Trump has embraced terminology that has long been stigmatized.
In his Inaugural Address, he boomed out his endorsement of “America First!” Did he know the historical use of that phrase? Did he know that it was used by isolationists in the late 1930s who wanted America to stay out of the war beginning in Europe? Did he know of its association with isolationism and anti-Semitism? Did Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, who allegedly wrote the speech, know?
Now he refers to the free press as “an enemy of the people.” Journalists who criticize him are vendors of “fake news” and thus “enemies of the people.” The New York Times says the phrase was frequently used by Stalin to demonized opponents as “enemies of the people.”
“The phrase was too toxic even for Nikita Khrushchev, a war-hardened veteran communist not known for squeamishness. As leader of the Soviet Union, he demanded an end to the use of the term “enemy of the people” because “it eliminated the possibility of any kind of ideological fight.”
“The formula ‘enemy of the people,’” Mr. Khrushchev told the Soviet Communist Party in a 1956 speech denouncing Stalin’s cult of personality, “was specifically introduced for the purpose of physically annihilating such individuals” who disagreed with the supreme leader.
“It is difficult to know if President Trump is aware of the historic resonance of the term, a label generally associated with despotic communist governments rather than democracies. But his decision to unleash the terminology has left some historians scratching their heads. Why would the elected leader of a democratic nation embrace a label that, after the death of Stalin, even the Soviet Union found to be too freighted with sinister connotations?”
Does Trump know that he is echoing the terminology of Stalin? Has anyone told him?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
‘Enemy of the People’ is title of a Play by Scandinavian playwright of 19th Century, but used later (frequently) by dictators like Stalin …etc. I don’t believe Trotsky used that term.
LikeLike
Henri Ibsen wrote the play of that title but I doubt Stalin read Ibsen. Even if he did, the phrase was a justification for eradicating enemies of the dictator
LikeLike
Ibsen’s play is about a doctor who discovers a bacterial contamination in a town’s therapeutic baths and how his brother, the mayor, and the townspeople turn against him to save their tourism. Stalin’s use of the term was coincidental. I also doubt that Donald read the play—or anything else, for that matter.
LikeLike
Remarkable that the demagogue who has encouraged so much hatred in this country will be speaking to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. Are there any senators and congresspersons ready to defy him and walk out in protest when he enters the chamber? We can’t allow this stain on our nation to occur without protest.
Today, thanks to the ugly bigotry Trump has unleashed across America,another Jewish cemetary, this one in Philadelphia, was brutally vandalized last night. Almost 100 gravestones were broken and toppled:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Cops-Report-of-vandalism-at-Jewish-cemetery.html
It can’t be that the free press which shines a light on these outrages is an enemy of the people, and the fact that the person who was elected president does not understand this is only more proof that he was elected with Putin’s help to be Putin’s puppet.
LikeLike
How, exactly, is that the POTUS’ fault? Just recently, he denounced these types of actions and said that it cannot be tolerated. It seems to match more with allowing people to vent their frustrations [Ferguson, Baltimore] then it connects to the POTUS.
LikeLike
A picture tweeted says a thousand words.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qaF5oEpFUV5mfuaozAvLqaocT8dTZURnjKJdHCFeLBJhewEZZYDtzFzoDUBDRwKYqlkTd0KOvhDpsj1S4jPX13NWGBdUwxFN9exNF5Ejd8vAIHggf1ke9vNcltqEAA2-AHBZOLU8
LikeLike
His chief strategist is Steve Bannon. He of Breitbart News. Whether you think Bannon is or isn’t an anti-Semite or that Breitbart is or isn’t a news source is a moot point. The fact is that Breitbart is a sounding board for white supremacist/neo-Nazi groups who are anti-Semetic.
Choosing Bannon for such a high post (and then “unknowingly” appointing him to the NSC) sends a very strong message those who hate Jews, blacks, hispanics, etc.
LikeLike
Can you please give us a reference to what you said about Frank Marshall Davis in a post further down? TIA, Duane
LikeLike
Stan, was Kristallnacht just allowing people to vent their frustrations? Is that what they are teaching in NYC public schools these days?
Trump’s history of using bigotry to get elected, beginning with his leadership of the birther movement and use of anti-immigrant and other nativist appeals during his campaign, is inexcusable and gives license to the haters in this country to openly exercise their hatred. What he says now is of no matter.
LikeLike
Stan,
Somehow I doubt you are a NYC teacher. It took Trump a long time to distance himself from the KKK or to denounce anti-Semitism. His followers of the far right understood that as his support.
