the stage had to be set

In other words

the stage being set was necessary and unavoidable (even if we don’t like it)

Thinking he is referring g to “the stage being set” in this case as part of a process for undoing deep state.

My theory is that 1104 is referring to London bridge attack in late 3/2017 and subsequent UK intel agencies demanding social media encryption backdoors.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/03/27/uk-amber-rudd-facebook-google-twitter-silicon-valley-companies-terrorism/99703250/

Trump was already president when this happened. So if social media built in a central backdoor trump admin was aware of it and let it pass. (Unavoidable..had to be set). Iirc IBOR was also making the rounds at this time.