• fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This is why Trumpies (and other fascists) dislike “the deep state”, by the way.

    “The deep state” (in modern US usage) is anyone whose career in public service is not tied to a specific administration: professional bureaucrats, military officers, FBI agents, OSHA inspectors, postal workers, etc.

    The opposite of “the deep state” is “the patronage system” — where you get a government job only by supporting the winning candidate.

    When your town elects a new mayor, all the building inspectors and police officers and firefighters don’t have to stop their work and wait to find out whether the new mayor cares about smoke detectors and muggings. That’s because they’re part of “the deep state”, the part that doesn’t respond to shallow political changes.

    But that means that people in “the deep state” are immune to certain sorts of short-term manipulation. The local town postmaster is a federal employee who expects to be in office long after the current president is gone. Today’s army lieutenant might one day be a general — but only by outlasting a few presidents.

    Trumpies and other fascists dislike “the deep state” because its members expect to have loyalties to the state long after the current administration; and thus, they cannot devote themselves wholly to any current Führer.