Who Should Rule the US? The CIA or the Elected President? Trump or the Deep State?
If you ask The Weekly Standard founder Bill Kristol the answer is the Deep State. "Obviously strongly prefer normal democratic and constitutional politics. But if it comes to it, prefer the deep state to the Trump state." How typical that a war propagandist like Kristol would prefer to see the country ruled by the organizations that put Saddam Hussein in power, planned the overthrow of the President of Syria, recruited Osama Bin Laden and countless other heinous crimes.
And even if you absolutely hate Trump, this kind of language--which a plethora of liberal commentators are using--should really concern you. As journalist Greg Greenwald points out "Empowering the "Deep State" to Undermine Trump is Prescription for Destroying Democracy." And he's not alone. Nation Contributing Editor Stephen F. Cohen is telling us that bipartisan allegations that Trump is a “puppet” of or “compromised” by the Kremlin have grown into latter-day McCarthyism with grave threats to America and the world. Incarcerating people frivolously for alleged "treason" against the state is what Stalin did. It's not what America needs.
What any journalist worth their salt is telling us is that so long as the allegations being thrown around are not backed by evidence, we should all be very vigilante to ensure an elected president is not somehow smeared out of office. Whatever the allegations there must be proof. If lies or rumors can undo democratic will, then democracy is dead.
The Intercept warned that the "deep state" is going to war with the President-Elect using unverified claims. But there's far more in the CIA toolbox than "unverified claims." Like Sen. Chuck Schumer said on the Rachel Maddow Show:
"Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you. So, even for a practical, supposedly, hard-nosed businessman, he's being really dumb to do this."
Six ways from Sunday.
Well in Guatemala, Iraq, Iran, Chile, Argentina, and hosts of other countries the CIA organized coups against the governments and installed brutal dictators. Some blame the CIA for John F. Kennedy's death, claiming that Kennedy's rage at the CIA for the bungling of the Bay of Pigs and his subsequent threat to shut the C.I.A. down was the reason for his assassination.
It should chill the American spine that there could exist an organization this insidious to democracy. Former CIA Director William Colby left no doubt about their permeating influence on the institutions that tell Americans what to think when he said; "The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media."
As an agency that can threaten any number of lawmakers "six ways from Sunday" into doing their will, or kill a president with impunity, it should be the agency we are monitoring most closely, not cheering on as they destroy our democratic institutions.
An agency that outlives democratically-elected representatives and has the power to compel government
into actions of their choosing is a far greater threat to American liberties, values and security than Al Queda or even Russia. It can compel government to use American power for their own purposes--creating never-ending wars that cast the enemy of America as anyone other than themselves.
The costs of the Deep State's pain rule can be counted in tragedy; by the decimation of multiple countries in the last 20 years, by the millions upon millions of innocent dead, by a bankrupt US state increasing it's war spending, by the steady erosion of rights and liberties at home, by the emergence of a more violent and lawless world abroad.
Whatever resume Bill Kristol seems to think the Deep State possesses, their record of atrocities, war crimes and subversion of democracy invalidate any claims about leadership abilities. If the story about Kennedy were true, he would have been right: The Deep State ought to be shut down, its criminals charged for their crimes, and the US government run to enhance and support the rule of law, not undermine it.
