By
Ramin Mazaheri
Imagine
my surprise when, on my flight back from San
Francisco to New York, that’s what my
trusty New York Times revealed to me.
My first thought was: I can’t believe how this
horrible Donald Trump has set up a Deep State in
less than a month?!
Surely
Russia was involved in its formation.
Then
again, I strangely find myself thinking a lot
about Russia these days. I’ll admit it – when my
morning breakfast was late it fleetingly
occurred to me that the Kremlin was behind this
slowdown in my hotel room service.
Putting
that aside, I was immediately relieved when by
the 3rd paragraph our nation’s paper of record
had put to rest my fears of an unprecedented
formation of a US Deep State with, “Not quite,
experts say….”
Whew. I
just don’t put anything past the evil
capabilities of the Donald!
Reading
the article I was surprised to find that the
Deep State isn’t what I thought it was –
apparently it’s only when the government leaks
information to the media?
That’s
funny, because one time on the SF-NYC “Job
Creator Red-eye” I sat next to an Egyptian guy.
Of course I was worried, at first, but I found
out it he was a Coptic Christian, so that put me
at ease. Who even knew they had those?!
This
Egyptian told me about his country’s Deep State,
and it sounded really bad:
He said
that they colluded with “some Western countries”
– he didn’t say which and looked kind of
uncomfortable as he said it, for some reason –
to stop that great Tahrir Square Revolution
which was to guarantee that Israel would be
safe.
“Mr.
Gypsy” said that the Egyptian version of the
Deep State was that their military controlled
the economy, and that they bribed, imprisoned
and killed people to keep their grip on the
economy and control over foreign policy.
It
sounded pretty bad.
I told
him I was happy that Washington was supporting
Al-Sisi’s military takeover with billions in
aid, and that he didn’t have to thank me
personally for that.
A
“military” intertwined with the “economy”…I must
admit, it did make me think…
…Of
Russia! I’m nearly certain that Putin created
something similar over there, after he banned
elections, so why even verify it with some
research?!
But
this Egyptian must not have known what he was
talking about, because the New York Times
article didn’t say anything about the economy?
What they said was:
Mr.
Trump, apparently seeking to cut the
intelligence community, State Department,
and other agencies out of the policy-making
process almost entirely, may have triggered
a conflict whose escalation we are seeing in
the rising number of leaks.”
Officials, deprived of the usual levers for
shaping policies that are supposed to be
their purview, are left with little
other than leaking.”
Trump
was clearly trying to cut public officials out
of the democratic process, and they had no
choice but to resort to these “illegal” leaks! I
mean, I’m pretty sure you don’t get elected to
be a CIA spy or NSA agent, but somebody up top
is and…well, I don’t know if they did the
leaks…and I don’t know if the leaks are really
true or not…but I’m telling you – we have to get
Donald out NOW!
Anything that’s bad for Trump must be good. It’s
really that simple, so case closed.
We’re in a world now where the president is
playing to the edge of his powers, and I
think there are real concerns about the
constitutional implications of some of the
actions he’s taken,”
…said
somebody who must be totally objective and
perfect because why else would the New York
Times choose them?
If
there’s one thing Obama never, ever, ever did it
was to expand his executive authority in ways
unbeseeming to the presidential authority. If
Obama had done that, I would have been in the
streets, you can bet! Trust me: I have my
anti-Trump “pussy hat” in my closet and ready
for the next protest!
Don’t
bring up “drones”! You’ll just remind me of this
guy at work nobody understands – Fazlollah
“Lefty” Bittermani – he’s always doing that!
Between
you and me, his last name ends in a vowel,
so…you know….he may have certain sympathies.
That guy really cheeses me off! What Lefty
doesn’t realize is that we are at war – not with
Russia, yet – but with – not Muslims – but
with…certain people, let’s just say. And the
president has the right to fight war however he
wants.
But
when it comes to waging diplomacy the president
must be restricted as much as possible!
We
refuse to accept Hillary’s defeat until the
Russians give back the Donbass to the Crimeans!
This is simply a question of our humanitarian
rights!
Trump
is trying to make a liar out of not just
Hillary, but of Sylvester Stallone and “Rocky
IV” – even when the Russians cheat they are
still supposed to lose to the Americans!
Was I
back on Russia again? I don’t know…I’m like,
obsessed with them, or something?
Back to
the New York Times, which always reassures me
when contradictions confuse me. Just after that
last quote they wrote this:
That has forced officials in agencies to ask
how far they will go themselves. As each
side begins to perceive itself as under
attack and the other as making dangerous
power-grabs, it will justify more and more
extreme behavior.
So
clearly, these officials are justified more and
more in extreme behavior…because it’s Trump!
I
really wish we had some of these great, extreme
officials during the Dubya era, but why bring up
ancient history? One thing is certain: During
just four weeks in office Trump has clearly
destroyed the culture and future of the United
States and must be impeached. These officials –
even if they are unelected – should absolutely
not be listening to their elected leader!
Why?
