The Final Solution: Deep State in Deep Shit

In an article entitled “Trump and the ‘Deep State’” (Foreign Affairs, September/October 2017), Jon D. Michaels makes the following statement: “Furious at what they consider treachery by internal saboteurs, the president and his surrogates have responded by borrowing a bit of political science jargon, claiming to be victims of the ‘deep state,’ a conspiracy of powerful, unelected bureaucrats secretly pursuing their own agenda.” Actually a more correct description of what's going on might be found in the writings of the l9th century sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, who offered the concept of the “circulation of elites.” The Trumpocracy offers a platform that reads like Marxism 101 with “the withering away of the state” and “the dictatorship of the proletariat.” No wonder the Trump team likes the Russians. In fact however, it’s not “the dictatorship of the proletariat,” but the dictatorship of a totally new elite of kleptocrats who have taken over the government. The recent $300,000,000 contract to restore power in Puerto Rico with a company from Interior Secretary Zinke’s hometown of Whitefish, Montana, a company with an employee roster of 2 on the day Hurricane Maria hit, might be an example of this kind of nepotism ("Small Montana firm lands Puerto Rico's biggest contract to get the power back on," The Washington Post, 10/23/17). The contract has since been suspended, but it’s apparent that what’s happened since the new administration has taken over is that one deep state has simply been replaced by another.