A concept with almost religious overtones, reminiscent of the raging anti-communism of the 1950s: for several months, Donald Trump has mentioned in his speeches an “enemy from within” as vague as it is sinister.
“There is Russia, there is China. But with an intelligent president, it’s actually quite easy to manage,” he said, for example, in an interview broadcast on Fox on Sunday.
“The enemy from within, on the other hand, they are going to destroy this country,” added the 77-year-old Republican tycoon, candidate for the November presidential election, in his first interview since a New York jury found him found guilty.
In November, during a rally in New Hampshire, in the northeast of the United States, Donald Trump said: “The threat from outside forces is much less worrying, dangerous and serious than the threat from within . »
In the same speech, he used the term “vermin” to designate his political enemies, being criticized for drawing on the vocabulary of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.e century.
In February, during an evangelical convention in Nashville, Tennessee, the former president did it again: “It is the people inside our country who are the most dangerous,” adding that “to emerge victorious from this fight, as with the battles of the past, we need the hand of the Lord.”
In a recent interview with Time, the former businessman, multiple defendants, used the same rhetoric: “The enemy from within, very often, is much more dangerous for our country than the external enemies that are China, Russia and others. ‘others. »
Responsible for many evils
But who is this “enemy from within” that the billionaire designates to the vindictiveness of his supporters, and to whom he attributes the worst intentions?
“It is not only directed against (Democratic President) Joe Biden, there are also more and more threats against the judicial system, judges, prosecutors,” notes Rebecca Gill, who teaches political science at the University of Nevada (West).
During his speeches, Donald Trump accuses this “enemy from within”, in bulk, of persecuting him, but also of wanting to open the floodgates to illegal immigration, increase taxes, undermine traditional values…
“This resonates with what we have heard in the past from fascist and authoritarian governments,” notes the academic.
The term “enemy from within” appeared with a bang in American political life in 1950, in a speech which revealed to the general public a certain Joseph McCarthy, senator from Wisconsin.
His name is associated with what has been called the “witch hunt”, a hunt for communist sympathizers within the American government and, more broadly, in all sectors of society.
According to Leonard Glass, a psychiatrist who participated in a collective work entitled The dangerous case of Donald Trumppublished in 2017, the concept as used by the Republican candidate has the main objective of heating up his supporters.
“Army of God”
It is “a repetitive invocation which stirs up suspicion against all those whose views are different, and which makes them responsible for all evils. They are not seen as compatriots deserving of respectful debate, but as vile usurpers,” he analyzes.
Victoria Johnson, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Missouri, distinguishes behind this figure of the “enemy within” a binary message intended for the Christian nationalist right: “Either you are with God or you are with Satan . »
“It’s an electoral strategy,” she says, noting that Donald Trump himself was “clearly not a religious person.”
She recalls, for example, that a former national security adviser to the Republican, retired general Michael Flynn, organized a “ReAwaken America Tour”, intended to raise an “army of God “.
During these meetings, homosexuality, immigration and progressive ideologies are violently criticized, while Donald Trump is presented as the first defender of Christianity.
One of the ex-president’s sons, Eric Trump, chose a religious term to react to the guilty verdict pronounced last week in New York: he felt that his father was becoming a “martyr”.