Matt Taibbi calls the forces arrayed against Trump more dangerous than the Pro-Wrestler-Hall-of-Fame-in-Chief. “My discomfort in the last few years, first with Russiagate and now with Ukrainegate and impeachment, stems from the belief that the people pushing hardest for Trump’s early removal are more dangerous than Trump.”

I agree.

There’s nothing in the Constitution about allowing secret intelligence agencies to vet our chief executives. This state of affairs could hardly be considered a democratic republic and instead has all the hallmarks of an empire.

I’m not a Trump supporter and I find many of his policies and actions to be abhorrent. That being said, these are not the reasons that the establishment has opposed Trump. Instead they’ve attacked him for the reforms that he campaigned on. If you’ll recall from the way back machine, Trump campaigned as a populist and, crucially, to the left of Clinton on foreign policy, raging against the disastrous free trade and financial arrangements that have left millions of hard working Americans behind, while criticizing the disastrous regime-change wars and promising to improve relations with Russia. He also enraged the neocons and liberal-interventionists with a devastating take-down of the invasion of Iraq.

I believe that Trump’s apostasy is the reason for the elite hostility towards him. After all, these domestic and foreign policies are the means by which the deep state maintains the US empire. We only have to witness the reaction to Trump’s decision to leave Syria to see this dynamic in real time. Republicans, Democrats and the corporate media have united in decrying Trump’s actions, which really amounts to keeping a campaign pledge by exiting one of the many disastrous regime-change wars.

It’s not just Trump who’s taking flak. The media’s shameful attack on Tulsi Gabbard demonstrates the enormous costs of challenging the bipartisan, imperial consensus that regards war as the natural state of affairs. Indeed, one of the most pernicious outcomes of Russia-gate is that now any criticism of the imperial nature of US foreign policy which cannot be labeled false or misleading gets labeled a talking point of Russia or Putin by those who support and defend the status quo of US world hegemony. It’s now literally a Kremlin talking point to blame both parties for the disastrous US foreign polices of the last decades.

Looking back back at everything that’s happened since Hillary lost the election provides a good perspective to the non-stop insanity of it all. For starters, Russia-gate has resulted in a climate where every move to improve relations with Russia is proof of the devious Putin’s control over Trump. Even the New York Times, normally the bastion of political correctness, depicted Trump and Putin as icky-gay-lovers. Then there was the non-stop freak-out over the possibility that Russian hackers tampered with our precious democracy and overwhelmed Facebook with their devious bots.

For me the most disconcerting reaction has been liberals, after decades of mistrust and hostility, turning on a dime and embracing the FBI and CIA as saviors while demanding that the secret intelligence agencies carry out a coup for the good of the country. Losing their minds doesn’t even come close to describing this cosmic transformation. Then there’s been the corporate media, led by the New York Times, coordinating a non-stop propaganda campaign against Trump.

I’m convinced that the bipartisan freak-out over Trump’s foreign policies coupled with the impeachment drive is part a larger war against populism that’s being waged worldwide by an feral elite that’s responsible for so much suffering. The impeachment hearings and the mass hysteria surrounding them are an attempt by these same elite to demonstrate the cost of challenging the imperial consensus.

You do not honestly believe they are going to let Trump serve a second term, do you? 

Not that Donald Trump is a populist hero. Far from it. Trump is a narcissistic reality TV star and pro-wrestler MC. As a presidential candidate he was cunning enough to recognize that 2016 was an anti-establishment election and use the avalanche of populist anger that had been building since at least 2008 when the bankers were bailed out while everyone else was left to twist slowly in the wind.

Here the dirty little secret–getting rid of Trump will not put the paste back in the tube. The populist anger is not going away. Americans and the other citizens of the world are no more thrilled about their future today than when the voted for Brexit and Trump and other populist candidates and measures.

Update:  A lawsuit by Judicial Watch has produced damning proof that Rod Rosenstein, former Deputy Attorney General, was a key figure in enabling, at a minimum, the deep state’s coup. Specifically, the lawsuit forced the release of 145 pages of Rosenstein’s communications that include a one-line email from Rosenstein to Mueller stating, “The boss and his staff do not know about our discussions.” They also include “off the record” emails with major media outlets around the date of Mueller’s appointment.