I don’t know about the deep state but the North Koreans
certainly viewed him as a presidential candidate who
would have been a threat to them, with Helms and Hatch
eliminated they might have thought it worth the risk,
which in the long run has turned out to be not that much.
KAL007 was shot down by Russians for, supposedly, flying too close to Kamchatca military installations.
David Rockefeller had a datcha (sp?) in Georgia and whenever he would go there he was visited by high ranking Russian officials.
The US oligarchs had him killed. The same people that knocked off Kennedy and are trying to take down Trump.
He wasn’t going to be a presidential candidate. He was a fringe congressman. I liked McDonald, but the Gipper was gearing up to run for re-election.