The phrase the president has repeatedly said in his attacks on the media was used by dictators including Stalin and Mao
Donald Trump’s repeated use of the phrase “enemies of the people” in his attacks on the media has stoked anger and fear not only because of general concerns that he is demonising a pillar of American democracy, but because of its echoes of totaliariansim.
The phrase has old roots, even appearing in a Shakespeare play, but it became well known in the 20th century when it was adopted by dictators from Stalin to Mao, and Nazi propagandists, to justify their murderous purges of millions.
Stalin was perhaps most closely associated with the phrase, which successor Nikita Khrushchev specifically denounced in a landmark speech after Stalin’s death, which he used to begin dismantling the dictator’s poisonous legacy.
“Stalin originated the concept ‘enemy of the people’. This term automatically made it unnecessary that the ideological errors of a man be proven,” Khrushchev said in his secret address to the Communist party’s inner circle.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/03/trump-enemy-of-the-people-meaning-history
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