Chris Spencer

Draining the Swamp? Is that even possible?

An Analysis of Dwight Eisenhower's and Joe Biden's Ominous Warnings, Assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK

Eisenhower's farewell address was less a goodbye and more a dire warning wrapped in a well-tailored suit beware the military-industrial complex, or it will eat democracy for breakfast. If you've ever wondered why we've got a massive military, a gargantuan intelligence apparatus, and endless wars, Ike wasn't just whistling past the graveyard. The deep state was born on his watch, as the Cold War made paranoia the new national pastime, and every shadow was a communist. But Eisenhower knew that once the gears of war and surveillance are oiled, they start grinding democracy into dust.

Then came the JFK, MLK, and RFK murders trifecta of political assassinations aimed at rocking the nation to its knees and pointing out the seamiest aspects of the U.S. government. If you like the official version of history, JFK was killed by a lone nut with a rifle, and so was MLK, while RFK was stopped by another lone nut with a grudge. Scratch that surface, and you realize perhaps, just perhaps, that something's a bit too tidy. How handy for the powers that be when those annoying men with ideas like civil rights and anti-war start keeping their mouths shut permanently. Coincidence? Or textbook case of weaponized government?

Government violence, deception, and cover-up didn't stop with the assassinations. It became the new normal, with covert ops running so deep you'd need a shovel to discover the truth. JFK wanted to end the Cold War, MLK wished to end the Vietnam War, and RFK wanted to dismantle the very systems of power that had eliminated his brothers. That is to say, in other words, they tried to do precisely what Eisenhower warned us not to do: mess with the military-industrial complex and pay the price. The message couldn't have been more explicit: challenge the status quo, and we'll make you a martyr, not a hero.

Dawn of Weaponized "Intelligence" Services: Counterintelligence During Vietnam under LBJ, Nixon

Under LBJ, the Vietnam War was not fought only in the jungles but also inside the corridors of power. Anti-war protesters had counterintelligence officers tailing them as they attempted to infiltrate American dissent itself. The U.S. government went Orwellian, making surveillance an art by spying on activists as if they were enemy combatants. Meanwhile, the CIA was busy planting "informants" within the peace movement as a nice way of creating a web of suspicion, fear, and disinformation. It's a bad game of "Who's That Undercover Agent?", with America being the mark in this little number. Then came Nixon, who, if the lore is to be believed, brought that term "dirty tricks" to a new, disturbing level. Watergate was about much more than breaking into the Democratic National Committee; it was about weaponizing the intelligence agencies to cover up criminality and consolidate power. When Nixon left office, the intelligence services had grown far beyond what was intended by the Founding Fathers, free to spy on political opponents and average Americans who didn't believe the government's version of things. The truth?

Nixon did not get caught in a scandal; he got caught using the CIA, FBI, and NSA as his army of spies. It was the dawn of the modern surveillance state, where every phone call, protest, and potential enemy of the state was a target. As much as the Vietnam War may have been a quagmire for military engagements, it proved to be a resounding victory for weaponized intelligence. Whether you were protesting for peace or secretly hoping to bring down the government, the CIA and FBI had a special place for you in their files. After all, how else could the government ensure that power was never rechallenged? By the time Nixon left office, it was evident that weaponized intelligence had become so deeply embedded in American society that no one could be sure who was being watched, who was in charge, or who was calling the shots. LBJ may have escalated the war in Vietnam, but it was Nixon who unleashed a new era of surveillance, turning the state into an omnipresent, omnipotent force.

It was a change so fundamental that by the 1970s, the government wasn't just in your business—it was in your head, shaping the very narratives of truth and dissent.

The Apogee of Weaponized Government: The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Obama CIA, NSA, DHS, TSA

Fast-forward to the early 2000s. The U.S. government, freshly scarred by 9/11, went full Orwellian. Under the auspices of national security, the CIA, NSA, and DHS became the perfect domestic and foreign surveillance dream team. The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld trifecta and their loyal partners in crime, Obama, and the continuing growth of the surveillance state all culminated in this perfect storm of spy-on-your-neighbor hysteria.

Enter the Patriot Act, the NDAA, and AUMF: the legal mumbo-jumbo that made all this possible, all packaged and pretty, nicely wrapped up under the rubrics of "freedom" and "security." The Patriot Act didn't simply grant the federal government the right to start eavesdropping on telephone calls; they could do almost anything under that banner of "counterterrorism." The NDAA took it one step further, granting the government powers to put you behind bars without trial or charges and to hell with due process. And, of course, the AUMF—Authorization for Use of Military Force—which became a license to perpetual war, both at home and abroad.

