[Pelham]

I guess we could regard the “Deep State” as the government portion of Burnham’s managerial elite.

I imagine that he would have admired Trump as someone striking a blow against the managerial revolution; to me that’s why Trump is so hated by such a wide assortment of entrenched and privileged elites; Republicans, Democrats, media, big tech.

He would probably not be surprised by how things have turned out. Certainly Sam Francis wouldn’t be.

[cdcdawg]

Multiculturalism led to the Managerial (Deep) State which has led to Anarcho-Tyranny. Sam and Paul Gottfried saw it all coming based on the groundwork of James Burnham and others. Leviathan and Its Enemies is a masterpiece.

[Rockingham]

I am sure that you are correct. In The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom, Burnham advocated realism in political theory and gave an exposition of its major thinkers and ideas. These included Michaels, with his Iron Law of Oligarchy, and Pareto and his theory of the circulation of elites. In short, Burnham had the intellectual framework to appreciate Trump and to recognize that he is an expression of healthy democratic politics.