The Deep State Revisited

In May of 2017 I used the phrase "four constituencies" to describe the elites who use a combination of dishonesty, bias, fear-mongering, and anger to stoke Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) among a substantial subset of the population. The four constituencies are the media (along with many in entertainment and the arts), virtually all Democrats, the NeverTrump G.O.P., and many senior executives in the "deep state"—career government appointees who work in big government and then become rich by trading on the contacts and influence they have established.

A few weeks ago, I commented on the irony of John Brennan's twitter attack on Donald Trump. Brennan—the ex-Director of the CIA—is politically biased, dishonest, and potentially corrupt. He is also a poster boy for the deep state. But Brennan is not alone.

After describing Brennan's record of dishonesty, Victor Davis Hansen writes about other Obama-era members of the deep state:

Brennan is typical of the careerist deep state.

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice lied about the Benghazi tragedy, the nature of the Bowe Bergdahl/Guantanamo detainee exchange, the presence of chemical weapons in Syria, and her role in unmasking the identities of surveilled Americans.

Andrew McCabe, recently fired from his job as FBI deputy director, openly admitted to lying to investigators, claiming he was “confused and distracted.” McCabe had said that he was not a source for background leaks about the investigation of the Clinton Foundation. He wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post that “some of my answers were not fully accurate . . .”

Former FBI Director James Comey likely lied about not drafting a statement exonerating Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing in her email scandal before interviewing her.

Comey misled a FISA court by not providing the entire truth about the Steele dossier. He falsely assured the president that he was not under investigation while likely leaking to others that Trump was, in fact, under investigation.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied under oath to the Senate Intelligence Committee when he said that the National Security Agency did not collect data on American citizens. When caught in the lie, Clapper claimed that he had given the “least untruthful” answer to the committee that he could publicly provide.

In the past, Clapper had also misled the country about the “secular” nature of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and the threat posed by the Islamic State.

Note that Brennan, Clapper, Comey, McCabe, and Rice so far have not been held to account for their distortions. We cynically expect our politicians and even presidents to fabricate, but we idealistically (and naively) assume that career government servants do not.

A common strategy of the deep state careerist is the psychological tactic known as “projection.” To square their own circles of lying, our so-called best and brightest loudly accuse others of precisely the sins that they themselves commit as a matter of habit.

Soon, we'll be able to read a book length version of "projection" by James Comey, fired ex-Director of the FBI who will, of course, argue that Donald Trump is guilty of wrongdoing that Comey actually committed. Obstruction of Justice? Yep. Comey decided that Hillary Clinton wouldn't be indicted even before she was fully investigated for violations of national security. Dishonest? Yep. Comey on numerous occasions testified falsely before Congress. Poor leadership? Yep. Under Comey, the FBI was weaponized against the opposition party. Corruption? Yep. Comey's FBI misused the FISA courts to investigate members of Trumps campaign team and worse, sanctions clandestine actions designed to undermine Trump.

Donald Trump is many things—not all of them good. But the fact that the four constituencies revile him indicates that they view him as uncontrollable and a potential threat to their dominance. That alone is reason enough not to fall prey to TDS.

In a stunning discussion (read the whole thing) of the elites and their attitude on Trump, Conrad Black writes:

Mr. Trump isn’t the problem, but among the symptoms of the problem are that the director and deputy director of the FBI have been fired for cause as the Bureau virtually became the dirty-tricks arm of the Democratic National Committee, and that, as the Center for Media Studies and Pew Research have both recorded, 90% of national-press comment on Mr. Trump is hostile. Mr. Trump may have aggravated some of the current nastiness, but his chief offense has been breaking ranks with the bipartisan coalition that produced the only period of absolute and relative decline in American history.

Pushing back against a group of arrogant elitists who has been more wrong than right, more dishonest than honest, and more incompetent than competent is not a bad thing. For that at least, Donald trump deserves some credit.