Among sober conservatives, there’s concern about Democrats (hello Ben Rhodes) and the media, and now, the “Deep State” (a newly popular term to describe the intelligence community and entrenched bureaucracy) colluding to “politically assassinate” NSC Advisor Mike Flynn.  There’s less talk about establishment Republicans being in league with the aforementioned ne’er-do-wells.

Bill Kristol is Exhibit “A.” Here’s what he wrote today:

Obviously strongly prefer normal democratic and constitutional politics. But if it comes to it, prefer the deep state to the Trump state.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 14, 2017

So this established Republican voice would rather that unelected bureaucrats have the power over our nation than the voters who expressed their will by electing Donald Trump.

Kristol is not alone. Two Republican senators would like to dig deeper into this Russian nefariousness.

Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) — the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee — joined calls by incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Armed Services ranking Democrat Jack Reed (R.I.) for a thorough, bipartisan investigation of Russian influence in the U.S. elections. Their statement came two days after The Washington Post reported the CIA’s private conclusion that Russia’s activities were intended to tip the scales to help Trump. [emphasis added]

Both McCain and Graham know that the Russians did not create a fraudulent election. They’re willing, though, to extend this story, if it weakens the Republican President, who does not share their personal national security goals.

What might those goals be? Well, these Republicans were some of many who seemed a whole lot more inclined to favor a Democrat like Hillary Clinton, the woman who mismanaged the State Department. They issued nary a peep throughout the misguided Obama adventurism throughout the Middle East. No commissions on Russian influence were put forth during Barack Obama’s secret Iran negotiating.

While Obama was aiding and abetting a coup in Egypt, lighting a conflagration in Libya, and ignoring red lines in Syria — Kristol, McCain, and Graham were silent.

The actions of Comey’s FBI were deeply suspect yet not enough to motivate leading Republicans to oust him. It would be better for the Republic if he were tossed out on his ear. That may be true of much of our intelligence establishment. Things aren’t going so great.

Intelligence officers have interviewed multiple home-grown terrorists for months before letting them go… to terrorize. They ignored warnings from other countries (hello Tsarnaevs) about terrorists.

There’s no question that they have a difficult job. It’s easy to second guess these folks. Nearly every important decision is a complicated judgment call. For these reasons, there have not been lengthy public diatribes by journalists covering these institutions generally and agents in particular. It’s tough work. Citizens get it, too.

However.

Important data has been missed. Terrorists who should have been stopped, weren’t. Warning signs were ignored. There seems to be a lot of work to be done internally to correct some of these errors in judgment.

Overseas, the judgments are even more suspect. Repeatedly, the Obama administration, including the State Department and CIA, has been involved in questionable foreign activities meddling where things were better left alone. Who, for example, in their right minds sides with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? Who thinks that’s a good idea? Who is complicit with the assassination of a U.S. asset like Qaddafi? Who would rather have a Muslim Brotherhood stooge over Hosni Mubarak?

Who does all that while staying mute when the people of Iran try to assert themselves for freedom? Who does all that while refusing to buck the President and suggest leaving American forces in Iraq to maintain peace?

I remember the foreign policy geniuses tweeting idealistically about the “Arab Spring” and how Democracy would save these countries. At the time, it seemed absurdly naive. When I expressed doubt, I was accused of siding with dictators.

None of these silly-heads acknowledge their part in supporting the destabilization and destruction. None of them were chastened by their soft-headedness and have blundered on — suggesting that the United States support this or that group in Syria. Never mind that the United States is put in the absurd position of arming terrorists. Never mind that the spillover from the conflict destabilizes formerly stable countries. Never mind causing the deaths of thousands and creating a refugee crisis.

These same people want to maintain the status quo. The status quo is a schizophrenic mish-mash of conflicting aims that puts the United States on a collision course with nearly everyone. Meanwhile, Russia, Iran, and China have moved into the vacuum that President Obama’s administration caused.

Republicans like Kristol, McCain, and Graham stayed silent.

Donald Trump is rightly thinking that some changes need to be made to this farce of a foreign policy. Whether Mike Flynn was the man to implement these changes best can’t be known. No matter, now he’s gone.

It’s the change and the threat of lost power within the State Department, FBI, CIA, and National Security Council that have lifetime bureaucrats, old-time Senators, the courts, and even some aides in the West Wing going for the kill shot. If they can wound the Trump presidency, they can control their pre-ordained and favored course.

They do this without even considering how they’re yanking the threads, handfuls at a time, out of the fabric of our constitutional Republic.

America is not Europe. She’s never been a country governed by the few, the disdainful, the elite. America has been a country governed by and for the people. This system brings its own troubles, and yes, its own Obamas, but the country is resilient and the pendulum swings.

The American people gave the pendulum a massive shove in the other direction and guys like John McCain and Bill Kristol and the judges of the 9th Circuit believe they’re saving the Republic by undermining the institutions they claim to uphold.

They’re wrong. They’re part of the problem.

Western Civilization is flabby and diseased. The American experiment is not as robust as it once was. The Establishment believes they’re saving the Republic corpus by excising Trump tumor. As usual, though, their carelessness is causing further hemorrhaging.

What if they succeed in destroying Trump, leaving the Deep State to rule all? Well, it will be like the old surgeon’s adage and J.M. Murdock quote, “The operation was a success, but the patient died.”

The Republican establishment has always been good at cutting their nose off to spite their face. In this case, they’re likely to come out of this scalpel wielding with something worse than a scarred face — if they, if we, survive it at all.