LikeLike
Duane E Swacker
It was a right wing rant by Giuliani and the right wing rant machine .
Like many Davis had associations with communists but was not a communist in active support of Stalin . That was a shameful period in American history that persecuted people for their economic beliefs . Forbid union leaders from associating with communists until the supreme court declared that loyalty oath illegal, in the early sixties .
But here is the great part they call him an associate an advisor. He was dead in 1987 . Obama who moved to California in 79 at the age of 17-18 had not seen him since HS.
These putzes have the deluded base thinking the guy was a close advisor in the White House . Don’t you just love FOX News .
How is O’Reilly’s Swedish expert doing .
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/25/who-is-nils-bildt-swedish-national-security-advisor-interviewed-by-fox-news-is-a-mystery-to-swedes/
LikeLike
Of course, Trump and his regime know exactly what they are saying. They are using the coded language of the White Supremacists and anti-democratic Putin. Putin has been funding nativist and authoritarian extremist groups all over Europe. Trump deliberately mentioned Sweden on Friday as a way to attack a successful liberal democratic society. Putin’s cynical goal is to destroy every successful democratic society left in the world. Putin wants to prove to his country and the entire world that Liberal Western Democracy is a failure.
LikeLike
So far the Republicans in Congress are proving Putin right.
LikeLike
Agree. Bannon is calling the shots. Of course, to answer Diane’s question of whether Trump knows he is echoing Stalin – probably not. They just tell him what to say one sentence at a time.
LikeLike
The Enemy of the People is Orwellian, too. In “1984,” Emmanuel Goldstein is the symbolic (and fictitious) Enemy of the People. On a daily basis, members of the Party assemble to direct their collective animus at Goldstein during the mandatory “Two Minutes Hate.” When Trump stirred up his mob at his rally last week, they returned to their pre-election chant, “Lock her up! Lock her up!” It was then that I was reminded of “1984.” Are Trump rallies and Trump tweets the new Two Minutes Hate? Are Hillary Clinton and the media the new Emmanuel Goldsteins? Will the American people become the ignorant, gullible proles, blissfully unaware of the machinations of Big Brother’s evil regime?
LikeLike
Good catch.
😎
LikeLike
To answer your last question, Danielle:
The vast majority already are that ignorant, gullible. To make it worse the vast majority believe in “American Exceptionalism”-Big Brother’s Amurikan Narrative.
That Narrative has been being written since the beginning of the country, after all “God has blessed this country” (TIC-said as facetiously as possible).
LikeLike
Duane E Swacker
You might like this . As a morning pick me up. But what ever you do don’t go see him in a performance today.
LikeLike
Thanks, Joel!!
Having spent my formative years (age 10-20) from ’65 to ’75 and having older brothers and sisters, I was exposed to quite a bit of different music with Dylan being just one of many. As I like to read the lyrics (been known to get a few wrong over the years) here are the lyrics:
Oh my name it ain’t nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I was taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side
Oh, the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh, the country was young
With God on its side
The Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War, too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I was made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side
The First World War, boys
It came and it went
The reason for fighting
I never did get
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead
When God’s on your side
The Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And then we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now, too
Have God on their side
I’ve learned to hate the Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side
But now we got weapons
Of chemical dust
If fire them, we’re forced to
Then fire, them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side
Through many a dark hour
I’ve been thinkin’ about this
That Jesus Christ was
Betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
That if God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war
LikeLike
One of the most important songs ever written. Here’s my favorite version by Buddy Miller. Duane, thought you’d like the Spanish translation:
LikeLike
Muchas gracias.
LikeLike
One rare point of disagreement, Joel, I’ve seen Dylan live three time in the past six years and I still love his gravely old voice. I love all is albums since the late 1990s. But then again, I’m one of the few who liked all of Miles’s phases. I’m an easy musical date.
LikeLike
I’ve read that Rasputin-Goebbels Steve Bannon is a Leninist.
LikeLike
Lloyd, Bannon calls himself a Leninist.
LikeLike
That is, a Bolshevik –one who uses a small cabal to underhandedly engineer the overthrow of a government.
LikeLike
Wasn’t Frank Marshall Davis a close advisor to the prior POTUS? Wasn’t he a communist/Leninist also?
LikeLike
Stan – NYC Public School Teacher
I will try to refrain from throwing vulgarities at you. But you do clearly deserve them.
