Trump's Attack on Media as 'Enemy of the People' Has Historic Echoes "It is one of the most controversial phrases in Soviet history," said Mitchell Orenstein, professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. The phrase has its roots in Latin, during the Roman Empire, but "enemies of the people" gained its most notorious associations during the 20th century, during the purges ordered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that killed tens of millions of people. An "enemy of the people" in the Soviet Union was not necessarily a criminal, but more often someone stigmatized by social origin or pre-revolutionary profession. The label alone was akin to a terminal illness, and merely being a friend of an enemy of the people was a certain cause for official suspicion. "What it basically meant was a death sentence," Orenstein told VOA. "For both Lenin and Stalin, journalists and intellectuals who didn't share their point of view were among the most hated enemies. In attacking them, both appealed to the people," said Serhiy Yekelchyk, an affiliate associate professor and Soviet studies specialist at the University of Washington. "I am sure you will see in this description quite a few uncomfortable parallels," Yekelchyk told VOA. The principal founding father of the Soviet Union, communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, was fond of "the peoples' enemies" as a label, and decades later, China's dictator Mao Zedong denounced as "enemies of the people" those who criticized the Maoist policies and commands that led to the Great Famine and the death of tens of millions of Chinese. ----------------------------------- Everybody still cool with this? No cause for alarm?
That's not the point. That sort of thing starts somewhere (here) and the talk is historically un-American. Unless youre a commie pinko like Trump, comrade.
It is interesting that when leftforge isn't calling everyone who isn't part of the hive mind a Nazi they are declaring them to be dead communist dictators. Make up your mind.
Just to be clear, you are 100% on board with Trump's rhetoric? The free press is the enemy of the American people?
Dinner's onboard with anything that allows him to rant about "lefties" and thus force some blood into his flaccid member. One day, it might even be enough to get a semi.
Shut down? Unlikely. Emasculate via legislation? He's already on record as saying he wants the law changed to make it easier to sue the press, and I doubt he'll stop there. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bill enabling the Federal government to demand the press identify whistleblowers "due to National Security concerns".
That said, Imma be fair on this and admit that Obama was pretty hostile to the press too at times (see link from 2014), but he never went as far as Trump. Hell, even Nixon knew not to call the press the enemy in public in case he needed to use them. https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...y-triumphs-40-years-after-resignation/375274/
When did I remotely say anything like that? Republicans have been beating the "don't trust the press because it is secretly for the Democrats" drum for 30 years now. It is a standard line for them. All he has done is repeat a standard line his base is used to hearing.
Just out of interest. What's your opinion about the people that make up this 'base', and is it a good thing?
No, "enemy of the people" is not a standard line used by Republicans about the free press exercising its first amendment rights. Certainly no president has ever shown such open contempt for the Constitution. That is known as crossing the line. And yet, the thing to do right now for you is start attacking the "leftforge hive mind." Huh?
He's too polite, most of the current liberal media is putting out utter garbage, or in the case of print, paper not suited to wipe ass. Lefties are the main market remaining to their half truths and distortions (although they do have some diehard spectators like myself), and the large media industry is dying faster than Obama's policies are being dismantled, as all but the most devoted or rabid partisan consumers are seeing through the abrogation of their duty. E.g. has the NY Times every been a bigger joke in it's long history, given its trumphatred in place of actual "news"? Serious question. I hope it remains forever, hopefully it improves, but look forward to another four years of Donald if it keeps presenting garbage in place of unbiased reporting of event.
So unless the NYT stops telling the truth about Trump, which is dishonest, people are going to want to re-elect him. But if they start to engage in unbiased reporting, which means singing Trump's praises nonstop, then people will want vote for a different candidate. See the mental contortions people need to go through to justify their support for a would-be fascist regime?
That's ridiculous, bud. Things I support after 1 month of trump as president: -deregulation -deregulation -deregulation (three times because that last guy piled this shit so friggin high) -tax reform (to make everyone better off, despite a contrary opinion held only by the left) -finish repealing any teeth of obamacare so that people and companies never pay a penny in penatlites, then maybe get a decent fix to godawful system -acceptance of a word such as "illegal" at face value (although I favor much more liberal immigration, no point in having a word "illegal" that is meaningless; that is example #452 of liberal hypocrisy, and helps foster a lack of respect for *all* laws) -tighter vetting before letting people enter the country who might want to murder us (send a check like the clever Aussies offered to do, we're already spending about 65k per refugee we admit, and borrow from China to finance this generosity when the subject countries mostly instinctively hate us regardless). -fairer trade instead of consistently making deals where we infuse genuine US interests with a pile of rich guilt and white guilt, that culminates in a mediocre to rotten deal for American interests, and get value for US taxpayer billions spent on boondoggles like the UN and unfair treatment by "friends" in multination cooperatives like NATO. Etc. Some fears, too, but so far haven't seen any real threat from the actual person called Trump, only the bugaboo in lefties and the liberal media's nightmares, although some trump fans are probably pricks (like the Obama fans murdering police officers).
Like the Democratic base there is both good and bad. Neither party is really very attractive to me right now and they both seem to have a lot of warts. As this is Wordforge and most of the conservatives have either left or been chased off I have spent more time laughing at the over the top hissy fits the left has been having here. Like I said, his speaking out against the press is pretty much a nonevent as it is a standard line Republicans have been spewing since I was a child. He is just repeating standard Republican fair.
My assessment of Trump hasn't changed and has only been reenforced. He is an arrogant blowhard with no experience and will not accomplish much, mostly the Republican Congress will run roughshod over him and Trump will stupidly sign whatever they send him meaning the special interests will have a field day but Trump won't ultimately get what he wants. Worse, he is terrible at management and just isn't interested in details so the appointees will have free reign to do what ever they want and I expect corruption to be at record highs without any adult supervision.
Personally, I don't think enemies of the American people should be running around free to carry out their nefarious plots. They should be imprisoned, if not killed outright. So when someone is labeled an enemy of the American people by the President of the United States, I would consider it a very serious matter. When an entire class of Americans receives that label just for doing their jobs, jobs which the freedom to do is explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution… yeah, that's just me having a hissy fit.
Yeah. Obama did call out Fox News more than once...regardless the credibility of the source, it's just not a good look. Even there, however, Obama wasn't getting in a shouting match and banning reporters from the WH.
It's an interesting phenomenon, really. I see a number of neo-conservatives saying such things, that they'll be happy/pleased/turned on when they see the liberal media, and "leftists" getting what they think they deserve. It's like they voted in the bully, and they're hoping he'll make life hell for the nerdy kids in class that they don't like. It has absolutely no value whatsoever, and comes from a place of ignorance and stupidity, as if they don't realize or comprehend that silencing one person has the potential to silence us all, and that such silence includes them as well. It's like they're too shortsighted to understand, or too foolish to care.
Actually, yes, that is you having a hissy fit. If it makes you feel better John is way worse and Shep practically had a full mental break down on election night so you don't look as bad in comparison.