Trump got one thing right: There is a “deep state” – The lessons of January 6

 

The most striking “lesson” of the events of January 6 is the extent to which Trump has gotten one thing right: the existence of a “deep state,” though it certainly doesn’t consist of a bunch of pedophiles. It’s really amazing how predictable the events were (something that the mainstream media hasn’t emphasized enough) and that in fact January 6 was not more of a bloody affair than it was. After all, the head of the Proud Boys was giving instruction to his base to smuggle arms into the protest, something that the media reported on at the time. January 6 demonstrated how the deep state – called “power centers,” by Poulantzas, among others – works in situations of crisis. Parts of the deep state (or power centers) provide active support for the fascists, and parts play the role of accomplices. What happened on January 6 recalls the German state’s acceptance of Hitler’s request for citizenship just two years before he was elected chancellor in 1933. By then, everyone knew what Hitler represented and the stakes involved. The state bureaucracy is hardly neutral, but is not homogenous either as Poulantzas describes in his later works on the state as a social relation.