Davis was an anti Jim Crow writer and activist poet . Who associated with anybody who would fight for civil rights in this country.In his own words “Communists ,Socialists , Trade Unionists or Liberals’. This at a time that Blacks were virtual slaves, whose voting rights and economic access was limited. At a time that Blacks sat on the back of the buss. At a time that elderly Black men had to hop into the street to let me a white 11year old walk by them on the sidewalk in Jacksonville Florida, in 1962.
But to assert that someone who died in 1987 was a close advisor to the President of the United States in 2008 shows the delusional state you and most of the right are in . Davis was a Black friend of the Family in Hawaii who discussed race issues with Barry as a young teenager . A black influence for a YOUNG BLACK TEEN growing up in a white family in a state where Black people were almost as rare as the now extinct DODO bird.
By contrast President F—FaceVon Clownstick is a demagogue who has attacked people solely on a basis of race . Has the support of White Nationalists , Has the so called voice of the Alt Right White Nationalist Steve Bannon as his chief advisor. We see hate crime spiking and the despicables say “Who me “
LikeLike
Joel: great catch of phony baloney Stan. I just did a quick search of Frank Marshall Davis. The right wing sites claim that Davis was the real father of Obama and/or a close mentor. They were both in Hawaii at some point but Obama would have been a kid then. Just more right wing garbage. Davis may have been communist at some point but it’s understandable for the reasons which you illuminated concerning the conditions of blacks in the not so distant past.
LikeLike
Joel and Joe: You gave me a much needed smile today. Funny how Stan tries to create fake history while overlooking the very much documented link between Roy Cohn and Donald.
LikeLike
I think Bannon and Miller know that these are “dog whistle” phrases to keep their base riled up about racial and ethnic issues.
LikeLike
Didn’t trump brag that he didn’t read? This is the kind of ignorance that results. His followers don’t care though. They are members of his cult of personality which every dictator has. I hope the sane Republicans in Congress stand up to him and fight for the American people.
LikeLike
Only if Republicans suffer major losses in 2018 will they have the guts to disown this man.
LikeLike
Some won’t care. They get to carry their Cadillac Health Insurance policy wherever they go, the rest of their lives and will probably land a lucrative job in a lobbying firm or think tank.
LikeLike
Please name the sane Republicans to whom you refer.
LikeLike
An oxymoron, no! (That’s a Spanish no)
LikeLike
Abigail Shure
Teddy Roosevelt perhaps Dwight Eisenhower , Gerald Ford .
Gee a little over a month and I am losing touch with reality. Is Lincoln still alive?
I think that’s part of the plan.
Call congress today. Demand an independent investigation .
LikeLike
Thanks Joel! I meant nowadays.
LikeLike
Abigail Shure
I knew that , I was searching for the last sane Republicans . They are all long dead. Or close to it .
LikeLike
He wouldn’t believe it if he was told. Does anyone think that his actions are similar to when Hitler first started coming into power? It scares me to think what is ahead for my grandchildren.
LikeLike
Judith “Does anyone think that his actions are similar to when Hitler first started coming into power? ”
What is the difference between “America first” and “Deutschland über alles”?
LikeLike
Between 6 and 74 years, depending on what measurement you choose.
LikeLike
84 years. I need to start using my fingers and toes to count.
LikeLike
I bet somebody in Orange Donnie’s staff is already writing the new anthem that will start with “America, America First”.
LikeLike
Gorky wrote a play called “Enemies” that won acclaim. Ibsen’s play was no doubt far from the mind of Stalin or Trump. His phrase surely comes from the attempt to politically isolate his opponents and demonize them using the Fake News Network. Fox feeds snappy retorts to its viewers so they do not have to change their minds. We will not be rid of this group until their organization is called out as Fake.
LikeLike
“. . . is called out as Fake.”
Really, fake? How about 100% Pure Grade AA Bullshit.
LikeLike
Trump is the enema of the people. When the man speaks, he rarely smiles, he rarely exhibits normal human expressions; he grimaces, he scowls, he sneers, he glowers, he appears to have acid reflux, he does Mussolini facial expressions.
LikeLike
“Trump is the enema of the people”
Love it . The visual we will skip.
LikeLike
Help, I’d like to respond to a news article, but feel unqualified.
Full disclosure, I am not an educator, I’m a dental hygienist.
Has anyone seen this article or read Elizabeth Hovde’s opinions, regularly published by The Oregonian?
http://www.oregonlive.com/hovde/index.ssf/2017/02/elizabeth_hovde_with_anti-devo.html
Again and again, The Oregonian leadership continues to print this unintelligent woman’s misinformation. As a writer, a substitute teacher, and self-proclaimed journalist, it is dumbfounding how little she reads!