That this entire apparatus was signed into law by George W. Bush and maintained by Barack Obama speaks volumes about bipartisan deference to the intelligence-industrial complex. These laws didn't just permit overreach; they institutionalized it. If the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration made certain that Americans weren't just being surveilled abroad, they were being surveyed at home every time they stepped on an airplane, walked into a federal building, or even boarded a bus. That America could be a land of total surveillance yet freedom.

Well, that was the perfect paradox of an empire in denial. It wasn't just about catching terrorists; it was about turning America into a permanent security state wherein fear, suspicion, and surveillance became the new norm. The CIA and NSA, under Bush, Cheney, and later Obama, became so powerful that they had more influence than some foreign governments. As we learned from the Edward Snowden revelations, it wasn't just the bad guys getting spied on; it was you, me, and everyone with a cellphone.

But hey, it's all to protect you, right?

By the time he left office, the intelligence agencies had evolved into a shadow government with their agenda, divorced from the will of the people and the checks and balances intended to restrain it. The fact that Bush's policies didn't merely survive but actually expanded under Obama—well, that's democracy at work if democracy means that the same policies are handed over like a baton in some never-ending race to control the populace.

The Herpes Nature of the Patriot Act, NDAA 1021 & 1022, and the AUMF

The Patriot Act is like a herpes outbreak; you think you finally got rid of it once and for all, but it keeps coming back in some new form and with less explanation.

The NDAA 1021 and 1022, giving the green light to indefinite detention, was the perfect follow-up to the Patriot Act's magic trick of turning "freedom" into a fuzzy concept easily swallowed by the "War on Terror." It's a lingering infection in the body politic, one that resurfaces whenever the government needs a new reason to spy, detain, and generally violate your rights. No matter who's in charge, these laws do not disappear into thin air. They become a war that has never ended, and no one wants. Yes, politicians make promises to "reform" them, but we all know that's about as good as putting a Band-Aid on an open wound and calling it cured. Like that piece of chewing gum stuck to the sole of the nation's shoe, the Patriot Act, NDAA, and AUMF are inconvenient, sticky, and won't let go. And every time a new crisis comes up, voilà. They are again there, waiting to expand their reach and power. The beauty of this parasitic legislation? It thrives under the smoke screens of "national security" and "the greater good." After all, who would argue against the stopping of terrorists? So, while you are watching the latest political circus, rest assured that the Patriot Act is out there, lurking in the shadows, making sure the government can keep tabs on you for your safety.

You may think you've forgotten about it, but it's always lurking, waiting for the next opportunity to rear its ugly head.

With the NDAA and AUMF, it's not just about spying—it's about full-spectrum control.

Indefinite detention? Check. Suspension of due process? Check. The kind of power that makes the Founding Fathers spin in their graves. Triple check. All of this has one simple purpose: to ensure that anyone who dares challenge the system gets quietly whisked away into the machinery of the state.

Will Trump take down the weaponized intelligence apparatus, or does it just go dormant?

When President Trump promised to drain the swamp, he wasn't clear if it meant the bureaucracy in Washington or the sprawling intelligence apparatus that had become a central force in American governance. But besides the bombast, the dismantling of the surveillance state, the military-industrial complex, and the deep state required rather more than a couple of executive orders. It is like promising to clean out the Augean stables without a shovel—there is too much manure piled up, and most of it has been here for decades.

But hey, if anyone could make a show of challenging the system, it would be the man who claimed he could "shoot someone on 5th Avenue" and still win the election. The problem with dismantling an entity like the CIA or NSA is that they don't exactly file their powers with Congress. It's a vast, unaccountable network of operatives, contractors, and spies operating in the shadows, and what happens in the shadows stays in the shadows until someone in power drags it into the light. For Trump, that meant a careful balance between confrontation and capitulation, mainly regarding intelligence agencies.

He could tweet about draining the swamp, but it had its swamp creatures, and many of them worked for agencies far more entrenched than his administration could ever hope to dismantle. The most potent obstacle Trump faced was reaching out and pulling a power plug from a constantly charging device. The energy keeps flowing no matter how many times you pull it out. The CIA, NSA, and FBI serve not just the President; they form part of an entrenched power structure that operates independently of any one man. The intelligence community isn't some monolithic bureaucratic residue; it's an organism that breathes and changes, and however you cut it, it has a dog in this race on the issue of hanging onto its power.

So, when Trump periodically rattles his saber against the intelligence community, many people wonder, is he trying to weaken it, or is he just trying to get a seat at the table? This complicated the question of whether Trump could really "drain the swamp" or if he would enter it as another participant because beneath the surface of the swamp was already weaponized. Laws, powers, and surveillance mechanisms expanded by Bush and Obama were not just created due to a few politicians' deeds but insinuated into the very fabric of the nation's security apparatus.

