May 22, 2018

There is no “Deep State” in the US.

It’s that simple. This subject doesn’t justify a study, a committee, an investigation, or anything. This is a simply a politically based fiction of the Trump organization, supported by paranoid ultra Conservatives.

The only thing that deserves studying is this: How could the United States of America, of all nations, come to the stage that this kind of fabricated danger has gained traction?  How?

Just look at the Trump feed on FaceBook and you’ll be shocked. There are a LOT of Trump supporters who have somehow been deceived into truly believing this ridiculous lie.

Of course, the problem is that this kind of science fiction cannot be disproved, just as the belief that UFO’s exist cannot be disproved.

And, this fabrication is fed on the rare, but occasional discovery that perhaps (not for sure, but alleged) some government operative may have behaved in a way that can then be used by fiction writers on the ultra right, to provide a fake kind of “evidence” that something nefarious is going on. There may have been an FBI operative engaged in the Trump campaign–but only to determine the activities of Russians trying to support the campaign.

The Trump MO with this kind of lie is to embellish and repeat constantly: That this person must certainly have been working in some kind of highly organized secret underground network which is planning to overthrow the present government.

While many, including Trump Jr. have said publicly that the “deep state” exists, no one who believes it has published even a smattering of the names of those who are alleged to belong to it.

For the Trump supporters, such a diabolical network was not in place when Obama was President, but has suddenly emerged to try to overthrow Trump. And, for many of them, Obama is now one of them–he’s part of the “deep state,” trying to overthrow Trump. His name and that of Hillary Clinton are the only names thrown out–and with no evidence.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Writing in his column of today, Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times points out that this is a fabrication of the Trump supporters to distract citizens from the reality that his administration is under serious legitimate scrutiny and threat, as it relates to possible collusion with the Russians and whatever other crimes which might be under examination by the Mueller team. He also points out that a variation of such extremist thinking can sometimes be found among ultra leftists, who believe that capitalist interests constitute such a malevolent and secret organized force to take advantage of the masses.

Neither of these extremist views is correct. There is no “deep state.”

There are many of us who would like to see the Trump administration overturned (by legitimate and legal means), just as there are many on the Left who would like to see the power of capital diminished. But neither side has a clandestine secret underground network of the powerful who are highly organized and will stop at nothing to see the destruction of that which they abhor.

As Rachman points out, this is the stuff of third world countries where coups do indeed occur, but simply is not the case here.

Whatever flaws may be found with our form of government (and these days there seem to many), and whatever damage you may feel the Trump administration is doing to our nation, we have abundant and adequate protection from anything resembling a “deep state.”