It's a shocking claim made by a political insider: the Deep State is so opposed to draining the swamp that it will, if necessary, kill President Trump to prevent it.

Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser and confidant, certainly knows his way around Washington, having worked as a senior campaign aide to Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Senator Bob Dole as well as having held many other political positions.  This proximity to the Deep State is what makes his claim, expressed in a recent wide-ranging interview with The New American magazine's Alex Newman, that much more eyebrow-raising.  Stone outlined three plans the Deep State has for eliminating the president, as Newman relates:

The Deep State's "Plan A," Stone said, is the imploding "investigation" into alleged "Russian collusion" by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  If and when that fails, which Stone suggested was likely, the establishment would move to "Plan B."  In essence, that plot would involve trying to get a majority of Trump's [C]abinet to declare him unfit for office.  This would allow Trump to be removed under the U.S. Constitution's 25th Amendment – another scheme Stone said would probably flop.  Last but not least, though, if all else fails, Stone warned of "Plan C": [k]illing the president.   

Interesting here is that Newman's piece was published January 1, just before talk of President Trump's alleged mental instability became the month's big news story.  In fact, released just four days later was journalist Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury, which makes the case that Trump is psychologically unfit to hold office.  Note, too, that Wolff has boasted that his book will bring down the president.

This bold claim will more likely just bring up book sales.  It's not only that Wolff has said he can't be sure everything in his book is true; that it contains factual errors; and that he is, as ex-Trump strategist Sebastian Gorka put it, "a partisan self-promoter with credibility issues[.]"  It's that removing a president for inability to discharge his duties isn't easy.

Per the 25th Amendment's Section IV, Vice President Mike Pence would have to declare Trump unfit, 13 of the 24 Cabinet members would have to agree, and then two thirds of both houses of Congress would ultimately have to vote to uphold the decision. Unless Trump starts fainting right and left and throwing behind-the-scenes temper fits like Hillary Clinton, Stone is correct in saying this is unlikely.

This leaves the alleged "Plan C." But is such a Deep State course of action really in the cards? Calling Trump "a shock to the system," Stone explained his thinking to The New American: "It's easy to forget that the shocking upset that Donald Trump pulled off has never been forgotten or acknowledged by the globalist cabal that has really infected both of our major parties."  And with the economy flourishing and public confidence up, "it's easy to misread the deep enmity and hatred that the globalists and the [i]nsiders have for this president, and to underestimate their resolve to remove him."

"If all else fails," writes Newman, "Stone believes [that] the Deep State would, in fact, attempt to murder the president."

Stone emphasized that if "Mueller should fail in his illegitimate coup d'état to take down the president," he thinks "you will see an uptick in the 'Trump-is-crazy' talk," reported Newman.  Again, we've already witnessed this.

Newman further relates:

Stone warned that even some of Trump's most senior officials would throw him under the bus if given the opportunity.  "I can tell you, there are members of Trump's [C]abinet that would stick a dagger in his heart,["] he warned, echoing other warnings that he has offered publicly in recent weeks.  ["]There are globalist insiders who, for one reason or another[,] got into this [C]abinet, who do not share the president's vision of reform, and are not loyal to him as I am and so many Americans are."

Explaining the presence of these dangerous establishment figures within the administration, Stone said, "Unfortunately, I think that the president misunderstood early in the process that personnel is policy."  Stone also believes that Trump's lawyers are doing him a disservice, saying they're currently "walking him into the blades."

Stone, a colorful political operative known among other things as a "dirty trickster," further explained the Deep State's enmity for Trump.  As Newman reports, "'Trump is a real American, a patriot, he's a real believer in Americana, and also in American superiority – American exceptionalism, if you will – and a believer in American sovereignty,' Stone said.  'He's always been deeply suspicious of the international types that he was happy to sell condominiums to at inflated prices, but he never shared their politics.'"  Stone also emphasized that, unbeknownst to most, Trump comes from "a long line of anti-communists."

Moreover, because of Trump's wealth, Stone says he's "unbought and unbossed[.] ... Anybody who has tried to boss Donald Trump around knows that that won't work.  He's very much his own man."

So a patriot and a believer in Americana, sovereignty, and American exceptionalism who can't be bought or bullied – that certainly is the Deep State's worst nightmare.  The question is: Would it resort to murder to end it?  Is Stone's warning risible or realistic?

All I can say is that it's a striking claim, and it certainly warrants more media exposure than a questionable book written by an attention-seeking journalist

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter, or log on to SelwynDuke.com.