slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Sonam Sheth, Business Insider

President Donald Trump's shocking decision to fire the FBI director, James Comey, on Tuesday set off one of the most tumultuous weeks in his young administration. Critics on both sides of the aisle blasted the president for firing the man who was overseeing an investigation into whether he or his associates colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 p**********l e******n.

But Trump's most dedicated supporters see things a little differently. To them, Trump's decision to fire Comey was a welcome sign of a democratically elected president striking back at the American "deep state" — a theory asserting that there is a shadow network of government officials, politicians, and intelligence agents who are covertly working to undermine Trump's agenda and ultimately o*******w him.

Though there is no credible evidence of an American deep state, talks of it have been widespread on far-right news outlets like InfoWars and Breitbart. They've also found a home among Fox News host Sean Hannity, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Rep. Steve King of Iowa.

As evidence of their theory, supporters of the idea of an American deep state often point to leaks of classified information, saying members of the intelligence community are working with the "mainstream media" to take Trump down and install a new leader.

As a result, intelligence agencies such as the CIA, the NSA, and the FBI are often the targets of Trump supporters' ire. To them, Comey's firing represented not a move that Trump himself had seemed to concede was at least in part politically motivated, but a critical strike against a growing deep state.

This reaction from Trump's most stalwart supporters isn't all that surprising, according to Glenn Carle, a national-security expert who is a former CIA clandestine-services officer.

"It's likely Trump supporters who believe in an American deep state will view Comey's firing as the president pushing back at an intelligence community working to undermine him," Carle told Business Insider.

"In their mind, they don't see [Comey's] firing as the president, yet again, undermining the independence of democratic institutions," Carle added. "They see it as the opposite — as Trump fighting back against these supposedly secret efforts to undermine him."

InfoWars founder Alex Jones said as much during his Wednesday broadcast.

"Comey was c*********d and had been c*********d for a long time," Jones told his millions of followers. "And was being clearly manipulated by deep-state sources to try to exert pressure onto the White House to have the White House carry out the deep state's political aims with this whole f**e Russia narrative, that if they didn't basically do what John McCain and others wanted, they would continue on with hearings and try to impeach the president."

"Deep State Pushes C**p Against Trump Over Comey Firing," blared an InfoWars headline after Comey's ouster. The article said the deep state was using Comey's firing as the "casus belli" to o*******w Trump.

"This is the first step in President Trump draining the deep-state swamp," Hannity said in his opening monologue Tuesday night, just hours after Trump fired Comey. "James Comey, the former FBI director, is a national embarrassment. Frankly, he’s very lucky President Trump kept him around this long."

The theory enjoyed widespread among Trump's base of support. "Firing Comey was a brave decision, a deep blow to the deep state," one person commented on a Breitbart article. That line of thought also picked up steam on Twitter.

kemmer

Trump has about as much business in the WH as your local Clark pest control guy.

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

The pest control is no longer needed...the "cockroach Obama"...has vacated the White House already...

Ricko Loc: Florida

Slatten-there is absolutely no doubt that Comey needed to be fired. However, I disagree with how it was done. First, he should have been fired on day one. Second-barring that action-president Trump should have personally met with him and asked for his resignation. This was mishandled by the Trump people but only because Trump did not give them enough time to prepare a cogent message for the public. Trump needs to slow down and recognize that, unlike the business world, government works at a snail's pace. He is too far ahead of the curve and will
continue to make stupid mistakes unless he backs-off and starts engaging mind before opening mouth. I know he wants to get things done quickly but it will not happen as long as the democrats are in a full obstruction mode. I particularly disliked the idea of the termination occuring when Comey was out of town on a trip. Someone should
have alerted the president of where the director was as it could have changed the timing of the firing. Haste makes waste and hopefully, the president will learn a valuable lesson from this Gaffe. America First !!!

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

That would make Obama and the DNC prescient - for knowing all those years ago that Trump would win - even before he announced his candidacy.

Do paranoiacs have a message board somewhere?

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Wow, a prescient president. Who'd have thunk it