Ennemi du Peuple
Robespierre is a name that has become synonymous with terror. He was a leading member of the “Committee on Public Safety” during the French Revolution, the group whose goal was to seek out enemies of the Revolution, and destroy them. The Reign of Terror was supposed to end opposition with death on the Guillotine; more than 16,000 died. The greatest crime: to be declared an “ennemi du people,” an enemy of the people. The Reign of Terror only ended when the “Committee” came for Robespierre himself.
In the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin used the term to define everyone who opposed his rule: “…all leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party, a party filled with enemies of the people, are hereby to be considered outlaws, and are to be arrested immediately and brought before the revolutionary court.” Enemies of the people were sent to the infamous Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, or to the Gulag, or to their deaths.
The term was later enshrined in Article 20 of the Constitution of the Soviet Union, but became so enmeshed with Stalin’s terror and purges, that after his death Nikita Khrushchev called for an end to the use of it, stating:
“…the formula ‘enemy of the people’ was specifically introduced for the purpose of physically annihilating such individuals who disagreed with Stalin.”
Mao Zedong (I know I’m old but it is difficult not to type Mao Tse-Tung) used the phrase to describe: “…social forces and groups which resist the socialist revolution and are hostile to or sabotage socialist construction are all enemies of the people.”
“Enemy of the People” is a term enshrined in revolutionary fervor, and corrupted by a history of sudden imprisonment and arbitrary death. So it should cause dismay that the President of the United States, representing the nation of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; tweeted the following:
The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
(Donald Trump Tweet – 2/20/19)
Americans have been overwhelmed with the coarseness of our recent political discourse. We have a President who has discussed the relative size of his…hand…in public debate. We have become inured to “fifth grade” insults and petty complaints. But, just because the President pretends to have no sense of the history loading his terms, it doesn’t mean we should let him get away with it. A President using the term “enemy of the people” to describe a newspaper he doesn’t like, raises the specter of censorship and absolutism.
In our era of hyper politicization, it is easy to stir the base, on both sides. This week a Coast Guard officer was arrested with multiple semi-automatic weapons, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and a list of Democratic and liberal media targets on his “hit list.” Donald Trump is not telling this guy to go shoot people, but he is a big cause of an environment that encourages extremism. If the New York Timesis an enemy of the people, then so are MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough, and CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Van Jones; all on the officer’s “hit list.”
Robespierre, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Trump: like it or not, they all were willing to make the charge “enemy of the people.” The first four acted on that charge with terror and death. Ignorance is not an excuse for the President of the United States. He is willing to “ride the tiger,” to reach into the dark recesses of history to attack his perceived enemies. The problem: as President he’s taking us all on that ride.
- A little “Inside Baseball”
Anyone who reads “Trump World” with any regularity knows that I am a frequent MSNBC viewer. It’s on now, and most of the time in our house. From the time our young Yellow Lab Atticus sticks his nose in my face early in the morning: it’s food for him, coffee for me, and Morning Joe in my office.
This morning I listened to Mika and Joe complaining about the rush of many to condemn the apparent attack on Justin Smollett, the actor who claimed he was racially assaulted in Chicago. Now it appears Smollett may have orchestrated his own assault, and Mika and Joe scolded liberals for leaping to believe his story.
Mika specifically linked it to those who believed in the Kavanaugh accusers, saying that their protests made it difficult for their friend Claire McCaskill in Missouri to gain re-election to the Senate. But I remember well Mika’s own support for the women accusing Kavanaugh (a support well deserved in my opinion.) It seems that Joe and Mika are rewriting history.
It’s not the first time. In 2015 and early 2016, Morning Joe gave Donald Trump an open “mike” on the show. Trump called in often, and talked for extended periods of time. While the show offered others similar time, it was Trump who used their airtime to make his case. He got millions of dollars of free time. Later, after the election of Trump as President, Joe and Mika scolded America for not taking Trump seriously, glossing over their own role in his rise.
Atticus and I will still watch Morning Joe in the morning – but we don’t want to shoulder the blame for what Joe and Mika do.