Ms Hovde writes: ” the shallow arguments against her [Betsy DeVos] and the reflexive opposition inspired this column.” “Their misguided battle focused mostly on the woman’s billionaire* status — always fun for the left to rally against, however uncompelling — and the fact she didn’t send her kids to public school, as if that matters.”
As if that matters? As if it matters?…. Ms Hovde is unconcerned that a public servant at the helm of public schools, personally eschews public education? That’s a seperate conundrum.
For now, the compelling facts are that Betsy DeVos has no experience in the rudiments of education, no pedagogical experience in education, and that she has not published a single academic, peer reviewed, evidence-based or otherwise accepted dissertation on education or anything else for that matter. That should be enough to dismiss Mrs. DeVos. In short, she is uneducated in the field of education. Conservatives, Moderates, and Progressives should expect the Secretary of Education to be experienced and educated in her field. What a strange world we live in, that we are forced to state and restate the obvious.
Is that accurate?
If Ms. Hovde were writing for some local rag, that would be one thing, but my quarrel is with The Oregonian.
The women’s march, teachers’ unions and associations, university professors, writers’ guild, and journalists themselves, unified, might call-out news sources like The Oregonian for subjecting readers to the most abysmal lack of journalistic substance, ethics and integrity.
I am hardly qualified to write to the Oregonian on this subject, but I’m willing if I can suggest better alternative resource for the Oregonian to hire and publish. We must have local education wonks like Diane Ravitch to write for the Oregonian? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. And please, feel free to correct errors in my estimation of Betsy DeVos body of academic work, models, collaborations…
Thanks for any insight you or your readers might share.
Linda
P. S. Interestingly, this blogger shared my opinion of Hovde in 2012.
http://chuckingrocks.com/rant-about-the-oregonians-worst-writer-elizabeth-hovde/
Unfortunately, the blogger and other progressives have been unaware of what George Lakoff** describes as the “strict father” vs “nurturing parent” world view. It explains how facts and information contrary to one’s preconceived worldview is dismissed without regard.
The tea party wins and continues to win by better understanding the strict parent worldview brain, of which, Elizabeth Hovde personifies.
*It is worth noting: Hovde finds rallying against billionaires to be uncompelling evidence.
Conservatives seem to have a fascination with billionaires and a need to defend the wealthy. It appears to be part of their strict father worldview which equates wealth with virtue, with Godliness, seeing wealth as earned through hard work and esteemed to royal status. “The wealthy give so much to charity.” Deserving Billionaires, by virtue of their vast wealth, are smarter, wiser, more attractive, and to be emulated and supported for their good works.
Donald, Warren, Bill&Melinda seem to understand the minds of their loyal subjects and work it to their advantage.
**George Lakoff. https://georgelakoff.com/blog/
https://georgelakoff.com/2017/02/10/ten-points-for-democracy-activists/
LikeLike
Seems to me your 5th para is spot-on & worthy of a letter to the editor.
RE: your last para on the curious phenomenon of conservatives’ knee-jerk admiration of the wealthy. This is complicated & not necessarily connected to Lakoff’s strict-/ nurturing-parent theory.
Among conservatives, you have the small-govt, untrammeled-free-market ideologues, who are wont to ignore the resulting gross social inequities; they will not criticize the wealthy.
Then you have a Christian strain, derived from Calvinists [Betsy DeVos] & Puritans, whose glorification of hard work & frugality– debt is sin, wealth is God’s blessing. That was the foundation for ‘Prosperity theology’ (health & wealth gospel) which morphed thro ‘Word of Faith’ movement to ’80’s televangelism. Tho MS evangelicals denounce it & cling closer to New Testament teachings, it is very widespread & even carried worldwide by missionaries. [I challenge you to drive thro PA w/radio on & not hear a show or two giving investment & tax advice from a Christian station promoting faith = wealth.]
Perhaps most potent of all is poor folks’ need to believe in the American Dream– the belief that opportunity is there, even should chance of success be as minimal as lottery stats. Do not tell them anything bad about the wealthy [the winners of the lottery], for that would deny them any hope of betterment. To me, this is tragic. It means that poor folk ignore current stats placing US lowest among OECD stats for upward mobility– deny their loss of opportunity via 35 yrs of anti-common-good, anti-middle/wkg/poor class legislation ensuring an ever-richer upperclass which uses its wealth to undercut the power of the vote.
