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Reader question: Please explain “deep state”, as in “The Deep State vs. Trump”. My comments: Deep state refers to, in short, people who run a country (state) from behind the scenes – in contrast to the regular state, or government machine that runs the country’s affairs in the public eye, more or less. “Deep” implies how the deep state works remains far below the surface, under thick cover and therefore unseen – because the people involved never step out into the open but remain in the shadows and, all the time, behind the scene. “Behind the scene” reminds one of how Dowager Cixi, the Empress of the Qing Dynasty used to run the country – from behind a curtain, she directed Guangxu, her son and Emperor in name, like a director conducting an orchestra or, more appropriately, moved the young emperor around like a puppet. In a way, the Dowager is a Chinese version of the deep state. Only in a way because whereas the Dowager and her Dynasty were dead and buried more than a hundred years ago, “deep state” is a new coinage, and Turkish in origin. This explanation, from CNN (What’s a ‘Deep State’ and why is it a new buzzword for the online right? March 11, 2017): The phrase… was popularized in Turkey. In 2017, a CNN report described it as a “term many Turks use to refer to alleged criminal networks within security forces and the government bureaucracy.” It was first used in the New York Times in reference to Turkey in a 1997 article that defined it as “a set of obscure forces that seem to function beyond the reach of the law.” | 
