Excellent (h/t Powerline): Who Believes in Russiagate? Knowledgeable reporters on the left and right are frightened by the spread of an elite conspiracy theory among American media
If you think Russiagate is real, then you will probably conclude that Sessions, Prince, and Page are all part of a single, monstrous criminal conspiracy—and that Adam Entous is one of the most important journalists in American history, an indefatigable shoe-leather reporter who helped whistleblowers inside the federal government put the truth before the American public, like Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and Neil Sheehan combined. If you think the collusion story is nonsense, then Entous is just a political operative with a convenient byline. And if you think Russiagate is a campaign of political warfare waged in the shadows by bureaucrats who violated the privacy of American citizens in order to undo election results they disagreed with, then Entous is something worse—an asset whom sectors of the intelligence community have come to rely on in order to manipulate the public.
My theory is that the "deep state" and "inside Washington" were determined to save the country and their careers from the lunatic Trump who obviously had no clue about how "inside Washington" works - and didn't even care. In many ways, Trump had lived in a bigger world than they ever had, a world of national and international commerce, media, sports, beautiful girls, and real estate. He took the blows, was knocked down many times, always got back up - and knew how to manage media. He always knew that politicians were low, devious people like him, but easily manipulated.
I believe that many laws were broken in the process of preventing Trump, in the confidence that they could drag Hillary across the finish line. That did not happen, and Freak-out ensued. However, blowing up "Inside Washington" is part of why Trump was elected.
The "Imperial City" is elite, arrogant, ingrown, bien-pansant, too social, and too wealthy. They only talk to each other, and they are all dependent on highly-paid government jobs. Had I the power, I would move every federal agency to a different middle-sized city, and just keep State and Defense in the DC area. DC was built on a Potomac swamp, is a swamp entirely disconnected from regular people.
Trump, with his countless flaws, was the only answer for us peasants. He had to be knee-capped at least. And there we find ourselves.
