The Deep State is real and put its thumb on the scale for one of the candidates in the 2020 presidential election. (You can probably guess which one.)
Xi Jinping
Dystopic Journal: Science and Totalitarianism
Totalitarian systems call on their members to defer reason and judgment in crucial areas to an expert class. Those swept up in the mass formation are convinced to place their faith not in God or religion, but experts and science. Just like with religion, this new machine messiah demands sacrifice and a subordination of will to itself.
LR Podcast, S3E30: The Road to Totalitarianism
Mass formations depend upon fear to exist. As long as people can be made to fear something, a totalitarian system can be established and maintained.