Trump has long warned of a government 'deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
NEW YORK (AP) — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.'
'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.'
Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough.
Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected.
His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians.
'People are tired of not knowing,' conservative commentator Damani Felder said on podcaster Tim Pool's show last week. 'We actually demand answers and real transparency. It's not that hard to deliver.'
A promise to reveal and dismantle the 'deep state'
Trump has long promised to dismantle the 'deep state' — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes — to build his base of support, said Yotam Ophir, a communications professor at the University at Buffalo.
'He built part of this universe, which at the end of the day is a fictional universe,' he said.
Now that Trump is in power and has stocked loyalists throughout his administration, his supporters expect all to be revealed. Delivering on that is difficult when many of the conspiracies he alleged aren't real, said Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist who studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami.
To be sure, the president has prioritized retribution in his second administration. He has fired federal workers, installed loyalists in key positions and targeted law firms he disfavors in executive orders. He has ordered the revocation of government security clearances for political rivals and former employees who dissented during his first term. His Justice Department has fired prosecutors who investigated him and scrutinized career FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Even so, Trump's administration hasn't gone as far as many of his supporters would like. They want to see steps taken against people he has long claimed were involved in sinister plots against him, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The administration also hasn't offered proof of the ' egregious crimes ' that Trump claims have corrupted the federal government for years.
Conspiracy theorists focus on Epstein and Trump's assassination attempt
Tensions erupted this month when FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, dismissed two of the unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that have animated Trump's base the most — that financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in a cover-up, and that Trump's attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a government plot.
'You know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was,' Patel said about Epstein's death in a Fox News interview.
'I have seen the whole file,' Bongino added. 'He killed himself.'
Conservatives online demanded to see the evidence, pointing to Bongino's past statements as a podcast host, when he suggested the government was hiding information about Epstein.
'No matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, you get the same economic policy, and the Epstein videos remain secret,' right-wing podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show.
'They told us for months leading up to the Election that it wasn't suicide,' Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote on X.. 'But now they tell us it was suicide.' He added: 'Pardon me, but what the heck is going on at DOJ?'
Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month that FBI officials were poring through 'tens of thousands' of videos related to Epstein and would make more materials public once they took steps to protect the victims.
In the same Fox News interview, Bongino and Patel said they had been briefed on the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in July and there was no explosive conspiracy to be revealed.
'In some of these cases, the 'there' you're looking for is not there,' Bongino said.
Skepticism among 'deep state' believers
Bongino appeared to try to throw a bone to Trump's base this week when he announced the agency would reopen some prominent cases that have attracted public interest. He said the FBI would investigate the planting of pipe bombs found near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the leak of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson draft opinion in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023.
But it wasn't enough for everyone who weighed in on his X account.
'Anything to detract from the Epstein files,' one user replied to his announcement. 'No results,' wrote another.
In an interview Thursday on 'Fox & Friends,' Bongino teased that the FBI would soon release video captured outside Epstein's jail cell and materials related to Trump's attempted assassination.
He said he understands the public's demands for transparency but called for patience and noted not all information is the FBI's to declassify. That didn't satisfy everyone who wants answers to the conspiracy theories.
'I am convinced that the deep state can only be defeated by God at this point,' Philip Anderson, a right-wing influencer who participated in the riot at the Capitol, wrote Thursday on X. 'Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi are completely useless.'
Promoting conspiracy theories as a tactic to distract
All the while, Trump has continued promoting conspiracy theories on his Truth Social platform and elsewhere.
He shared a video this month about mysterious deaths allegedly being linked to the Clinton family and an image of himself with former President Barack Obama with the text, 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT MILITARY TRIBUNALS.'
Ophir, the University at Buffalo professor, said it's a tactic that distracts Trump's base and helps inoculate him from criticism.
'When something good happens, it's because Trump is great and his agenda is brilliant,' Ophir said. 'When something bad happens, it's because of the Obamas or the Clintons or whatever forces are undermining him from within Washington.'
Trump this week fueled newer theories, without sharing evidence, that Biden's use of a mechanical device called an autopen during his presidency meant he didn't sign his executive orders willingly or that aides profited from controlling it. He has called for people who operated it to be charged with 'TREASON.'
The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden's aides covered up his mental and physical decline. Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents.
'Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
At least one user of his platform was unimpressed and questioned why Trump and his allies, holding all the power, still didn't have any answers.
'IF IT'S EASY,' the commenter posted. 'WHY HASN'T YOUR ADMINISTRATION FOUND THESE CRIMINAL'S ALREADY.'
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The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about the AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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