Trump versus the ‘deep state’: Hostile takeover of permanent government

THE apartment building in Washington, DC, in which I reside, a few blocks from the White House and the federal government offices, is home to many Washington types: lawyers and lobbyists, government workers and congressional aides, Pentagon and State Department staffers, and even a few guys who are (I think) spying for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

To say that many of my neighbours were depressed on Nov 6 would be an understatement. But it would be a mistake to assume that they were devastated by the election results because they were proponents of a left-leaning Democratic agenda.

In fact, it is difficult to describe Pentagon and State Department officials advocating military assistance to Ukraine in its war with the Russian aggressor as “lefties”.