Well just read the next paragraph, another
unassailable analyst of the Times:
In
President Trump, you have a president whose
behavior shocks even more than the content
of his policies.”
Yes!
Behavior, not content!
I was
telling my son this recently: He came in 19th
place in a recent science competition (but out
of 24!), and he was upset that his blue ribbon
wasn’t an actual trophy. I told him, “Son, I’m
going to buy you that trophy because your
behavior was correct, even if you totally
screwed up measuring the contents of your
volcano experiment, and it exploded and burned
the girl next to you.”
I think
the girl was Russian, anyway. She was certainly
shocked.
Anyway,
the Times goes on to say that now this dangerous
Trump wants to appoint someone to review our
intelligence agencies. Astounding, the gall of
this man! I really think he’s psychologically
insane.
“It
looks, sounds and feels like a political witch
hunt,” said Analyst #1 (the White one, not the
Egyptian one). “It’s like pouring gasoline on
the fire.”
It certainly does!
What
else do you call our top elected official trying
to find out what work is being illegally done in
secret with taxpayer money? I am certain this is
something Putin would do with his KGB. And
that’s why Russia is not free – because the KGB
cannot operate freely to undermine Putin’s
attempts at diplomacy! Don’t tell me I’m wrong,
comrade!
Mr.
Flynn, in his short tenure, exemplified the
breakdown between the president’s inner
circle and career civil servants. He kept
the National Security Council largely shut
out of policy-making and sought sweeping
changes in foreign policy.”
This is
the US, not the USSR! Our career bureaucrats
need to be in charge, not our elected officials!
Trump simply cannot make sweeping changes to
foreign policy – even if he was democratically
elected on that mandate – because career civil
servants should run the show!
|
Break
Free From The Matrix
|
The
next paragraph:
For
concerned government officials, leaks may
have become one of the few remaining means
by which to influence not just Mr. Flynn’s
policy initiatives but the threat he seemed
to pose to their place in democracy.”
Democracy is bureaucracy! You vote for a person,
they appoint an official, the person you voted
for gets voted out of office, but the appointed
official stays forever and amasses power –
democracy!
I tried
to explain this to that Egyptian guy, but he
said, “Then what’s the point of demonstrating
and facing down gun barrels if the people can’t
demand change?”
I kept
telling him: “But Israel is fine these days?
Tahrir worked out great!”
He
didn’t get it.
Anyway,
Egypt is not the country who is threatening
American democracy, and I don’t have to tell you
who is, because I’ve just taken that pill that
helps me with my compulsive psychological
issues.
The
Times continued:
Even if each individual leak is justifiable,
as insubordination becomes more sustained
and overt, it inches deeper into the gray
zone of counter-democratic activities.
I
already had the feeling that every anti-Trump
leaks was justifiable, and that we are still
many, many inches away from counter-democracy,
so thanks Gray Lady! I almost had to take that
other pill for my anxiety! And “insubordination”
is clearly justified because, as I said, in 4
weeks Trump has already proven himself to be a
new Hitler! Don’t get me started on Steve Bannon!
“I
don’t think you can say in advance what
inappropriate deep-state activity would look
like, because we haven’t seen this before,”
…said
Analyst #1. Exactly – this is a totally new day,
and this was all appropriate deep-state
activity. We’ve never seen anything like this in
the history of the world, much less America. I
told this to Lefty back at work and he started
ranting about Kennedy. I totally did not see
what Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy had
to do with this, but who can fathom what goes on
in the mind of a Fazlollah?
The
main thing is that we get Trump before he does
damage to free trade, because my corporation and
all businesses are totally helpless against the
government. They have no influence at all…unlike
Egypt.
There, ‘the deep state is not official
institutions rebelling,’ he said, but rather
‘shadowy networks within those institutions,
and within business, who are conspiring
together and forming parallel state
institutions.’”
We all
know that there is absolutely nothing like this
which is happening in America.
And
that’s why the idea of business being involved
in America’s Deep State did not appear until the
7th-to-last paragraph. I almost didn’t read that
far!
And
that’s why the New York Times finished on this
heartening note:
This war between the intelligence community
and the White House is bad for the
intelligence community, bad for the White
House, and bad for the nation’s security.”
See?
Our so-called Deep State has nothing to do with
business. The New York Times is right next to
Wall Street, so they would surely know, right?
Now if
you’ll excuse me I have to make a call to the
Pentagon for my work. No, I’m not in defense
contracting or anything, but the Pentagon is
the world’s largest employer…hard
to work around them in the United States! And
the profit margins – wow!
I’m so
glad our owners had a personal contact in there.
Frankly, I thought the New York Times’ headline
was a bit too alarmist:
As
Leaks Multiply, Fears of a ‘Deep State’ in
America”
But I’m
glad they immediately put those fears to rest.
With that content, I would have run a headline
like:
Internal leaks justified as Trump could
affect share prices”
I think
that would have been more accurate. Frankly I’m
a bit surprised such a non-story could bump
Russia off the front page?
Ramin
Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for
Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He
has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US,
and has reported from Egypt, Tunisia, South
Korea and elsewhere.
