“Vrag naroda” is Russian for “Enemy of the People.” I didn’t pull the phrase from some online English-to-Russian translation engine. It is, or was, a much used term in the Soviet Union to describe people who the leadership believed were dangerous and were sent away to some distant prison camp, or executed. Until Stalin died, anyway. Nikita Khrushchev, when he came to power, decided to tone down the rhetoric a bit, because he thought Enemy of the People “eliminated the possibility of any kind of ideological fight.”
Trump apparently disagrees with Krushchev. He thinks Enemy of the People is an excellent term to use against people, like journalists, who state facts or espouse views he finds objectionable.
A few weeks ago when I wrote about the literary antecedent of Trump’s use of the phrase—Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People—I was being too clever by half. It’s true that Ibsen uses the term ironically to refer to people who try to tell the truth—journalists, scientists, whistleblowers—and are condemned for their efforts by the powers that be, just like Trump is doing. But really, that was an English major/English teacher showing off. Far more important is the Soviet Russia reference, given the Trump campaign and administration’s many ties to Russia. Trump, I’m certain, didn’t pull the phrase out of thin air, any more than the use of the word “purge” to describe the ousting of people suspected of loyalty to Obama from positions of influence is a coincidence. It’s a chilling reminder of the close philosophical, ideological and personal connections between the people surrounding Trump and Russia.
I’m generally not much of a conspiracy theorist. I prefer something like concrete proof over linkages and associations and “What if’s” and Maybe’s, even when it looks like, y’know, there might be something there. But with the number of dots and lines and ven diagrams linking Trump people to Russia directly and indirectly, it’s harder to deny it than to believe we very probably have Russia connections circling the White House which pose a serious, imminent danger to the U.S.
And the number of people with connections to Russia is making me lean toward the “empty vessel” concept to explain what Donald Trump says and does. Trump’s only real idea is winning. Everything else is flexible. So people around him can tell him, “This is what you need to do, or say, to win,” and if it sounds good, he’ll use it. He’s got a great ear for the perfect put-down and an uncanny ability to say it in ways that make it stick. So whether it’s his idea or someone else’s, whether it’s fact-based or far-right-wing drivel coming from breitbart.com or some raving radio lunatic, if Trump thinks it’ll help turn Trump into a winner and turn someone else into a loser, that’s good enough for him.
And that, I’m beginning to think, is why terms like Enemy of the People and “purge” keep cropping up, why Trump adopts Putin’s statements about the moral equivalence between the U.S. and Russia almost word for word: “We’ve got a lot of killers [in the U.S.]. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?” People around him who love the idea of autocratic leadership and look to Putin as a role model and potential ally fling around Putin-esque ideas and phrases when they’re talking with Trump, and they sink in and become part of his vocabulary and thought process. Though Trump is not a stupid man by any means, it could be that to brainwash him verbally and ideologically takes less of a “wash” than a light rinse.
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2017.
David that’s the first time I have seen anybody accuse you of being too clever. Even if it was you that did it. I think it’s a first. Keep plugging away little buddy.
On the subject of “this is what you need to say to win” and that-thing-that-you-need-to-say-to-win having zero truth value, I wonder what David thinks of the following statements:
“Rachael Sedgwick is a white supremacist.”
“The new TUSD Board majority wanted to fire Sanchez because he was a Hispanic.”
It will never cease to amaze me how relentlessly David Safier delights in occupying himself with pitching his judgmental, holier-than-thou stones through the walls of the glass house house he and his friends live in.
No need to respond to questions in the comment streams, David. We know it’s beneath you.
(Or is it, perhaps, above him?)
The longer people, especially the media, focus on the President and what he says — whether in public, in the press or during his frequent Twitter tirades — the more time those actually running things behind the scene will have to do irreparable damage to the United States and its people.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, the President said and did whatever he needed to get elected. Now that it is painfully obvious that making good on his promises will be another exercise in obfuscating language, alternative facts and post-truth rhetoric the media and the people need to focus on what he is actually doing.
Hint: he’s not doing much other than letting others systematically tear down and remove the checks and balances that used to keep the government from figuratively and actually destroying Americans lives.
As nationalism sweeps the globe here and abroad, conditions for another World War are quickly taking shape both geo-politically and economically. They say the price of freedom is vigilance, but right now this country’s leaders are drunk with power, flying down the road of an uncertain future, pedal to the metal, conspiracy radio blaring and smashing every mailbox along the way, especially those filled with rules, regulations, laws and copies of the United States Constitution.
Looks like the tin foil hats have moved to the other’s heads. The comment above was exactly the same about Obama. Nothing is ever as bad, or good, as we think it is. I am going to enjoy the show, and stay out of the way.
Just like Obama was a Communist Kenyan. It’s always easy to see nefarious motivations in those you disagree with.
Are you saying that Obama did not have loyalties to Kenya?