Ignorance often breeds paranoia. Trump excells in both areas. He is excessively paranoid because he is ignorant. There is no real "deep state". There is a bureaceacy that prefers to perform business according to a certain formula. Trump does not fit that formula.
But most carreer bureaucrats are not subversives looking to undermine the leadership. Instead they spend their time trying to figure how to round out policies between our government and other governments that start out with irregular edges. But they don't set out to undetmine our govetnment. There is no deep state. Its just the paranoia of an ingnorant collective in the country.
I think he believes it in the sense he and his handlers want to dismantle the federal civil service, for that matter government in general, down to a skeletonized ghost of itself.
To enact New Deal legislation, Congress set up the bureaucracy to protect clean air and water, workers' rights, public health and safety, and so on.
These are the programs we spend money on (aside from the monstrous military) and which Republicans are doing their best to pressure out of existence by cutting taxes every chance they get.
Trump is one of the gaudy sideshows--guns, abortion and communism being three others--the ultra-right's super rich are using to distract people from what is REALLY going on.
The DARK STATE is what we should actually be focusing on.
It's the "vast right-wing conspiracy" Hillary so aptly referred to:
The network of "officials, private firms, media outlets (Fox, Limbaugh, etc.), think tanks, foundations (Heritage, Federalist Society, etc.), NGOs, and interest groups (NRA, etc.), which attend to the needs of capital rather than the lives of ordinary people."
Yes, the Democrats have a pale shadow of the same thing, but it is so fragmented, disorganized and comparatively underfunded it hardly stands a chance against this political propaganda machine.
It is true, Republicans are so much better at plotting, conniving, and underhandedness than Dems.
I get your sarcasm. And you are right. But in my 65 years of existence, Dems have never reached the level of unethical, underhandedness that Republicans. Drms have had a code of conduct that in general they attempted live by and play to. The Repubs cannot claim the same as often, or as consistently.
@t1nick I'm not bring sarcastic.
I believe it.
Pubs are 'true believers,' fanatics who think they are unquestionably right; so delusional.
Democrats believe in the marketplace of ideas, compromise and consensus-building. In other words, everything is relative and democracy is an exercise in balancing competing interests.
What is this idea of a deep state?
The idea that there are career bureaucrats in high places (like the head of the FBI and ambassadors) that are actively trying to get rid of Trump by running a secret society .
@t1nick wow, trump really is sick!!
Here's a more formal defin.:
In the United States, the "deep state" is a conspiracy theory which suggests that collusion and cronyism exist within the US political system and constitute a hidden government within the legitimately elected government
I don't think Trump thinks there is a "deep state" any more than he believes the news is fake. It is just stuff he uses to stir up his ignorant and paranoid constituency.
What is scarier than Trump? The number of people who voted for him.
I'm not sure if I agree that he doesn't believe that the deep state is real. His ego and narcissism are a natural cauldron for paranoia. Hes definitly not above stoking the fears of his poorly educated with untruths. But I am sure his followers are convinced ced that a deep state exists.
@t1nick
He doesn't have to believe it, but he is counting on his followers to believe it.