A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist investigates the history of the U.S. intelligence and security agencies and their relationship to power as well as the emergence of another "deep state" of conservative activists who are guiding President Trump.
David Rohde...raises more questions than he answers ... Some of the book’s most fascinating passages trace the rise of William Barr, Trump’s attorney general ... Rohde highlights Barr’s activism, along with a small group of other conservative lawyers, in the Federalist Society and the Catholic Information Center, which now exercise enormous influence ... The tale of these groups is worth an entire book.
...compelling and timely ... In Deep...aims to determine whether in fact a deep state exists. The author’s short answer is that no, the United States’ intelligence and military apparatus is not plotting a coup against a duly elected president ... While any one of these short chapters could be the subject of a shelf of books, together they sketch the broad outlines of the power struggles within recent administrations ... It is perhaps unknowable the extent to which Trump believes in the deep state or simply understands the term’s political usefulness. Whichever the case, the issues raised by In Deep are particularly urgent.
...a fascinating new book ... With all his reporting and research, Rohde comes to a conclusion that, borrowing slightly from W.C. Fields, news of the deep state has been greatly exaggerated ... Which ultimately brings us to where we are today — months into a pandemic with a faltering world economy and an uncertain future. After reading In Deep, one can’t help wondering how much Trump’s suspicion of and disdain for expertise and experience...has affected his response to the coronavirus. The sad policy question is: How many lives have been lost because of his belief in the deep state?
