I wish @nytimes hadn't published a piece arguing that "the deep state is alive and well": nytimes.com/2019/10/20/opi…
In *some* sense, it gets at something real, but it's not necessarily a good thing, and it's not something we should be so eager to celebrate 1/x
In *some* sense, it gets at something real, but it's not necessarily a good thing, and it's not something we should be so eager to celebrate 1/x
This whole paragraph is filled with things that should make anyone at least slightly nervous. First of all: who decides what the interests of the "American people" are? Who decides what counts as "patriotic" opposition from within? 2/x 
When Trump was still just a candidate, I wrote an essay in @TheAtlantic hypothesizing about what an American "deep state" might do if he won—and how internal resistance might be good in terms of outcomes (for liberals) but otherwise problematic: theatlantic.com/international/… 3/x
@TheAtlantic Of course, bureaucrats should—and in some sense are *supposed* to—put the brakes on bad decisions. But that's different than the more purposeful and intentional resistance that some seem so interested in celebrating, and it's worth contemplating where that line is 4/x
