It’s being reported that Jeff Flake will make an unsettling comparison between Trump and Stalin in an upcoming speech, suggesting that Trump’s comments against the media match those used by Joseph Stalin:
FOX NEWS – Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., will make a speech scheduled for Wednesday where he will compare President Trump’s concerns of media objectivity to similar comments made by communist dictator Joseph Stalin.
Flake, a fervent critic of the Trump administration, is set to give the speech the same day Trump is expected to announce the winners of the so-called “fake news” awards.
The senator will use his speech to condemn Trump’s attacks on the press and for calling it “the enemy of the American people.”
In the draft of the speech, obtained by The Washington Post, Flake will then compare Trump’s comments to statements made by Stalin, who is responsible for the murder of millions.
“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,” the senator is expected to say, according to the excerpts published by the Post.
“It bears noting 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.”
I’ve said before that Trump goes to far with the media and we all remember that facepalm moment where Trump actually threatened using the federal government to get back at the media via their FCC licenses. Trump is worthy of criticism in his dealings with the press, as they are in their dealings with him.
That said, this is a ridiculous comparison. As Instapundit and others tweeted:
https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/952716435830263808
You can constructively criticize the president without making illusory correlations like this. Sorry, but comparing him to Stalin is wrong and dangerous. (Granddaughter of Stalin gulag survivor here.) https://t.co/I4UYmXPflr
— Gabriella Hoffman (@Gabby_Hoffman) January 15, 2018
If he’s actually stupid enough to do this, @JeffFlake may very well be the stupidest person in the history of a vile city that draws stupid people like flies.
— Seton Motley (@SetonMotley) January 15, 2018
November can’t get here fast enough - so that we may be rid of this moron. https://t.co/Bmj1xqC6S4
Flake is losing his mind over Trump. I get that he doesn’t like Trump, but these kind of comparisons make him look like he’s got a vendetta to settle with Trump and that he’s willing to say anything to get back at Trump, no matter how dishonest. Or, that he’s actually trying to help out his Democratic senate colleagues by disparaging Trump in an election year. Either way, Flake is pretty reprehensible these days.