Trump may have made some headlines moves against what he perceives as enemies of the intelligence community (hello, Comey), but gutting that system takes more than a few Twitter tantrums and spewing political rhetoric. So, what's the point? Maybe a president supposedly opposed to an intelligence community somehow finds himself (or herself, for that matter) still enabled by it. Maybe Trump could not wholly dismantle the deep state because the deep state doesn't work for any one man; it works for itself. The powers that be are so entrenched that even if Trump pulled a "Washington and the cherry tree" moment, it's hard to fathom the intelligence apparatus just packing up and going home.

It would adapt and continue on its mission, perhaps even flip allegiance to whoever comes out on top, all while scanning the horizon for the next big crisis that calls for more surveillance, control, and intervention. Did Trump drain the swamp, or merely dip his toes into it while carefully avoiding the crocodiles still swimming beneath the surface? Truth is somewhere in the middle of all this. The swamp's there—hovering, lingering, lurking around. And surveillance and control machinery does not vanish overnight. When a populistic president utters his claim of "Making America Great again," if ever, it could have been perhaps merely in limbo, on a backbench waiting for the right timing to leap forward, massive, more effective, and overpowering than anything it ever created. The intelligence agencies did not have to be "dismantled" by a single person who had been quietly dismantling democracy for decades. They knew how to wait.

And they knew how to strike.

The Herpes Nature of the Patriot Act, NDAA, and AUMF-It Keeps Giving, Giving, and Giving

Some things in life do not go away. Then, there is the Patriot Act, NDAA, and AUMF—none of those were some fad; those are the herpes of American lawmaking. You thought they'd disappeared after the 2000s? Not on your life. They're back with each wave of crisis. Every new threat to the nation, mark my words, those laws come back into play and expand in scope.

The only change is in the rhetoric that each new "war" on terror, drugs, or whatever slightly threatening issue there is brings the executive branch. Congress isn't shy about letting it be passed. It is not just the permanence of the laws that is scary; it's their ability to remain hidden in plain sight. With every President coming into power, there's a slight change in rhetoric but not machinery. Still humming along like a well-oiled machine. And why wouldn't it? No matter how much we gripe about these laws, they provide the government with unlimited powers in the name of national security. The detention, surveillance, and elimination of threats, real or imagined, are all done with impunity, and still, they keep on giving.

Like the gift that keeps giving, but this is one present we never asked for. The beauty of the Patriot Act and its evil offspring is that they can be expanded or reinterpreted under any new administration. Yes, we had a few moments of outrage, but the real power doesn't reside in public opinion; it resides in how the intelligence agencies can operate inside the legal framework of these laws. Don't bother with the details.

Just know that the next time another "emergency" strikes, these laws will be trotted out, ready to justify the erosion of your rights all over again. And let's not forget the NDAA's provisions regarding indefinite detention. Indefinite detention sounds scary until you realize it has been codified in law for several years. Ask yourself: how many people have been detained under the laws passed "for your good" but now live in legal limbo, never seeing the light of due process?

The answer is far too many, and they will continue to be added to the list every time a new crisis is created.

The Shadow Government Doesn't Want You to Know It's There

It is easy to get caught up in the drama of political theater—the left and right hurling accusations at each other as if this is just some high-stakes reality show. But the actual game is happening behind the scenes, where the intelligence agencies have become the true rulers of the land. They're not left or right. They're not Democrat or Republican. They're the third, silent power getting stronger with each crisis, with each new law that "protects" us from enemies we cannot see. Senator Frank Church even believed he had dismantled the Deep State with a Grilling. State Grellings are pointless exercises in which one lightly taps a child on the rear and sends him into the kitchen to steal cookies.

The Intelligence Services own the belt, the cookie jar, and both parents; ditto for the Deep State, The Media, and the Three Branches of Government.

The military-industrial complex and its intelligence arm do not follow the same rules. Term limits do not restrict them, nor do they answer to the whims of one President or the capricious winds of public opinion. With every election cycle, change becomes the myth while the forces at play become stronger, pulling the reins on power, control, and surveillance. And while we may applaud Trump's efforts to shake things up, the reality is that deconstructing the intelligence-industrial complex is not just difficult—it is, in fact, impossible. It is not about who is President. It is about a system designed to perpetuate itself, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. So, the next time someone says to you that "change is coming," remember: the only thing that's changing is the packaging.

And it does not drain; instead, it morphs, adapts, and waits for the next opportunity to remind you that it is still there, waiting, lurking just below the surface.

And then the cycle repeats. And do not forget the truism: some things are much more challenging to remove than they are to merely wait out. The next President? They may work within the same system, only with a new face.

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An Analysis of Dwight Eisenhower's and Joe Biden's Ominous Warnings, Assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK https://olivebiodiesel.com/Draining-the-Swamp.html
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