Arizona lawmaker Jeff Flake compared Donald Trump to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on Wednesday, delivering a blistering attack on the president to a nearly empty U.S. Senate chamber.

The Republican has become one of Trump's favorite targets, earning a presidential nickname – 'Jeff Flakey' – since his impending retirement has freed him to openly castigate the White House on several fronts.

'It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies,' Flake said, citing a Trump tweet in which he branded five news outlets 'the enemy of the American people.'

Flake said that 'so fraught with malice was the phrase "enemy of the people" that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of "annihilating such individuals" who disagreed with the supreme leader.'

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Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, said Wednesday on the Senate floor that President Donald Trump's attacks on the media put him in the same category as Soviet despot Joseph Stalin

Flake says Trump 'uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies' – referring to his description of five news outlets as the 'enemy of the American people'

'We are in an era in which the authoritarian impulse is reasserting itself,' Flake claimed.

Only two senators, Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, attended the 15-minute speech that was highly anticipated by reporters and editors.

But Flake let his disdain for the Trump White House show, saying that 'the free press is the despot's enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy.'

The White House fired back hours later, noting that Flake had visited Cuba this month for a trip in which he defended the communist government there over accusations that it had made American diplomats ill with an unspecified 'sonic weapon.'

'He's the one who was recently defending an actually oppressive regime,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said during a briefing on Wednesday. 'He went to Cuba a few weeks ago and served as a mouthpiece for the oppressive Cuban government.'

'He's not criticizing the president because he's against oppression,' Sanders insisted. 'He's criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers. And he is, I think, looking for some attention.'

'He's criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers. And he is, I think, looking for some attention,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said of Flake

Flake spoke to a handful of reporters who followed him out of the Senate chamber on Wednesday

Flake's speech came on the day the White House has promised to bestow 'Fake News Awards' on reporters the president loves to hate.

'The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!,' Trump said last week on Twitter.

But the White House said Tuesday that it was merely a 'potential event.'

By Wednesday, Trump officials were saying the awards were back on.

'We are very excited about the Fake News Awards. ... There'll be an announcement a little bit later,' deputy press secretary Raj Shah told Fox News in the early afternoon.

'We'll keep you guys posted,' Sanders added. 'It'll be something later today.'

Trump has promised to hand out 'Fake News Awards' on Wednesday, hours after Flake blasted his use of the term

Trump said last year that five media outlets are not his enemy, but 'the enemy of the American people'

Flake said 'it beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle, but here we are.'

'When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn't suit him "fake news",' he added, 'it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.'

Flake announced in October that he would not run for re-election, citing the 'alarming and dangerous state of affairs' under the Trump administration and blaming fellow Republicans for their 'complicity.'

The senator had no practical chance of winning another term, according to most political analysts.

But he upbraided his fellow lawmakers for failing to stand in Trump's way.

Senators Dick Durbin and Amy Klobuchar, both Democrats, were the only lawmakers who attended Flake's speech

'An American president 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. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger,' Flake declared.

On Tuesday night The Washington Post published an op-ed by John McCain, Flake's fellow Arizona senator, complaining about Trump's treatment of the political press and saying the president is setting a dangerous tone for despots 'who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.'

'While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets,' he wrote.

'The phrase "fake news" – granted legitimacy by an American president – is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens,' McCain added.