Short-timer Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), whose dismal polling numbers show that even his Arizona Mormon constituency wants a more conservative model, is lashing out at President Trump – again. Taking the Senate floor, Flake recently used his dwindling time in the limelight to whine about the president and compare his distaste for many in the media as "Fake News," even going so far as to compare him to Joseph Stalin.
Yes, that Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the United Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929-1953, responsible for the deaths of 20 million people (although many estimates suggest this figure could be as high as 55-60 million such as Dyadkin, I.G. (Demograficheskaya statistika neyestestvennoy smertnosti v SSSR 1918-1956 ). Yeah, even the Democrats shied away from repeating that eyebrow-raising assessment. But Flakey Jeff (and let's not disparage the Burger chain of a similar name, as they are scrumptious) cannot help himself, and he apparently wants to make a memorable exit from his so-called public service.
A whopping one senator (Dick Durbin-D-IL) and a handful of media folks (already packing to leave the chambers) were on hand to personally hear Flake’s impassioned remarks prompted in part by President Trump’s “Fake Media Awards” and Flake’s own desire to stay relevant. But other news organizations were airing it live, and now we have a boorish discussion on one excerpt delivered by Flake: “The enemy of the people,” was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017.” Followed by this literary gem:
“Mr. President, 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. 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 won’t make a list here, but it seems “enemy of the people” has perhaps been overused to the point of not making much of an impact in this situation. In fact, if you search for the phrase, you may garner 78,100,000 results in 0.61 seconds—at least I did. And neither Stalin nor Trump made the first page.
And Mr. Flake, you soon-to-be-regular guy -- you are becoming quite tiring to the rest of us with your non-stop pandering to our friends on the left in the fourth estate. Not every news reporter, editor or publisher seeks the truth; in fact, we have found and are not afraid to call out those who conveniently fabricate the news to coincide with their own narrative.
In his tirade against our duly-elected president, Flake also compares Trump to some of the other dictators and despots seeking to annihilate their enemies and take over the world:
“In February…Syrian President Bashar Assad brushed off an Amnesty International report that some 13,000 people had been killed at one of his military prisons by saying, “You can forge anything these days, we are living in a fake news era.”
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has complained of being “demonized” by “fake news.” Last month, the report continues, with our President, quote “laughing by his side” Duterte called reporters “spies.”
In July, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro complained to the Russian propaganda outlet, that the world media had “spread lots of false versions, lots of lies” about his country, adding, “This is what we call 'fake news' today, isn't it?”
“A state official in Myanmar recently said, “There is no such thing as Rohingya. It is fake news,” referring to the persecuted ethnic group.
Leaders in Singapore, a country known for restricting free speech, have promised “fake news” legislation in the new year.”
Let me remind you that free speech is a two-way street. If the press can write anything they want, including the overuse of the phrase “unnamed sources” when perhaps there weren’t any sources besides Joey from the mailroom, then Trump can rebuff and call many in the media fake. Even the Democrats have learned to take our president figuratively rather than literally.
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