Fear Of A 'Deep State' Dates Back To America's Founding

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle Wednesday rejected President Trump's claim that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration. But for some of the president's ardent supporters and associates, the allegation is just one of many to support the narrative that the Trump administration faces constant conspiratorial opposition from within the federal government.

One name for that is the "deep state."

But the "deep state" is not a new idea in America, according to historians Ed Ayers (@edward_l_ayers) and Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755), co-hosts of the podcast BackStory, which is produced at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti speaks with Ayers and Freeman about that history.