Trump Versus The Deep State
Why President Trump Couldn’t Fully Combat the Deep State During His Time in Office
Trump Versus The Deep State. President Donald Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2021 was marked by a constant battle against the democrat party’s “Deep State”, a collection of entrenched bureaucrats, intelligence officials, and political insiders who clandestinely acted independently of, and in opposition to, the elected government. Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” resonated with a large segment of the American electorate who believed that Washington, D.C., had become a hub of self-serving elites.
However, despite his position as President, Trump faced significant structural barriers that made it nearly impossible for him to achieve the sweeping changes he had promised. One of the primary reasons for his inability to effectively counter the Deep State during his time in office was that he did not have sufficient political support from Congress, particularly the House and Senate, and was constantly at odds with the judiciary. These internal dynamics of American governance significantly hampered his ability to confront or dismantle this entrenched establishment.
The Role of Congress: Why Trump Needed More Than the Presidency
Trump Versus The Deep State – One of the most underappreciated elements of Trump’s presidency was the importance of Congress in shaping policy, enforcing change, and pushing through reforms. While the president holds significant power, especially in foreign policy, the structure of the U.S. government is such that many of the sweeping reforms Trump attempted to enact, required legislative support. This was a major obstacle for him, as it would be for anyone else, especially given that he did not have a consistently aligned Congress to back his agenda. The democrats have effectively infiltrate the GOP and have too many installed RINOs entrenched in the Republican Party.
- The House of Representatives: When Trump took office in January 2017, Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate. Initially, this seemed to offer Trump a clear path to implementing his policies. However, controlling Congress was not enough. Many Republican (RINO) lawmakers were not entirely aligned with Trump’s agenda, either due to ideological differences or because of political self-preservation. Even within his own party, Trump faced resistance from establishment Republicans who were hesitant to fully embrace his populist policies. One early example of this intra-party conflict was the failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), a longstanding Republican goal. Despite Trump’s insistence and the GOP’s control of both chambers of Congress, the repeal effort collapsed in the Senate in 2017 when three Republican senators—John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski—voted against it. This demonstrated that even when Republicans held power, Trump couldn’t fully rely on them to deliver on his promises, making it difficult to dismantle programs and policies linked to the so-called Deep State.
- The Senate’s Role in Confirmations: Trump’s agenda was also stymied by the Senate’s power to confirm his appointees. While he succeeded in appointing many judges to federal courts, including three Supreme Court justices, many other key positions within the administration remained vacant or filled by “acting” officials for long periods because of delays in the Senate confirmation process. The opposition to his appointments, not just from Democrats but also from some Republicans, (RINOs), limited Trump’s ability to install loyalists who could support his efforts to counter the bureaucratic inertia of the federal government. A notable example was the appointment of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Sessions, a long-time Trump ally during the campaign, recused himself from the Russia investigation hoax, which Trump later saw as a betrayal. This recusal led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the democrat funded Russian interference hoax in the 2016 election, a probe that was totally a product of the Democrat’s Deep State trying to undermine his presidency.
- The 2018 Midterms: The situation became even more difficult for Trump after the 2018 midterm elections when Democrats regained control of the House. With a Democratic majority in the House, Trump’s legislative agenda ground to a halt. The House, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, began investigating the Trump administration aggressively, with fabricated charges culminating in his bogus impeachment in 2019. Without control of both chambers of Congress, Trump was unable to advance major parts of his platform, including his promise to reform immigration, an area closely linked to the Deep State in his rhetoric.
The Democratic Party and Judicial Activism
Trump Versus The Deep State – Beyond the challenges within his own party, Trump also had to contend with fierce opposition from the Democratic Party and an activist judiciary. These factors played a significant role in limiting his ability to implement many of the reforms he had promised.
