The self-preservation instincts of the United States government would be difficult for the most imaginative fantasy writer to overestimate. This is an institution that kept a fleet of custom-made aircraft on continuous airborne watch for 30 years, just in case all the secret backups to the secret backups of the underground operations centers were simultaneously destroyed, so that it would absolutely never lose the capability to end all life on earth.

Do you really think there aren't an infinite number of heavily armed spooks ready to materialize from the ground under Washington, D.C. on a moment's notice? Do you really the think the agencies they work for all officially exist? Do you think they haven't been there since at least Reagan?

There were fires near the White House. The leviathan is starting to feel a little bit threatened. Now if these guys are actually mixing it up with protestors I will be deeply worried. But while they are just a small presence on the sidelines, standing at at attention in their G-Man sunglasses and coiled earpieces, I will be reassured that the deep state functions exactly as I expect it to.