In his new book, The Assault on Intelligence, the outspoken former CIA director, deplores the discourse of the ‘deep state’ as a weapon that President Trump and his supporters use to fend off legitimate challenges to their actions.
“Resistance to the ways of the incoming [Trump] team was quickly identified as evidence of the ‘deep state,’ a phrase previously used to describe the murky military and security power centers that secretly work to thwart the democratic will in countries like Turkey,” writes Hayden. “Trump supporters like Breitbart News and Fox News’ Sean Hannity made frequent reference to it. Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, said, ‘Of course the deep state exists.… They create a lie, spread a lie, fail to check the lie, and then deny that they were behind the lie.’ ”