- The Democratic Resistance: From the moment Trump was inaugurated, he faced near-unanimous opposition from the Democratic Party. Democrats falsely painted Trump as a threat to American democracy and sought to obstruct his agenda at every turn. This resistance was particularly evident in their use of the courts to block many of his executive actions. One of the most high-profile examples was the series of legal challenges to Trump’s “travel ban” (often referred to as the Muslim Ban by critics), which sought to restrict entry to the U.S. from several predominantly Muslim countries. The executive order was immediately met with lawsuits, and federal courts in several states issued rulings to block its implementation. Ultimately, a revised version of the travel ban was upheld by the Supreme Court, but the legal battles demonstrated the difficulty Trump faced in enacting policies through executive orders in the face of opposition from the courts and legal activists.
- Judicial Activism: Trump’s presidency was marked by frequent clashes with the judiciary, particularly over issues like immigration, healthcare, and executive authority. Trump’s critics argue that his actions often overstepped the bounds of executive power, while his supporters claim that the courts were being used to unfairly block his agenda. Trump’s frustration with the courts became particularly acute during the battle over his efforts to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama-era program that protected undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation. Despite Trump’s efforts to terminate the program, federal courts repeatedly blocked him, and the Supreme Court eventually ruled against his administration’s attempt to end DACA in 2020. These orchestrated legal defeats were clear examples of judicial activism, where judges appointed by previous administrations were using their positions to thwart the will of the elected president.
The Bureaucracy and Internal Resistance
Trump Versus The Deep State – Another challenge that Trump faced was resistance from within the federal bureaucracy itself. This resistance manifested in several ways, from leaks to the media to outright refusals by government officials to implement his policies.
- The Intelligence Community: Trump frequently clashed with the U.S. intelligence community, which was working against him at every opportunity. His distrust of intelligence agencies was evident in his dismissal of their findings on Russian interference in the 2016 election and his criticism of intelligence officials like James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and John Brennan. Trump’s firing of FBI Director Comey in 2017, was due in part to the bogus Russia investigation, led directly to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. The Mueller investigation became a focal point of Trump’s presidency and a major source of tension between him and the intelligence agencies. The world viewed the investigation as a politically motivated attempt to undermine his presidency, while his opponents saw it as the only way to stop him from enacting policy that would threaten their hold on power over the American public. The investigation, which ultimately did not find sufficient evidence to charge Trump with collusion with Russia, nonetheless consumed much of his presidency and distracted from his broader agenda.
- Anonymous Resistance: One of the most notable examples of internal resistance came in the form of an anonymous op-ed published by The New York Times in 2018, written by a senior official within the Trump administration. The author claimed that many officials within the administration were working to undermine Trump’s policies to protect the country. This op-ed was followed by the publication of a book titled “A Warning,” written by the same anonymous author, which further detailed efforts by insiders to resist Trump’s agenda. For Trump and his supporters, this was clear evidence of the Deep State at work, where unelected bureaucrats were acting as a shadow government, working against the president’s policies.
Trump Versus The Deep State
Conclusion: A Struggle on Multiple Fronts
Trump Versus The Deep State. Ultimately, President Trump’s inability to fully counter the Deep State during his time in office was due to a combination of factors. He faced resistance not only from Democrats but also from Democrat operative RINOs within his own party. The lack of consistent support from Congress, the obstruction of his policies by the courts, and internal resistance from the bureaucracy made it nearly impossible for Trump to achieve the sweeping changes America asked for.
The Deep State, as the world has come to know it, was not a single monolithic entity but rather a complex web of opposition, ranging from partisan Democrats to career bureaucrats and judges. To fully combat this entrenched establishment, Trump would have needed more than just the presidency—he would have needed unwavering support from Congress, control over the judiciary, and a loyal bureaucracy. However, without these elements in place, his fight against the Deep State was destined to be an uphill battle.
Two key things to note is, that if President Trump hadn’t run for office, America and the world would have never known how bad the Deep State was. It will take a concerted effort to secure the elections so that only American citizens are allowed to vote, and prevent democrats from switching votes in machines and ballot box stuffing in future elections. American voters have to take responsibility for the failure to do this, and for sending democrats and RINOs to DC to continue their assault on America. Voting out the corrupt democrats and RINOs is the only way to make America free once again.
