# Did the US secret police fail in its duty of maintaining regime stability during the 2016 election? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 21, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548 "2018-05-21T10:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/1 "2018-05-21T10:31:28Z")
Bit of a rant I guess. The role of secret police is to maintain the stability of the domestic regime. Opposition should be carefully controlled and infiltrated in order to maintain that stability. Also, the appearance of political integrity must be maintained, especially in a western democracy like the US. The presidency of Donald Trump is not good for the stability of the US government. He makes a mockery of the institution. This cripples the ability of the government to act. In the past, the US secret police has done a good job of maintaining the stability of the US government. Hardy veterans of WWII, who flooded the nascent “intelligence community”, were effective in disseminating propaganda and infiltrating dissident groups. A guy like J. Edgar Hoover operated effectively for decades. Operation Mockingbird was a smashing success. Something about the 2016 election didn’t sit well. The effort by the secret police in debilitating the Trump phenomenon was feeble. Has the growth of “new media” limited the ability of the secret police to operate effectively? On one hand, I would say that this is the case. On the other hand, Trump has been kind to the establishment (in as much as it even still exists), so perhaps I am underestimating the secret police. Many problems for future presidents will easily be blamed on the clown Trump, which is a bonus. Obama and Bush Jr. will be elevated. Two scions of the American political class. We had some feeble meddling by a foreign intelligence asset (Steele) linked closely with American intelligence. We have this goof Halper who has been dirty since the 1980 election. We have Clapper who perjured himself years ago. We have Brennan, a torture apologist turned election meddler turned drunken twitter troll. We have Haspel, a hands-on torturer. Is this the dream team or what? In terms of credibility, the US government has to be at sub-Watergate levels. Will they be able to maintain stability without resorting to unsanitized violence? Has laissez-faire capitalism knee-capped the political establishment? How are the Democratic CIA agents doing in the primaries? Is this the recovery effort? ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/2 "2018-05-21T10:47:00Z")
Mental wounds not healing / Life’s a bitter shame I’m going off the rails on a crazy train ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/3 "2018-05-21T10:51:28Z")
Secret police? Which ones are they again? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/4 "2018-05-21T10:55:33Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Bit of a rant I guess. You guess? ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/5 "2018-05-21T10:56:01Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > Mental wounds not healing / Life’s a bitter shame > I’m going off the rails on a crazy train Username is all I need to know about your attention span. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/6 "2018-05-21T10:57:33Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Secret police? Which ones are they again? Same question. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/7 "2018-05-21T11:00:05Z")
…here is wiki’s curated list of Secret Police organizations. > **[List of secret police organizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_secret_police_organizations)** > > This is a list of current secret police organizations. Fictional secret police organizations and historical secret police organizations are listed on their own respective pages. > In this list, reputable sources, with relevant quotes, assert that the organizations in this list are secret police. And here is their list of fictional Secret Police organizations. > **[List of fictional secret police and intelligence organizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_secret_police_and_intelligence_organizations)** > > This is a list of secret police organisations and intelligence agencies which are fictional: So would you care to share exactly what “US secret police” you are talking about? Are they so secret they don’t have a name? There don’t appear to be any real US secret police organizations. So are you talking about Division? The Earth Protection Force? The Kingsman? THRUSH? Or would you believe…CONTROL? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/8 "2018-05-21T11:01:20Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Secret police? Which ones are they again? Can’t tell you. It’s a _secret_. Seriously though, the OP relies on so many extraordinary and unsupported premises that the questions posed are virtually unanswerable in any substantive way, in the same way that asking us what the Illuminati or the Martians or the Elders of Zion are planning on doing with regard to the Trump administration is unanswerable. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/9 "2018-05-21T11:14:03Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Secret police? Which ones are they again? The cops in my neighborhood all have blue lights on their front porches, so I know it isn’t them. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/10 "2018-05-21T11:17:53Z")
One could use context clues to determine which agencies I consider to be secret police. One could also use common sense. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/11 "2018-05-21T11:21:20Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > One could use context clues to determine which agencies I consider to be secret police. One could also use common sense. One could also stop blowing smoke out one’s ass and just answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/12 "2018-05-21T11:21:56Z")
Unless they’re double agent secret police, in which case the blue porch lights are trickery. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/13 "2018-05-21T11:31:15Z")
One could assume that you are refusing to name this “secret police” because to do so would make you look like an paranoid idiot to those who aren’t in your political spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/14 "2018-05-21T11:52:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > {…} to do so would make you, WillFarnaby, look like an paranoid idiot to those who aren’t in your political spectrum.[RIGHT]{Blue} = CMC[/RIGHT] Ohh, we’re well past that point . . . even for those who _are_ in his “political spectrum”. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/15 "2018-05-21T11:53:32Z")
How’s the bunker dig coming along? Get all your urine jars filled yet? You can never have too many. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/16 "2018-05-21T11:54:16Z")
I found reference to the term “Democratic CIA agents” [here.](http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/lots-of-cia-agents-are-running-as-democrats-in-the-2018-elections-one-quarter-of-all-the-democratic-challengers-in-competitive-house-districts-have-military-intelligence-statespook-department-o/) It’s no wonder you are being vague as fuck. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/17 "2018-05-21T12:05:46Z")
For all you know, OP, all that in your rant may be just what \*they \*want you to believe… 🆒 Layman hypotheses about the Deep State Theory are fun, but useless in figuring out how the real Deep State works (just right off the bat, the premise of a deliberate coordinated, directed, teleological vision). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/18 "2018-05-21T12:11:56Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Secret police? Which ones are they again? If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/19 "2018-05-21T12:18:59Z")
The secret police are still chugging along as always. Everything from 2016 on has been part of their plan – destabilize American society, and thus potential world unity, in preparation for an interstellar invasion by the Reptilians. We should welcome this, in fact, as the Reptilians will usher in global peace and advanced technology that will turn Earth into a utopia, and the only price will be the occasional tasty sacrifice for the distinguishing palates of our Reptilian overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/20 "2018-05-21T12:33:51Z")
Y’all, Ima give away the secret: the secret police are the FBI, who are totally secret and nobody knows about them at all. I guess they’re secret because they don’t always reveal everything they know about an investigation. Maybe that’s right, or maybe not: it’s a secret! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548.md?page=2)