> get the US populous to accept this whole surveillance state, and to get congress to fully legitimize these surveillance operations...

that does, frankly, seem the most likely outcome of all this, specific orchestrations aside.

no one really has the stomach to roll back the security state, so after a good catharsis, these programs will get legitimized, we'll accept pervasive surveillance as the new normal, and adjust our lives accordingly.

I am not betting on any side of his actual position, even though I would like it to be someone who does it for his principles. In any case, though, what you say is how this thing will play out. Covert operations control a dissenting minority. Control of a majority requires publicity of the operations so that the majority is then self-controlled.