Both sides of politics have launched a full frontal attack on US President Donald Trump over his proposed fake news awards for dishonest reporting, with Republican senator Jeff Flake comparing Mr Trump to Josef Stalin.

Key points: Senator Flake has been a vocal Donald Trump critic

Senator Flake has been a vocal Donald Trump critic Donald Trump tweeted that he would announce fake news awards today

Donald Trump tweeted that he would announce fake news awards today Both Stalin and Mr Trump called the media an "enemy of the people"

In a rare intra-party rebuke from the Senate floor, Senator Flake said Mr Trump's portrayal of the press as "the enemy of the people" and repeated White House references to "fake news" and "alternative facts" spur copycats such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Stalin, who led the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until he died in 1953, used the phrase "enemy of the people" to describe those he wanted annihilated.

Mr Trump's embrace of the phrase "should be a source of great shame", Senator Flake said.

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was quick to hit back on Twitter saying to compare the US President to dictators was absurd.

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Mr Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders also attacked Senator Flake.

"He's not criticising the President because he's against oppression. He's criticising the President because he has terrible poll numbers," she said.

"And I think he's looking for some attention.

"I think it's unfortunate and certainly our position here at the White House is that we welcome access to the media everyday."

A number of academic studies have found the amount of negative press given to the Trump administration far outweighs that endured by previous presidents.

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Democrats were quick to join the pile on, including Senator Dick Durbin, who has publicly clashed with the President over what words he used when describing Haiti and Africa.

"We cannot allow this regiment of fake news and alternative fakes and words like those to diminish our commitment to the basic constitutional protection of freedom of the press," Senator Durbin said.

"It is essential to the future of our democracy."

Senator Flake, 55, an Arizona conservative who has frequently feuded with Mr Trump, in October described himself as out of step with his party and said would not seek re-election. His term ends in January 2019.

"Not only has the past year seen an American President borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians … This is reprehensible," Senator Flake said.

In February 2017, Mr Trump tweeted that "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people!"

Attacks on the media in response to critical stories have remained a staple of his Twitter feed.

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That same month, Mr Assad was quoted as dismissing charges of human rights violations at a military prison as "fake news".

In the Philippines, Mr Duterte has also lashed out at a "fake news outlet" known for challenging his Government.

Noting Mr Trump has said he will give out awards for "the most corrupt and dishonest" media, Senator Flake said "it beggars belief that an American President would engage in such a spectacle".

In his clashes with Mr Trump, Senator Flake has called his behaviour sometimes "reckless, outrageous and undignified" and criticised the President in a book that made the New York Times best-seller list last year.

On Twitter, Mr Trump has referred to the senator as "Flake(y)" and said Senator Flake dropped his re-election bid because he was doomed to lose.

US late night talk shows have been helping build anticipation about the President's proposed fake news media awards with comedians Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon staging their own awards.

Mr Trump had tweeted his awards for dishonest and corrupt reporting would be today but so far there has been no confirmation from the White House that they will actually go ahead.

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