The Origins of the Deep State
As much as I’d like to say the ‘Deep State’ is a new Alex Jones idea it’s actually been around for a long time. The Deep State specifically, borrowing ideas from many authors on the idea of a secret ‘Military Industrial Complex’ and shadow government that secretly exerts influence over the happenings of the US was coined in 2014 by a former Republican congressional aide, Mike Lofgren, when writing about then President Barack Obama’s lack of success with campaign promises claiming that the Deep State had pushed Obama into Afghanistan and blocked his promise to close Guantanamo.
In more recent parlance Deep State has come to take on different meanings depending on which side of America’s polarized Right/Left divide you speak to. Many see career military officers such as H. R. McMaster, John Kelly and James Mattis in the Trump administration as Deep State operatives guiding President Trump. Following President Trump’s “total authorization” to the military and the subsequent use of a MOAB in Afghanistan, the anthropologist C. August Elliott described the rise of a “shallow state” in the US: “an America where public servants now function as tugboats guiding the President’s very leaky ship through the shallows, away from a potential shipwreck.” While on the Right-Wing side President Trump himself and former chief strategist Steve Bannon have both made allegations about a Deep State which they believe is interfering with the president’s agenda, causing the unprecedented number of leaks from this administration, and claiming that the US Department of Justice was part of this alleged Deep State. Some Trump allies and right-wing media outlets have alleged that former president Barack Obama is coordinating a deep state resistance to Trump. While the belief in a deep state is popular among Trump supporters, critics maintain that it has no basis in reality, arguing that the use of the term in the U.S. could undermine confidence in vital institutions and be used to justify suppressing dissent.
Conspiracy Theory or Conspiracy Fact?
If we’re talking about the leaks from the WH then no, every admin had to deal with leaks. But this administration has a lot of issues, not the least of which is leaky security. And the information the leakers have brought out has been said to be vital to shining a light on some of the shadier aspects of the Trump presidency. Skepticism of the intelligence community has historically been more prevalent on the Left than on the Right. But that dynamic has shifted as classified information damaging to Trump has come to light. With Trump supporters and Trump officials claiming that our Intel community is part of this Deep State and working to undermine the president at every turn. Whether you think the leakers are patriotic citizens doing their duty for their Country and getting this information to the public or as a nefarious shadow government hiding behind the scenes there is no proof that there is even a coordinated organized force. Defenders of leaks point to examples such as the revelation that Mr. Trump disclosed classified information during an Oval Office meeting with Sergey Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and that Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the transition period. This information led to Flynn’s forced resignation after the shortest-ever tenure for a national security adviser. But it can be said that even with no proof outside of fiction, as the shadow government is a favorite trope of Sci Fi writers, its still true that many American’s believe there may be a shadow government at work behind the scenes, whether or not they know of the Deep State conspiracy. With a March 2018 poll finding that while 63% of respondents aren’t familiar with the term 74% of respondents believe such a group may exist.
Conclusion:
There is no proof behind the Deep State conspiracy, and while the idea started on the Left it has been firmly entrenched on the Right since it was co-opted by the Trump Presidency, who has used it to discredit the US Intel community. Once again there doesn’t seem to be any proof of a coordinated effort to thwart Trump but he is massively unpopular as President and his White House seems to be chaotic at best. Instead of a Deep State what we seem to have is an Administration that excels at getting in its own way and is run more like a mob family than a bureaucratic agency. As always dear readers, be skeptical, be critical, and don’t become misinformed.
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