Amid the many publicized controversies of the Trump administration lies an unsettling truth: politicians and other powerful figures strategically schedule political changes alongside major media events. When news headlines are saturated with emergencies and natural disasters, public and media scrutiny of presidential policy changes weakens.
Distraction isn’t just a tool used by politicians, but by technology companies as well. Google, among others, has discreetly adapted its privacy policies to use users’ data to train AI. “Politics of distraction” is not unique to today’s White House. In the past, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama criticized Republican Party members for deflecting attention from issues that affect Americans’ daily lives.
In 2019, economists Milena Djourelova and Ruben Durante studied executive orders and media distraction. They researched around 40 years of data, concluding that executive orders “are more likely to be signed on the eve of days when the news is dominated by other events.”
Distractions will always be present. What is new is the magnitude and speed of these distractions. Viral controversies, constant social media updates and the rapidly rotating news cycle are meant to keep us informed, but instead make it difficult to focus on any one issue. This volatility presents an opportunity for controversial actions to be overshadowed by the next trending headline.
Constitution team sophomore Mareya Mirti noted that some of the Trump administration’s recent actions have violated the Constitution but received insufficient publicity. For example, the administration has targeted law firms representing political opponents. These actions were later ruled to violate the First Amendment right to associate in Perkins Coie LLP v. DOJ.
Additionally, Mirti emphasized another tactic named “flooding the zone,” where so many events, such as signing executive orders, happen at once that it becomes difficult for judicial courts to address President Trump’s unconstitutional executive actions.
This political distraction raises the question: how can we keep our government accountable if we don’t understand what is happening? Mirti believes it is vital to know your rights at a time when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is violating due process.
“President Trump has directed ICE to detain people for little more than speaking a particular language, and people across the country have been deported without due process,” Mirti said.
Executive orders shape immigration, environmental regulation and more without congressional approval. In a time when the media is flooded with information, the key is to critically pay attention and understand what is happening around us.