Don't let the medium distract from the message: Trump just declared war on America's intelligence agencies

Trump is going all-in.

He realizes that he can't last four years against a system that is determined to maintain the current trajectory of U.S. foreign and domestic policy — endless war coupled with slow national suicide.

He has to move fast now

We imagine he attempted to "work" with the system — or at least make the system work for him. In other words: Fewer wars, better relations with Russia, "America first" — and everyone gets to keep their jobs.

That's not how it panned out.

Trump is now going public: The Deep State is after him. Obama tapped his phones before the election. And by "Obama", we of course mean the NSA.

It's clear that Trump always knew what had to be done — he just didn't follow through fast enough.

Earlier this month he purged the infamous 7th floor "shadow government" at the State Department.

It wasn't enough.

It's open warfare from here on out. If Trump doesn't act quickly, he's looking at a very, very short term.

As the always even-handed Dr. Doctorow wrote just the other day:

Those with a conspiratorial turn of mind have long spoken of The Deep State, which ensures continuity of policy whatever the results of our elections. Let us be specific: the problem, such as it is, resides in the intelligence services, namely the CIA and FBI, in the Pentagon and in the State Department. The first two functional bureaucracies are very aptly called the “power ministries” in Russia. State is said to have been purged at its policy-making “seventh floor” during the week of Secretary Tillerson’s European travels. However, the text that was placed before the totally inexperienced Ambassador Haley for delivery in the Security Council shows that not all the “bad hombres” have been sent packing. The purge of the CIA and Pentagon has not even begun. The ability and willingness of the CIA and Pentagon to sabotage presidential policy was clearly proven last September when a promising collaboration between Secretary of State Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov over a cease-fire in Syria was torn to shreds by an “accidental” attack by US and Allied fighter jets on a government outpost at Deir ez-Zor that killed nearly 100 Syrian soldiers, very likely including embedded Russian military advisors. If these recalcitrant Cold Warriors in America’s “power ministries” remain untouched, they will be in a position to create provocations at any time of their choosing to override Trump’s planned détente policies. And that would be child’s play, given the close proximity of US and Russian forces in Ukraine, in Syria, in the Baltic States, on the Baltic Sea and on the Black Sea. Given the poor state of relations and the minimal trust between Russia and the US-led West, any accident in these areas could quickly escalate.

Remember: Trump's first move after being inaugurated was a visit to Langley, where he offered to remove the "columns" from the CIA.

It's no longer an offer: He'll have to do it by force.

There's probably no going back at this point.

Unsettling. Even frightening. But finally, a glimmer of real hope.