LikeLike
Well done!
LikeLike
Diane, don’t know if you’re following this but the stuff coming out about ed reform billionaire Mercer is amazing:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
LikeLike
Yes. It is scary, especially.the convergence of domestic and military teach savvy, use of word walls and sentiment analysis, and access to content that allows profiling of almost all voters in the US with predictive power. The on-going psychological warfare from Bannon/ Trump with some assistance from Eric Kushner and deep pockets of Mercer has not received the exposure it deserves. This link should be circulated.
LikeLike
I’ve been considering cancelling my account with FB since the primaries. This just strengthens my resolve. Much as I love rekindling old friendships, it just seems like the strings attached are getting thicker and thicker. And life was just as meaningful, pre-Facebook, as it is now.
So what did I do? I posted Chiara’s link on my FB page. That’s what.
And I urged all my friends from all political leanings to read it through. I’ve been heavily involved with tech since it’s introduction into education. I know about the uses and abuses and this is a serious addition to the latter.
Excellent article, Chiara. Thanks. And I am even more likely to cancel my account since reading it.
LikeLike
Yet another billionaire to hate: Mercer.
After our victory, the first thing we do is amend the constitution with capping yearly income at $300K. This will insure the impossibility of any individual’s worldwide influence and also makes sure, people do actual work instead of hanging around and shuffle money out of pure boredom. The other amendment will make accumulation of more than $10 million in personal assets a crime.
LikeLike
An Enemy of the People is a play by Ibsen. The protagonist is a whistle blower in a small town who is vilified by the town’s leaders and eventually by the townspeople. Sounds familiar???
LikeLike
I must admit that I shared this post on facebook. Why? Because I thought it to be quite enlightening and educational. Sooooo……
Maybe some political posts here do have some value-LOL!
(just funnin ya Diane)
LikeLike
And already have had a Trumpista say that the post is “silliness” and making something out of nothing. Ay ay ay ay ay!
LikeLike
Y’all have been behaving well and haven’t brought up Hitler yet. I bring him up implicitly with this “Hungary third” video
LikeLike
I declare Goodwin’s Law dead. Bring up the 1930s and Hitler whenever appropriate.
LikeLike
Too late, Diane. Trump already killed Godwin’s Law. 😉
LikeLike
Thanks for that one, Máté!
LikeLike
LOL! Good one, MW.
But I thought that Sweden declared themselves second. Or maybe The Netherlands. Or Belgium. Or Germany. Or any number of other European countries. 😉
LikeLike
I doubt he knows, but then again, I doubt he cares.
LikeLike
Yes. The NY times finally took a look at that phrase, but when Trump said it, the Times included it in an article that normalized it. The article was about how Tump was accustomed to NY Post style flimflam articles, and they mentioned that hateful phrase in passing.
Perhaps, they got a hold this!
watch it. send it to everyone you know.
THIS NEEDS TO GO viral!
DO NOT LET THIS MONSTER GET AWAY WITH SUCH DANGERS RHETORIC
The Mistake Trump Can’t Ever Walk Back | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ – YouTube
LikeLike
What Kind of Man Spends Millions to Elect Ted Cruz?
By Zachary Mider
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2016-01-20/what-kind-of-man-spends-millions-to-elect-ted-cruz-
Bloomberg Politics
The Bizarre Far-Right Billionaire Behind Bannon and rump’s Presidency
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3021
Donald Trump Finds an Easy Mark in Urine Mogul Robert Mercer
Will Brexit Masterminds Work for Trump? – The Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/03/will-brexit-masterminds-work-for-trump.html
“Black Americans for a Better Future” Super PAC 100% Funded by Rich White Guys
LikeLike
I just checked: The gross net worth of all US households, individuals and non-profits is roughly $100 Trillion, which is a lot. Now, if it was magically distributed equally among all of our roughly 80 to 110 million of our putative households (330 miliion people divided into households of various sized, but we’ll use 3 or 4 here), then you get each family being roughly, honest-to-goodness millionaires!
Dang! Each household being worth roughly a million dollars, if it were shared equally?
LikeLike
Well, I hope you are right that Marmalade Mussolini won’t be able to finish his teerm. Unfortunatley, there have always been quite a lot of fascists in America.
LikeLike
“Marmalade Mussolini”
I like this one and apparently it’s already popular on the net. Here is the facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/marmalademusso/
The profile pic is priceless
Here is the very first picture I see on the wall
Just two more
LikeLike
This is weird: the links to the pics got removed. I try again:
LikeLike