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports. The NCAA says it will adjust to the order. NCAA President Charlie Baker, a former Republican governor from Massachusetts, was asked about how many trans athletes there were in the NCAA, he said 10 or less out of 510,000.
• A federal judge in Maryland indefinitely blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. A federal judge out of Seattle previously blocked it for two weeks.
• Russia confirms talks with the Trump White House on a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine.
• U.S. Postal Service reverses course, lifting a ban it put in place a day earlier on packages coming from Hong Kong and China. The ban could have meant disruptions for shoppers on apps like Shein and Temu on inexpensive clothing coming from China.
• Trump nominates Neil Jacobs, who was cited for misconduct because of his role in “Sharpiegate,” to lead NOAA. He previously led it in an acting role during the last Trump administration
• A memo circulates at West Point disbanding various clubs and events related to diversity in some form – whether it’s Women Engineers, the Latin Club, a Korean-American relations forum or the National Society of Black Engineers.
• Pam Bondi sworn in as attorney general. Trump says Bondi “will be as impartial as you can possibly be.” Within hours, she issuesadirective to review all of the cases against Trump. It is being called the “Weaponization Working Group.” Bondi also disbands a Biden-era foreign influence task force, which was aimed at seizing assets of Russian oligarchs as part of an effort to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.
• The acting deputy attorney general accuses FBI leadership of “insubordination” for refusing to identify a “core team” that worked on Jan. 6 cases.
• Buyouts offered to CIA, Office of the Director of Intelligence and National Security Administration. The CIA sent an unclassified list of staffers hired within the past two years and who are still on probation, making it easier to fire them. Intelligence professionals told The New York Times that the sending of the list outside of a classified system makes them concerned that it makes them more vulnerable to being identified by Chinese or Russian hackers.
• A military plane of about 100 Indian migrants in the country without legal status landed in India.

Thursday:

• The Justice Department sues Chicago and Illinois over immigration “sanctuary” laws that limit cooperation with the federal government to deport people in the U.S. without legal status.
• Federal judge in Massachusetts pauses “deferred resignation” deadline to Monday. A new hearing is set for Monday as well.
• Vought expected to be confirmed as OMB director along party lines.
• Judge limits DOGE access at Treasury pending labor union lawsuit over access to private information. Musk and team will be limited to “read only” access.
• Trump doubles down on the idea of taking over Gaza in social media post. “The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” he wrote. He contended, though, that U.S. troops wouldn’t be necessary. “The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed!”
• CNN reports that Musk’s DOGE team wanted to shut off USAID spending from the Treasury. Emails show sharp exchanges between a career Treasury official and a Musk associate.
• Trump meets with House Republicans to discuss budget priorities.
• Ten migrants, members of a Venezuelan gang, are now being housed at Guantánamo in a part of the prison that previously held members of al-Qaida.
• Trump says at the National Prayer Breakfast that he wants to root out “anti-Christian bias” and has asked Bondi to set up a task force looking into it. At the same event, he calls for a new computerized air traffic control system. He also says that his private jet uses a system from another country because U.S. air traffic control is “so bad.” “When I land in my plane, privately, I use a system from another country,” he said, because I won’t tell you what country… because the captain says this system is so bad, it’s so obsolete, that we can’t have that.” Forbes reports that Trump appears to be conflating his plane’s navigation system with air traffic control.

Friday:

• Jobs report released