[bananapub]

I guess the normal people were right to think the "deep state" didn't really exist, since if it did, it wouldn't have allowed some random rich ketamine addict to fire everyone involved in being in charge of the world's largest collection of nuclear weapons.

[dTal]

The "deep state" does (did?) sort of exist - it's everyone in government who does ordinary work that isn't turned over for fresh earth every four to eight years. That is, the domain experts. The regular joes that Musk is firing, not some shadowy power conspiracy.

[ModernMech]

I know right. I watched "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning" last night, and it's about this rogue AI that puts a backdoor into every US government agency and starts trying to manipulate people through their social media platforms. It struck me, what they're describing is essentially DOGE. They frame this thing as "The Entity" and send Tom Cruise and his band of action heroes to destroy it. But there's no secret group of CIA operatives coming to protect us from the DOGE. No IMF, no James Bond, no B613, no MIB. All made up fantasy.