The D.C. Way—Why Washington Will Fight Reform to the Bitter End

President Trump is leading the charge; the GOP must have his back

Washington, D.C., isn’t just a political town—it’s an industry. An ecosystem. A fortress built over decades, where entire careers, businesses, and communities depend on one thing: keeping the system exactly as it is.

This makes real reform nearly impossible, and it is why Trump’s team faces unprecedented resistance to this second-term agenda.

I know this firsthand. As a former Congressional staffer and private sector attorney in D.C., I saw how the system protects itself. The Deep State and Shadow Government are going to make it their mission to make his life miserable and derail reform efforts for the next two years and then again after the mid-term elections.

Elections bring change every two years in the House and every four in the White House, but only at the surface level. Beneath it, the real power remains intact. Career bureaucrats, agency officials, K Street insiders, the media, think tanks, and many others ensure that no matter who wins, the lifeblood of Washington—federal money, influence, and control—keeps flowing to the institutional players, not the elected.

Now, Trump is attempting something that has been tried before but never at this scale or intensity—a full-on assault on the administrative state. And the system is already mobilizing to stop him, including some Republicans in Congress and on K Street.

U.S. Government Photos & Images (USA.gov); Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer, LC-DIG-highsm- 04448 (ONLINE) [P&P]