SHADOW GOVERNMENT: Blacklist and Why is POTUS Not Being Controlled I am watching the series Blacklist.  In Blacklist, Raymond Reddington, a powerful person, a criminal himself, is helping the FBI to take out major worldwide crime figures.  Reddington posses a thing called the Fulcrum, which is a collection of documents that could destroy the Shadow Government (SG).  He holds the Fulcrum as a threat against the SG which knows that if they kill him, the Fulcrum with be triggered to automatically release thereby exposing the SG.  Watching Blacklist, I realized more clearly WHY the SG does not control POTUS.   I am not an expert on presidential history, nor do I have deep knowledge of the SG, but here is my thinking. The Shadow Government (SG) has been very powerful for a long time.  SG members occupied key positions of power.  All presidents except Reagan, and Trump, Kennedy to some extent, (Kennedy served in the House and Senate, but was from a powerful family,, and idealistic), were under the full control of the SG.   Bush wasn't just under their control, he was a member of the SG, as was Prescott Bush.  George W. Bush, and Jeb were born into the SG. Jeb was a good Florida governor, but keep in mind that the SG has let republican's like Jeb succeed so that they will appear to be a viable alternative to the Democrat candidate. In truth Jeb and Hillary were on the same side. Bill and Hillary got drawn in, when I say drawn in, I mean like a fly to a piece of ripe dung, early in the life, and due to their penchant for evil, grew to the top.  Reagan was an outsider.  And if you look at his history, as the head of the SAG, he waged war against the communist influence in Hollywood. As Governor of California, either he managed to escape their grasp, or they thought he was a buffoon who would not I rise any further, but no matter that Reagan was rebel, the SG knew he would either have to operate within the SG framework, or he would be assassinated, which is exactly what they tried to do. We know what happened to Kennedy when he bucked the SG. So that leaves us President Trump.  Why is he not under the control of the SG. Sure he was an outsider. Sure he was rich, but the reason he is clean is because he did not initiate his run for the presidency. When he won the election, he did not have to seek out powerful allies, and expose himself to the SG. Trump was isolated from before he ever declared his candidacy, because he was chosen to run, brought into the presidency by the only group as powerful as the SG, the Military Intelligence group of good guys who can, just like Reddington bring MAD upon the SG.  You may remember the Soviet Union and the U.S. once held over each other a position of Mutually Assured Destruction. Eventually, the USSR fell. Where I am now in the series: The SG is trying to kill Reddington and his FBI task force. Reddington released the Fulcrum to a group of the worlds top investigative journalist, but he is turning the honest people who are chasing him into allies, non by directly exposing members of the SG, but by exposing the crimes of people that they control. He is gaining a Moral victory. What caused the Soviet Union to fall, what pushed them over the edge?  Was it the Military might of the USSR vs USA?  Was it that the USSR could not keep up with the spending of the USA?  What finally push the USSR to extinction?  It was not might, force against force did not defeat them, the potential for MAD still exist.   When Reagan declared the USSR to be the Evil Empire, he won the fight on the Moral level.  He cast the USSR as the demons, the Berlin wall fell, and the USSR broke. The strategic military genius John Boyd wrote that the three levels of war are: The mental level, the physical level, and the moral level, and that the moral level of war is superior to the mental and physical levels. Failing to achieve moral victory may result in strategic defeat even if our Army is victorious in all of our tactical, physical battles. If you think about The Plan, what POTUS and Q are running, you will see that while the  potential physical level exist (MAD), it is the Moral, aided by the Mental level ((initiative, innovation, adaptability) upon which we are winning. Look at this link entitled: Winning the Moral Level of War: A Recommendation for the Army’s Operating Concept, you will see some parallels to this in The Plan.