First-Term Attacks on Press Freedom: 'Enemy of the People' and Institutional Delegitimization
Trump used the phrase 'enemy of the people' to describe mainstream media more than 30 times, echoing language used by Stalin, Mao, and other authoritarian leaders. His administration attempted to ban reporters from press briefings, challenged broadcast licenses in apparent retaliation for critical coverage, encouraged legal changes to make it easier to sue journalists, and called for investigations of reporters. International press freedom organizations documented the global impact: Trump's rhetoric gave cover to authoritarian leaders from Turkey to the Philippines to justify imprisoning journalists.
Record summary
Grade
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
Systematic actions that undermine fundamental constitutional or international legal protections at the structural level. Scale and definitions
- Status
- Concluded
- Incident date
- Record updated
- Location
- Washington, D.C.
- Category
- Rule of Law
- Legal posture
- Reported
- War-crime classification
- Enabling conduct
- Verification
- Independently verified
- ICC relevance
- No
- Sources
- 5 cited
- Stable ID
first-term-press-freedom-attacks- Victims
- Individual journalists subjected to threats and credential revocations; the independent press as an institution; populations globally whose governments cited Trump's rhetoric to justify press suppression
- Alleged responsible parties
- Donald Trump, President of the United States— White House
Key points
- Trump used the phrase 'enemy of the people' to describe the mainstream press more than 30 times — a phrase specifically associated with Stalinist and Maoist propaganda used to justify mass persecution
- In October 2017, Trump tweeted that NBC's broadcast licenses should be challenged, threatening the network's ability to operate over publicly-owned airwaves in apparent retaliation for critical reporting
- The Trump administration attempted to ban CNN's Jim Acosta from the White House after a contentious press conference; a federal judge ordered his credentials restored, ruling the revocation violated due process
- Reporters Without Borders documented that the U.S. dropped in the global press freedom ranking during the Trump years; more significantly, RSF documented that Trump's rhetoric was directly cited by governments in Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, and elsewhere to justify imprisoning journalists
- Trump repeatedly called for changes to defamation law — including changing the legal standard for public figures to make it easier to sue media outlets for critical coverage
- The Committee to Protect Journalists noted that Trump was the first president they had ever felt compelled to issue a public warning about regarding press freedom in the United States
Overview
"Enemy of the people" is not a neutral phrase. It was the phrase Stalin used to justify sending millions to the Gulag; the phrase Mao used during the Cultural Revolution to justify mass persecution; the phrase used in authoritarian regimes to designate those who could be imprisoned, exiled, or killed for the crime of speaking inconvenient truths to power.
Donald Trump used it to describe CNN and The New York Times.
Over the course of his first term, Trump invoked the phrase more than 30 times. The cumulative effect was not merely rhetorical. The Committee to Protect Journalists — an organization that usually focuses on journalists imprisoned in Russia, China, and Turkey — for the first time in its history issued public warnings about press freedom in the United States.
The Authoritarian Echo
The most direct damage was not to the American press, which retained its institutional protections. It was to press freedom globally.
Reporters Without Borders documented a specific pattern: authoritarian governments cited Trump's "enemy of the people" rhetoric when justifying crackdowns on their own journalists. Leaders in Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, and elsewhere told international critics that if the American president called his own press enemies, the criticism of their more systematic suppressions rang hollow. Trump's rhetoric provided global diplomatic cover for the imprisonment of journalists.
Concrete Attacks
Beyond rhetoric, the first-term press attacks had concrete manifestations. The White House attempted to bar major outlets from briefings. It threatened NBC's broadcast license in apparent retaliation for critical reporting. It revoked a reporter's credentials and required a court order to restore them. Trump and his allies repeatedly called for legal changes to make it easier to sue journalists, including relaxing the actual-malice standard that protects reporting on public figures.
None of these measures ultimately succeeded in their stated purpose. But their cumulative effect on the relationship between the executive branch and the independent press was documented by every major press freedom organization: the United States, during the Trump first term, moved in the direction of the countries it had historically criticized.
International law engaged
| Instrument | Provision | What it protects or prohibits |
|---|---|---|
| International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | Article 19 | Right to freedom of expression and information — including freedom of the press and protection from state interference with journalism |
| Universal Declaration of Human Rights | Article 19 | Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media |
Update log
-
Updated with full first-term press freedom record through election day.
Sequence of events
-
First 'enemy of the people' tweet
Trump tweets that 'FAKE NEWS media' — specifically naming NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and the New York Times — is 'the enemy of the American People.' It is the first presidential use of the phrase since the McCarthy era; the phrase's specific association with Stalinist purges and Maoist cultural revolution propaganda is immediately noted by historians.
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CNN, NYT, others barred from White House gaggle
The White House bars CNN, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, and BuzzFeed from an informal press briefing (gaggle) with press secretary Sean Spicer — the first exclusion of major outlets from a White House briefing in recent memory.
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Trump threatens NBC broadcast license
After NBC reports on a story about Trump wanting a tenfold increase in nuclear weapons, Trump tweets: 'With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!' First Amendment scholars and broadcast law experts note the threat is itself a potential First Amendment violation.
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CNN's Jim Acosta credentials revoked
The White House revokes CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials after a contentious press conference, claiming he placed his hands on a White House intern in a widely-disputed characterization of video footage. A federal judge orders the credentials restored 12 days later, finding the revocation violated due process.
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Trump calls for New York Times investigation
After the Times publishes a story on Trump's tax losses, Trump calls the story 'treason' and suggests the government should investigate the journalists involved — one of multiple instances of Trump suggesting legal action against reporters for critical coverage.
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Trump threatens to prorogue Congress to prevent journalist oversight
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump's hostility toward journalists covering pandemic failures intensifies; he and his allies discuss using presidential authority to declare Congress in recess specifically to prevent oversight hearings that might feature critical journalists as witnesses.
Sources
- Trump's assault on the press — one year review — Committee to Protect Journalists
- 2020 Press Freedom Index — United States — Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
- 'Enemy of the People': Trump Breaks With Decades of Presidential Rhetoric — The New York Times
- Trump threatens to revoke NBC's broadcast license — The Washington Post
- AP analysis: Trump's 'enemy of the people' attacks echo authoritarianism — The Associated Press