Outgoing CIA director John Brennan slammed this language, saying, “I think he has to be mindful that he does not have a full appreciation and understanding of what the implications are of going down that road.” The comment appears to have increased the antagonism between Trump and agencies, and has probably led to some of the information being released — but so has his unusually close relationship to a foreign entity with a vested interest in his election.
But that is more in line with traditional disgruntled government agency behavior. Where is Trump getting this paranoid “deep state” stuff?
Stone has been Trump’s political whisperer for decades, at one point holding a leadership role in his 2016 presidential campaign, and continues to be a trusted adviser to this day. Stone has written several conspiracy minded books, including one blaming President Lyndon Johnson for orchestrating the murder of President John F. Kennedy. Stone also backed Trump’s bizarre allegation that Senator Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the JFK assassination.
But Jones is the conspiracy mother lode: He described himself as one of the “founding fathers” of the so-called “9/11 truth movement,” which claims that the 9/11 terror attacks were executed by the government of the United States. Jones believes that the government — aka the “deep state” — has orchestrated attacks and events throughout history. This includes the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, the massacre at Sandy Hook (he claims that many of the parents were actors), the Boston Marathon attack, and on and on.
Trump praised Jones for having an “amazing” reputation when he appeared on his show, and reportedly told him he was “one of the greatest influences I’ve ever seen” in a personal telephone conversation. According to Jones, he and Trump have kept in contact for months via phone conversations.
The mind-meld was cemented with Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination as he declared war on “globalism” — the overarching idea, steeped in anti-Semitism and which Jones has promoted for decades, of a vast conspiracy of wealthy, powerful “globalists” who are the hidden, invisible hands behind world events and who manipulate them in service of accumulating personal power and wealth.
Jones claimed the election would be “rigged,” and Trump ran with the idea. Jones called Obama “the founding general” of ISIS, then Trump said Obama and Hillary Clinton were the “founder” and “co-founder” of the terrorist group. And on and on.
Jones was overjoyed that Trump won, but in language that Trump is now echoing with his theorizing about the “deep state” and unfounded allegations of wiretapping by President Obama, Jones claimed that Obama and the CIA were working on a plot to have Trump killed.