In the US presidential election held in November 2024, President Donald Trump achieved an overwhelming victory. This series, titled "Reading the Post-'What if Trump' World," will now be reading the post-"Trump Indeed" world. This time, we examine the "Deep State," which cannot be avoided when understanding President Donald Trump's policies and assertions.

■The "Deep State" is not a delusion.

"Defeating the Deep State." This is a phrase that Trump frequently utters, a power word that makes Democratic supporters and probably many foreigners (including Japanese) among the "reasonable" faction furrow their brows and freezes their attitude toward trying to understand him.

"The 'Deep State (shadow government)' is manipulating the world from behind the scenes. We will crush them and take back America's future." Such assertions have become firmly imprinted in many people's minds as words symbolizing Donald Trump's "dangerous character." Is this really a "dangerous story" stemming from his delusions of grandeur? And are all the many American voters who believed this and voted for him all "pitiful victims of misinformation"?

What can be said first is that the assertion that it is unclear what the "Deep State" refers to (that he is saying arbitrary things) is at least incorrect. A brief check of Trump's speech records immediately reveals that Trump has repeatedly cited specific individual names as the Deep State.

The figures who appear most frequently in agenda-level important statements are "George Soros" and "Victoria Nuland." While other Deep State constituent figures are also specifically named, this column will focus on these two particularly symbolic individuals to examine what the "Deep State" means to Trump.

■What is George Soros?

He is a legendary speculator, as everyone knows. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he was raised in a Jewish family. He fled Nazi persecution during World War II and immigrated to Britain in 1947 after the war. He studied philosophy at the London School of Economics, where he was influenced by Karl Popper. This became the origin of his subsequent Open Society movement. He is famous for making enormous profits from shorting the British pound during "Black Wednesday" in 1992, the Asian currency crisis, and shorting the yen during the 2013 Abenomics opportunity. (Incidentally, the top of his investment team at that time was Scott Bessent, who will serve as Treasury Secretary in the second Trump administration.)

Soros has been actively involved in Ukraine's democratization for many years. Through his self-established "Open Society Foundations," he supports the strengthening of Ukraine's civil society and democratic institutions. In particular, he provided financial support for the Orange Revolution movement in 2004, promoting Ukraine's democratization process. Naturally, from the Russian side and Putin's perspective, he is an "irreconcilable enemy."

■George Soros's continued active financial contributions to US local district attorney elections

So why did Donald Trump repeatedly criticize George Soros? If we interpret and concisely summarize the reasons he criticizes Soros, it is "because he intervened in America's law enforcement system through the power of money."

Unlike Japan, the United States elects local district attorneys (similar to Japan's chief prosecutors) through direct elections by the people. Local district attorneys, who oversee criminal trials, wield enormous power in state and municipal judicial enforcement. In these local district attorney elections, George Soros was known for actively supporting candidates close to his ideals. Specific examples include: Alvin Bragg (Manhattan District Attorney, New York), George Gascón (Los Angeles County District Attorney), and Kim Foxx (Cook County State's Attorney, Illinois). He provided financial assistance exceeding 100 million yen in Japanese currency to each candidate, and multiple candidates won in the 2020 elections. (However, many Soros-supported candidates lost in the most recent elections.) (Source: NGO: Capital Research https://capitalresearch.org/)

In other words, George Soros, while advocating for a free, open, democratic, and transparent world, has maximally exercised his financial power as a means to achieve this and has exerted clear influence on America's law enforcement system. This has resulted in facilitating the stay of illegal immigrants, facilitating the release of petty criminals, and leading to the spread of drugs and unemployment among white workers—this is the substance of Trump's repeated criticism of Soros or "Soros-affiliated prosecutors."

Naturally, Soros has been deeply involved financially not only in these local district attorney elections but in various American elections. He has had strong influence as a sponsor particularly on Democratic administrations since the Clinton administration. This is not a conspiracy theory but an open fact of American politics. Just as Japan's Liberal Democratic Party has economic organizations and religious groups as sponsors, Komeito has Soka Gakkai, and the Democratic Party for the People has Rengo, it is equally a "known fact." It could be said that it was natural for Trump, who aimed to defeat the Democrats to become president, to criticize Soros (or Soros-affiliated prosecutors).

