Hit the nail on the head with manufactured consent. That was the old way of doing things, it’s all top-down autocracy now. No need to get the public to understand anything, the Trump fascists will do the thinking for you.

I think the silver lining right now with this new policy is that journalists can’t physically go to the Pentagon for information. They could theoretically confer with sources outside of the building, off hours, in a different country etc. I imagine those leaks will be more scrutinized now.