For the most part, the small press freedom community has made the case for Assange and Snowden on the grounds of the First Amendment, press freedom, and government transparency. Yet the campaign to convince Trump to pardon Snowden and Assange has also attracted a strange group of extreme Trump supporters. They argue that pardoning the two men offers Trump the opportunity to stick it to the so-called deep state.
The "deep state" is, of course, the mythical beast at the heart of so many of Trump's conspiracy theories. Trump believes that a secret cabal of intelligence and national security officials has been trying to destroy him personally since at least the 2016 campaign.
It is important for press freedom advocates to steer clear of these deep state conspiracy theories and instead continue to argue for the pardons on the merits of press freedom. Indulging in Trump's fantasies in order to win the pardons will only taint the cause of press freedom in the future.
It's important for press freedom advocates to steer clear of deep state conspiracy theories and instead continue to argue for the pardons on the merits of press freedom.
As a journalist, I have spent much of my career covering, exposing, and criticizing the American national security establishment. Let there be no mistake: There is, in fact, a massive U.S. military-industrial complex, and a newer post-9/11 homeland security-industrial complex. Those two complexes overlap, comprising career military, intelligence, and federal law enforcement officials, executives at giant defense companies, and legions of smaller defense and intelligence contractors, as well as career political figures -- who take top positions in the defense and intelligence agencies when their party is in power, and become consultants or think-tank pundits when their party is out of power.
The military-industrial complex and the newer homeland security-industrial complex tend to support expansionist American national security and foreign policies, and since 9/11 have pushed for a continuation of American military involvement in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They are driven by greed and power, and they believe that endless war is good for business. As I wrote in "Pay Any Price," my 2014 book, "America has become accustomed to a permanent state of war. Only a small slice of society -- including many poor and rural teenagers -- fight and die, while a permanent national security elite rotates among senior government posts, contracting companies, think tanks and television commentary, opportunities that would disappear if America was suddenly at peace. To most of America, war has become not only tolerable but profitable, and so there is no longer any great incentive to end it."
What's more, the national security establishment's power stems in part from its ability to suppress the truth about its activities at home and abroad, and thus it seeks to punish whistleblowers and journalists who try to disclose the truth. The CIA, the NSA, and other elements of the national security apparatus frequently apply pressure on the Justice Department and the White House to prosecute whistleblowers who disclose their abuses.
I have had firsthand experience with this ugly phenomenon.
But acknowledging the gravitational pull of a militaristic national security establishment toward war and imperialism doesn't mean that you believe in the existence of a deep state, as imagined by Trump and his allies.
Demagogues like Trump are dangerously effective at taking bits of truth and weaving conspiracy theories out of them. Trump has taken the truth about the existence of a military-industrial complex and twisted it into a conspiracy theory that claims that the military-industrial complex is actually a deep state out to destroy him personally. It is conspiracy theory victimology taken to its most extreme.
Among Trump's ardent supporters, talk of a deep state often quickly descends into the madness of vile, rambling QAnon conspiracy theories.
Right-wing pundits and pro-Trump political figures, many of whom were longtime supporters of the government's draconian counterterrorism measures instituted after 9/11, including the NSA's illegal domestic spying program, suddenly became skeptics of the national security establishment when Trump began to complain about the investigation, conducted first by the FBI and later by special counsel Robert Mueller, into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collaboration by the Trump campaign. Trump's claims that he has been the victim of a "witch hunt," a "hoax" investigation perpetrated against him by the deep state, have been the central theme of his conspiracy theory-laden presidency. And so ardent Trump supporters who accepted Trump's deep state conspiracy theories now view pardons for Assange and Snowden through the "Russia hoax" narrative.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).