■What is Victoria Nuland?

Next, we examine another figure, "Victoria Nuland," whom Trump has specifically criticized as part of the Deep State. Victoria Jane Nuland (born July 1, 1961) is an American diplomat who served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2021 to 2024. She was born in New York City, New York, and earned a bachelor's degree in Russian literature, political science, and history from Brown University in 1983.

As the 18th United States Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO Ambassador), Nuland focused on gathering European support for NATO's intervention in Afghanistan. Particularly during the 2014 Ukrainian crisis, she visited Kyiv and was deeply involved in the Ukrainian situation. She was a leading American advisor for the "Revolution of Dignity" and was deeply involved in providing loan guarantees and non-lethal support to Ukraine. In February 2014, a phone conversation about Ukraine's next government was leaked, probably through Russian eavesdropping, causing controversy with her remark "F**k the EU." She also became known as the "Cookie Lady" after footage circulated of her visiting Ukrainian soldiers and handing out cookies.

Nuland was an important diplomat (bureaucrat) deeply involved in NATO strategy across three Democratic administrations: Clinton, Obama, and Biden. She can be said to have been a figure with significant influence on US Eastern European strategy since the latter Clinton administration. (She retired last year.) The background to Trump's continued criticism of her appears to be that such "unelected bureaucrats" continued to pour enormous national budgets and military power into Eastern European and NATO support, setting aside domestic American problems (immigration, drugs, industrial hollowing out, etc.).

■Another common point between George Soros and Victoria Nuland

And there is another common point between George Soros and Nuland. Both are descendants of Jewish Americans who fled/immigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe and Russia. Under Israel's Law of Return definition, one is recognized as Jewish if either being a Jewish believer (including cases of recognized conversion) or being born to a Jewish mother.

George Soros is clearly Jewish under the Law of Return definition, as both his parents were Jewish. On the other hand, while Victoria Nuland's paternal grandfather was Jewish, her maternal side was not, making her not Jewish under the Law of Return definition. She would be considered a Jewish-American. However, both share the common point of being descendants of people who fled brutal anti-Semitism (pogroms and the Holocaust). Such descendants of Eastern European Jewish Americans naturally exist in large numbers in the United States and, due to their high capabilities and intellectual standards, wield strong influence in American political and business circles.

■Jewish Americans divided into both left and right wings

Some Jewish Americans, like George Soros and Nuland, are active outside Israel (in the US and Europe) and may hold democratic or, in more radical cases, socialist ideologies. (※However, the socialism referred to here is not Stalinist national socialism but Trotskyist global socialism.)

Trump harshly criticized Soros and Nuland, who resonated with American liberals and exercised their financial power and positions (as bureaucrats) to realize their ideals. This was because their ideals were not "America First"—at least that's how it appeared to Trump. While there is probably no direct relationship between George Soros and Nuland, they both, in their hatred of authoritarianism like Russia's, did not hesitate to exercise influence by investing private funds or exercising their bureaucratic authority (including using tax money).

If we were to roughly categorize such Jewish Americans who align with American liberals as "left-wing Jewish Americans," then those who are compatible with Christian evangelicals and strongly resonate with Zionism could be called "right-wing Jewish Americans." These are people who strongly resonate with Israel's Netanyahu and seek to motivate American action toward strengthening and establishing Zionism. Representative figures include Jared Kushner (Ivanka Trump's spouse) and Ben Shapiro. (However, it might be appropriate to view Kushner as center-right.)

■Collaborating with evangelicals and right-wing Jewish Americans to expel the "Deep State"

Donald Trump is said to have been a Democratic supporter in his youth. However, to his eyes, Democratic policies symbolized by Rubinomics appeared not to make America prosper but to decline it. Trump says he was also deeply involved in the business of selling New York real estate to Japanese companies in his youth. While he profited, interviews remain where he questioned whether this was good for America. He then turned to the Republican Party and resolved to fight the "Deep State."

