Press Freedom: 'Enemy of the People' and Systematic Media Attacks

Overview

"Enemy of the people" is a phrase with a history. Stalin used it. Mao used it. It names a category of person whose elimination is politically justified. Trump applied it to journalists at least 26 times.

The context matters because the phrase was not accidental. It was a specific choice with specific historical associations, applied to a specific target.

The Pattern

Trump's press attacks were not random. They followed a recognizable structure: label the organization as fake, label the journalists as enemies, cheer when they're threatened, and restrict formal access when the reporting becomes inconvenient.

CNN's Jim Acosta had his credentials revoked and had them restored by court order. Briefings were suspended for weeks. Pool access was restricted. The result was a press corps that covered a president who had made threatening them part of his governing style.

The Global Effect

What happened in the United States did not stay there. The Committee to Protect Journalists documented a specific phenomenon: authoritarian governments adopted the "fake news" vocabulary in their own press restrictions. When Trump called the New York Times the enemy of the people, the vocabulary was available to every government that wanted to expel a journalist or shut down a newspaper.

The CPJ documented instances in China, Russia, Myanmar, and elsewhere where the "fake news" label was used explicitly — sometimes citing Trump — to justify actions against the press.

The Endorsement

In May 2019, Trump praised a congressman who had assaulted a journalist. "Any guy that can do a body slam," Trump said, "he's my kind of guy." The crowd cheered. Greg Gianforte was later elected governor of Montana.