In speech to Senate, Flake said president’s use of terms ‘fake news’ and ‘enemy of the people’ should be source of shame for Republicans

Donald Trump’s use of the terms “fake news” and “enemy of the people” is shameful and reminiscent of words used by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies, Republican senator Jeff Flake said Wednesday.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Flake, of Arizona, called Trump’s repeated attacks on the media “repulsive” and said Trump “has it precisely backward”. Despotism is the enemy of the people, while a free press is the despot’s enemy and a guardian of democracy, Flake said.

Flake, a frequent Trump critic who is retiring this year, said that when Trump calls news stories he doesn’t like “fake news,” he “should be the figure of suspicion, not the press”.

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Noting that Trump said he would give out awards for “the most corrupt and dishonest” media, Flake said “it beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle”.

Trump had said he would announce the mock awards on Wednesday. It did not appear on his official schedule but White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at the daily briefing: “It’ll be something later today. I know you’re all waiting to see if you’re big winners, I’m sure.”

Flake has said he is not comparing Trump to Stalin, who was responsible for the deaths of millions. But he said Trump’s use of a term favored by the Soviet dictator – “enemy of the people” – is chilling.



Flake said: “This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the president’s party.”

Arizona’s other Republican senator, John McCain, also decried Trump’s use of the term “fake news”. He said Trump was encouraging autocrats around the world “to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens”.

In an opinion column in the Washington Post, McCain said Trump’s attempts to undermine the free press “make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable”. Constant cries of “fake news” undercut legitimate reporting and “strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent”, McCain wrote.

The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated Jeff Flake

Flake said Trump’s first year in office “was a year which saw the truth – objective, empirical, evidence-based truth – more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government.”

Trump’s use of the term “fake news” has encouraged authoritarian leaders around the world, who now routinely dismiss criticism as “fake news”, Flake and McCain said, citing comments by Syrian president Bashar Assad, Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte and Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, among others.

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Flake also denounced Trump’s frequent claim that investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election are a “hoax” and said ignoring or denying the truth about Russia’s actions leaves the US vulnerable to future attacks.

“We know that the attacks orchestrated by the Russian government during the election were real and constitute a grave threat to both American sovereignty and to our national security,” Flake said, yet Trump has done little or nothing to investigate the Russians or defend America against future attacks.

A president, such as Trump, who cannot take criticism, “who must constantly deflect and distort and distract – who must find someone else to blame – is charting a very dangerous path,” Flake said. “And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger.”

The White House responded with a bitter attack of its own. Sanders drew attention to Flake’s recent trip to Cuba, where press freedom has long been curbed and journalists harassed or detained by the communist government.

“I found it quite interesting that he is coming out to attack this president considering he’s one that was recently defending an actually oppressive regime,” the press secretary said. “He went to Cuba a few weeks ago and served as a mouthpiece for the oppressive Cuban government.”

Flake, who has long advocated improved relations with Cuba, met high-ranking officials there earlier this month. At the time, he said classified US briefings gave him no reason to doubt Havana’s denial that it was behind a mystery illness that struck American diplomats.

Sanders called Flake’s speech “unforunate”. “He’s not criticising the president because he’s against oppression,” she said. “He’s criticising the president because he has terrible poll numbers and he is, I think, looking for some attention.”

Speaking a day after the presidential physician took questions about Trump’s health during an unprecedented hour-long briefing, Sanders insisted: “Certainly I think our position here at the White House is that we welcome access to the media every day. I’m standing right here taking questions. The president does so regularly and to act as if we’re anything but open to that back and forth exchange is utterly ridiculous.”