As of recently, Elon Musk has been making headlines with his increasingly frequent posting of conservative comments on social media. The billionaire recently sounded off on a headline from a New York Times opinion piece that described government bureaucracy, which conservatives have colloquially labeled “the deep state,” in a positive light.
Responding to the New York Times headline, which reads, “It turns out the ‘Deep State’ is actually kind of awesome, Elon wrote on his social media platform X, “They are the mouthpiece of the state.” Another user commented under Musk adding, “we went from “deep state doesn’t exist” to “deep state is actually kind of awesome.”
The outlet also released a video alongside the op-ed claiming these “public enemies” within U.S. government organizations, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are just ordinary Americans pursuing a career. The article further warned about GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who has often campaigned on ideas such as gutting the deep state.
The piece calls on readers to celebrate the phrase “deep state” instead of viewing it in a negative light, as so many Americans do. It further describes these “public servants” as “superheroes” committed to an unwavering dedication to the interests of America.
“When we hear “deep state,” instead of recoiling, we should rally,” it states. “We should think about the workers otherwise known as our public servants, the everyday superheroes who wake up ready to dedicate their careers and their lives to serving us. These are the Americans we employ. Even though their work is often invisible, it makes our lives better.”
The article then calls out former President Trump’s rhetoric geared toward the mass-firing of unelected bureaucrats. “But if Donald Trump is re-elected and enacts Schedule F, that could change. He would have the power to eviscerate the so-called deep state and replace our public servants with people who work for him, not us. In the video above, you’ll meet a few of our hard-working American public servants, and we hope you’ll agree that they’re not scary at all. In fact, they’re kind of awesome,” it continued.
Schedule F refers to a prior Trump Executive Order, which is no longer in effect, which would reclassify tens of thousands of civil servants whose roles are considered influential to policy as “schedule f” employees. This would essentially make them at-will employees and, therefore, easier to fire.
Conservatives often criticize the concept of the “deep state,” claiming these unelected bureaucrats seek to undermine the policy initiatives of elected officials. Some legal interpretations even consider unelected civil servants influencing policy to be unlawful.
The America Tribune reported last year on comments from former President Donald Trump where he vowed to “obliterate” the deep state if reelected. “With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the war mongers… We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists. We will throw off the political class that hates our country … We will beat the Democrats. We will rout the fake news media. We will expose and appropriately deal with the Rinos [Republicans in name only]. We will evict Joe Biden from the White House. And we will liberate America from these villains and scoundrels once and for all,” Trump said.
"*" indicates required fields