Raging against the supposed “deep state” in Washington has long been one of President Donald Trump’s favorite pastimes. Borrowed from Turkey, that loaded term has become a catch-phrase among the MAGA faithful for the idea that the intelligence community is subverting Trump.

Some of Trump’s loathing for the deep state is certainly well-earned. Senior IC holdovers from former President Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House made little effort to hide their loathing for the commander in chief. This culminated in the dishonest framing by former IC officials of Hunter Biden’s notorious “laptop from hell” as Russian disinformation.

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Still, Trump appears to possess much more faith in another country’s deep state, namely Israel’s.

The intelligence backstory to our current Iran war alongside Israel, what the Pentagon terms Operation Epic Fury, remains opaque. That’s normal to a degree, because any detailed IC assessments of Iran’s nuclear program and combat capabilities are highly classified. It’s apparent, nevertheless, that Trump and his inner circle disregarded American intelligence in the run-up to our bombing of Iran. That war, in tandem with the Israeli military, commenced on Feb. 28.

Trump’s relationship with our intelligence agencies remains troubled. While CIA Director John Ratcliffe seems to be at the White House every day, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has all but disappeared. West Wing........

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