Partway through the campaign of Donald Trump, people started talking about the ‘Deep State’. Not that the idea started then, it’s been around for a while, but during the Trump campaign the notion gained currency and support, and has been part of the culture of the Trump Administration all the way through. The Deep State theory has been mocked by many, is believed to extremes by many others, and is widely misunderstood by many others. This post is my take on what the Deep State is, is not, and how we may proceed to best benefit as a nation in this regard.
The theory I see most often goes like this: For a long time now, a small group of people have run the government without running for office, or even letting people know they exist as a power group. The names vary (Rothschilds, Illuminati, Bilderburgs, Freemasons, etc.), as does the location where they meet and make decisions, but they are always cast as extremely wealthy and powerful. Almost every major catastrophe is mentioned as a planned event to maintain power or protect their interests, even when the events make no sense. Personally, I attribute that to the human trait of pattern recognition. We get used to finding patterns wherever they are, an sometimes see them when they don’t really exist in reality.
That’s not to say I don’t believe conspiracies exist, or that there are no groups which seek to take and hold power. But it’s not quite so organized or effective as the theories claim.
For example, consider organized crime. Criminals learned very early that even a smart and strong man can be caught if he works alone, so they formed bands of robbers for protection and advantage. Remember that “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” is a story more than a thousand years old, after all. By the time we get to modern organized crime, even though the movies talk about a few families running everything, and yes those families had tremendous wealth and power in their territory, but on the national scale we’re talking about hundreds of gangs and crime families and crime organizations.
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/organized-crime
The idea that there is a single overseer group which steals money by the billions (some say trillions) of dollars a year from the public, well that’s laughable. The math just does not work out. And all those gangs and crime families would find out in short order who had their money as they saw it. The Illuminazis would be hunted down and killed by the gangs in short order.
The same thing applies to government power. While some alliances and families rise to power, there is an ebb and flow to this as well. A cursory review of Presidents can show some of this. Let’s start with the Democrats.
Franklin Roosevelt changed the Democrats’ fortunesin politics. He was the first Democrat elected President since Wilson, but more importantly he changed the course of the nation and redefined the Democratic Party for a generation. But his legacy passed, and the Democrats soon enough found a new leader in ideals:
John F Kennedy. A lot of people don’t understand that one reason JFK almost lost the 1960 election, was because a lot of Democrats compared him – unfavorably – to FDR. But soon after taking office as President, John installed a new culture that shaped the nation for a generation.
Poor Lyndon 
just couldn’t meet the standard.
My point is, FDR and JFK each faced an established cadre in power when they started their careers, but each overcome the establishment and replaced it with their own goals, ideals and plans. Bill Clinton 
and Barack Obama 
did the same. In fact, that is part of the reason Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were enemies for most of their common years; the Clintons saw Obama as an interloper on a political empire they built.
The Republicans did the same.
A lot of people have never heard of ‘Rockefeller Republicans‘. But when Ronald Reagan began his climb to national office as President, he had to fight an entrenched system based on East Coast go-along business-as-usual politics. Reagan’s leadership is legendary today, but never forget he started as an outsider, a man mocked as clueless about how the world really worked, even though he had been Governor of California.
A lot of people will scoff to read it, but George W Bush helped avert a serious national disaster by winning the 2000 election. 
And like Reagan, W was roundly mocked by Democrats, as unqualified for the job, even though like Reagan his resume included Governorship of a major state.
Which brings us to President Donald Trump.
Read that title again: President of the United States Donald Trump. Remember that there were lots of people in the media who literally made fun of Trump just for running, and some of his GOP opponents were derisive and insulting as well. The Deep State, where Trump is concerned, is not some global satanic gang of billionaire dilettantes, but a far more mundane collection of bullies and old-boys-club mandarins.
The old Egyptian pharaohs had to contend with priests who wanted to run things behind the scenes. Rome saw the Caesars battle against the Senate. And the middle ages were replete with devious plans to build power; a lot of people forget that Machiavelli did not invent labyrinthian plots or complex plans for building conspiracies. There has always been a system, in every nation and culture, where the people in power, be they a king or a President, find themselves surrounded by people who are there to help. Help with getting this or fixing that, but yes they also know a bit about this issue or that idea, and they would be happy to help you understand the matter in detail. And when these staffers move on, their brothers and sisters and sons and daughters and friends will be there, to help you handle all that work, you see.
And many of them really do mean well. But they also recognize that elected officials come and go, but the system stays. And after a time, the people in that system think that whenever a new official disagrees with them, well that just proves the individual is not right for the job. And some elected officials go along with the system.
These are not bad men, but they weren’t strong enough to resist the system. It takes someone willing to be mocked, to be fought, to stand alone, to change things for the better.
I will be blunt here. I did not support Donald Trump in the primaries. I thought him a faker, a blowhard, far from the ideal candidate to lead our nation.
But since his election, judging by the words he has used in speaking as President, and the accomplishments he has already made so far, I see much worth in President Trump. He is far from a perfect man, but he takes the job as President seriously, and he is changing the culture of government to one of hard work and keeping promises.
There are conspiracies against Trump. The Democrats fear him as a man who will make a difference in our nation’s standing and course. The Republicans fear him as a man who will make them keep their word, or be held accountable. The media fear him as a man who will expose their hypocrisy.
Frankly, we are overdue for such a man.
