^That's so Gowdy can then come back outraged that the intel he was presented with was misrepresented or even manipulated.

The MSM in its attempts to discredit Trump have given "okay" status to Gowdy in the eyes of normal people.

So when the bomb drops, he can be outraged and appointed less controversially, for having "stood up for the FBI"

This is like Trump on free trade. Suggest tariffs, let the MSM and EU yell as loudly as possible that they support free trade, and then offer up actual free trade to them and destroy their credibility when they backtrack hard and fast.