It’s very much like Islamic terrorism. While both include their leaders who formally conspire to thwart and destroy America, most of their power resides in loosely organized individuals who are just maniacally committed to the cause. In the case of leftists, these individuals are everywhere within the federal departments, and see as their mission total resistance to any effort from the right to reform government or roll back destructive leftist ideology. So, while there is definitely a formal “deep state” that directly conspires to prevent outsiders, like Trump, from gaining any foothold, much of what we fight against is also just the mass of leftist fellow travelers that are everywhere within the bureaucracy. They act sort of like an immune system for the deep state, or more accurately, like a virus that has infected its host and turned its own body against it.
I totally agree with your analysis.
This means Conservatives need to be truly over-ambitious in order to make America great again. We’ll find “Greatness” as soon as we overpowered the culture-marxists and the Hydra protecting them.