And if Trump proved anything, it's that the elected branch of the government is not in charge. The unelected bureacracy, if you call them the Blob, deep state, administrative state, whatever, they're the ones who are really in charge. Ever since Trump they have treated the office of President as if it were vacant, and nobody has really noticed any change. They keep on doing whatever they want to do.
That's why he's saying not to be worried about DeSantis. Because even if he wins, nothing will change.
if you call them the Blob, deep state, administrative state, whatever,
ehh I’m going to take issue with one part of this: you shouldn’t group in the deep state and the administrative state together and treat them like the same thing.
Deep state = the FBI, CIA, DHS, NSA, DoD, and other entities that are very clearly meant to protect the interests of capital and empire using lethal force if necessary. These are the guys who spy on both US citizens as well as everyone else in the world, infiltrate activist groups, and carry out coups and color revolutions.
Administrative state: the FDA, SEC, CFPB, CSPC, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and other parts of the government that, while certainly not totally innocuous, mostly just deal with regulating and administrating certain types of economic activity, and were created out of necessity in response to clear and obvious market failures.
Before the Trump era, Republicans generally supported the first group and hated the second. Now Republicans hate both of them but for very different reasons.
They originated out of different material causes and leftists should note the distinctions.
The blob is what Obama's people called them. Deep state is what Trump's people called them. After the corporate media attached the term "deep state" to "pants-on-head conspiracy theorist" they switched to administrative state to get away from that.
The term deep state was around for decades before Trump, originally referring to clandestine networks in Turkey that connected fascist orgs like the Ergenekon group to like-minded individuals within the police, intelligence community, military and the justice system. It's a given that other nations have conspiracies like this as well (that's what it is, an actual, bonafide conspiracy), such as the NSU complex in Germany. I'm sure US posters here could name white supremacist networks fitting the bill as well.
But the deep state in the original sense isn't just "all those weird three letter agencies doing god knows what", it's a fascist network that has infiltrated various, separated arms of the government to wield coordinated institutional power against groups and individuals it targets.
The first time I heard the term was after 9/11 in reference to Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies, and why Pakistan took such bad-seeming actions so consistently. Because these actions served the interest of the deep state, and the Pakistani people could go fuck themselves.
The behavior of Biden's CDC re:covid shows that the administrative state is just as interested in protecting capital. And that's not getting into BLM with natural resource extraction, etc. These agencies may have been created for certain reasons but since Carter at least the entire administrative state has been a revolving door for capital to plant their lackeys in order to get regulatory outcomes that favor them.
At the end of the day, we live under a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Any administrative arm created by that dictatorship serves their interests. Some of them may have been originally created from a more long-term outlook on those interests that can look prole-friendly on the surface (i.e. the NLRB), but it all serves the same ruling class.
The unelected bureacracy, if you call them the Blob, deep state, administrative state, whatever, they’re the ones who are really in charge. Ever since Trump they have treated the office of President as if it were vacant, and nobody has really noticed any change.
Mayor Pete is powerless before the Department of Transportation Deep State!
Betsy Devos wasn't elected to be Secretary of Education either. Do you think she did Trump's bidding or do you think she was more interested in serving the interest of the state?
No, nobody took him seriously.
And if Trump proved anything, it's that the elected branch of the government is not in charge. The unelected bureacracy, if you call them the Blob, deep state, administrative state, whatever, they're the ones who are really in charge. Ever since Trump they have treated the office of President as if it were vacant, and nobody has really noticed any change. They keep on doing whatever they want to do.
That's why he's saying not to be worried about DeSantis. Because even if he wins, nothing will change.
ehh I’m going to take issue with one part of this: you shouldn’t group in the deep state and the administrative state together and treat them like the same thing.
Deep state = the FBI, CIA, DHS, NSA, DoD, and other entities that are very clearly meant to protect the interests of capital and empire using lethal force if necessary. These are the guys who spy on both US citizens as well as everyone else in the world, infiltrate activist groups, and carry out coups and color revolutions.
Administrative state: the FDA, SEC, CFPB, CSPC, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and other parts of the government that, while certainly not totally innocuous, mostly just deal with regulating and administrating certain types of economic activity, and were created out of necessity in response to clear and obvious market failures.
Before the Trump era, Republicans generally supported the first group and hated the second. Now Republicans hate both of them but for very different reasons.
They originated out of different material causes and leftists should note the distinctions.
The blob is what Obama's people called them. Deep state is what Trump's people called them. After the corporate media attached the term "deep state" to "pants-on-head conspiracy theorist" they switched to administrative state to get away from that.
The term deep state was around for decades before Trump, originally referring to clandestine networks in Turkey that connected fascist orgs like the Ergenekon group to like-minded individuals within the police, intelligence community, military and the justice system. It's a given that other nations have conspiracies like this as well (that's what it is, an actual, bonafide conspiracy), such as the NSU complex in Germany. I'm sure US posters here could name white supremacist networks fitting the bill as well.
But the deep state in the original sense isn't just "all those weird three letter agencies doing god knows what", it's a fascist network that has infiltrated various, separated arms of the government to wield coordinated institutional power against groups and individuals it targets.
The first time I heard the term was after 9/11 in reference to Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies, and why Pakistan took such bad-seeming actions so consistently. Because these actions served the interest of the deep state, and the Pakistani people could go fuck themselves.
The behavior of Biden's CDC re:covid shows that the administrative state is just as interested in protecting capital. And that's not getting into BLM with natural resource extraction, etc. These agencies may have been created for certain reasons but since Carter at least the entire administrative state has been a revolving door for capital to plant their lackeys in order to get regulatory outcomes that favor them.
At the end of the day, we live under a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Any administrative arm created by that dictatorship serves their interests. Some of them may have been originally created from a more long-term outlook on those interests that can look prole-friendly on the surface (i.e. the NLRB), but it all serves the same ruling class.
yeah no matter who is in charge the civil service are the ones carrying out policy. That's kind of inherent to a bureacracy
a president aware of their power of appointments can actually affect that bureacracy quite a lot
also Trump and Biden weren't exactly hands on administrators. Biden might actually have dementia
Mayor Pete is powerless before the Department of Transportation Deep State!
He's not an elected official either.
Betsy Devos wasn't elected to be Secretary of Education either. Do you think she did Trump's bidding or do you think she was more interested in serving the interest of the state?
I think she was probably more interested in serving herself tbh.