Trump, who ran for president, deepened his cooperation with right-wing Jewish Americans. Since Christian evangelicals also have high compatibility with the Jewish right, he probably judged that advocating pro-Zionism would enable efficient vote acquisition. Indeed, Trump defeated Clinton in the 2016 election.

■Will the second Deep State campaign accelerate?

So will Trump, who returned to the presidency with the overwhelming victory of Triple Red, collaborate with his support base of Christian evangelicals and right-wing Jewish Americans to proceed wholeheartedly with the second Deep State campaign? Things do not seem necessarily so simple.

■The outcome of the Israel war: Possibility of ending before the Ukraine war

In considering the future relationship between right-wing Jewish Americans and evangelicals with Trump, the most important factor is still the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu. During his first administration, Trump, at Netanyahu's request, claimed that Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. And he assassinated Iran's hero General Soleimani. This was a strong appeal to right-wing Jewish Americans and evangelicals, and was probably action taken with the expectation that this would lead to reelection. However, the results were different. Despite taking considerable political risks, Trump did not receive compensation (reelection). Moreover, unnecessary provocation of the Islamic world even became a distant cause of terrorism, forcing additional large tax investments. Viewed in isolation, for businessman Trump, Netanyahu was the "worst cost-performance" business partner.

Recently, Trump shared a video by Jeffrey Sachs (economist), who strongly criticized Netanyahu, on social media, subtly suggesting distance from Netanyahu. Just as his so-called Deep State lavishly spends American taxpayers' money for purposes other than Americans (like Ukraine), right-wing Jewish Americans continue to devote all their efforts to having American taxpayers' money poured into Israel like water.

There is probably no guarantee that Trump will continue to approve this structure. And how Trump handles this should be the point that determines the end of the Israel-Palestine war. In my personal speculation, Trump currently owes Netanyahu nothing. His term is at most another four years, and he no longer has motivation to excessively defer to right-wing Jewish Americans for the next reelection. Trump no longer needs to continue playing the role of Netanyahu's "useful idiot."

A temporary ceasefire has already been agreed upon, and these negotiations are highly likely to progress. Trump may conditionally force Netanyahu to step down, with a government centered on Gantz or another politician leading Gaza's reconstruction. This would ultimately result in significant savings of American taxpayer money. Netanyahu would accept stepping down if he could be granted immunity from past corruption and responsibility for allowing this attack. Personally, I think there's even a possibility that Netanyahu might ultimately seek asylum in the United States.
 

■Confrontation with Wall Street symbolized by George Soros

Additionally, Trump needs to confront Wall Street's pro-Democratic liberal forces symbolized by George Soros. These are people who believe in market principles and mercilessly exploit any distortions they find. Currently, Wall Street people expect that all of Trump administration's policies will again cause high inflation, and they are watching intently to see where the next distortions arising from this will occur. What's frightening about markets is that even someone with enormous power like Trump, who achieved Triple Red, cannot stop them once they go out of control.

Notable in this regard is Scott Bessent, whom Trump nominated as the next Treasury Secretary. He was originally George Soros's faithful right-hand man, continuing to support his important successful deals. He now independently operates his own fund company, but George Soros invested $2 billion in his first fund. While much of this has reportedly been returned or redeemed since then, there are currently no materials that can completely deny that Bessent continues to be "governed" to some extent by George Soros.

The background to nominating Bessent as Treasury Secretary reveals Trump's intention to continue confronting the "Deep State" while not completely making Wall Street an enemy. Viewed positively, this is good balance, but viewed negatively, it also suggests the possibility that he might ultimately succumb to market pressure and do nothing or be unable to do anything.

Has Trump achieved his "reelection goal" and burned out, and will he now throw everything to Elon Musk and his team to live leisurely? That's possible. However, he will probably continue running until he burns out his passion to make America great again. At present, this latter possibility is more likely. Everything begins on January 20th.