Of course everyone thinks of our current POTUS as the one
who most frequently makes use of the phrase, "the enemy from within,"
to deride the opposition Democrats, and similarly in talking about "the
mainstream media press," but in the
UK this phrase has meaning, too, the website worldhistories.net offers an
informative article on this subject. In religion, the phrase, "the enemy
from within" refers to matter of faith for those who seek to destroy the
belief of the faithful, and I've included buckykennedyministries article on
this subject. The website
Idoceonline.com points out other meanings for this same phrase that cites other
dangers, as does the dictionary.reverso.net which further defines the words in
this phrase.
Google's AI
summarizes the phrase "enemy within" (or "internal enemy") as,
"…a timeless political and rhetorical concept used to describe a
traitorous force—such as spies, subversives, or disaffected citizens—working
secretly to undermine a nation or group from the inside. While the exact
concept is as old as civilization itself, its modern political usage traces
back to the mid-20th century…"
Using Google's AI made it possible to explore other aspects
of this phrase, "the enemy from within", for example, as to what the
phrase connoted dating back to ancient times, "… Cicero's Warning: The
conceptual root of this idea is frequently attributed to the Roman statesman
Marcus Tullius Cicero. In \(42\text{ BC}\), during the fall of the Roman
Republic, he famously warned against internal betrayal, stating that a nation
"cannot survive treason from within…"
And, then in more modern times, Google's AI points out, that
during, "…The Red Scare and Senator Joseph McCarthy (1950) The specific
phrasing "enemy from within" gained its most famous traction in
modern political history during the American anti-communist Red Scare. In a
notorious \(1950\) speech, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed that the
U.S. State Department had been infested with Communists. He argued that America
was under greater threat from internal subversives than from external
adversaries, famously declaring: "When a great democracy is destroyed, it
will not be because of enemies from without but rather because of enemies from
within…"
Every person concerned about routing out "the enemy
from within " can find some truth in the phrase, however, during the 20th century, others used the phrase
"enemy from within" too, Google's AI cites, "…Leaders like
Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin regularly utilized the related term 'enemy of
the people' to silence dissenters, while Adolf Hitler used the idea of internal
scapegoats to promote extreme nationalism.
As Gioogle's AI points out, in, "…Modern Usage the
phrase continues to be used in contemporary political discourse. In recent
years, public figures have revived the rhetoric, using "the enemy
within" to describe domestic political opponents, specific media outlets,
or individuals they accuse of undermining the country's values or security…"
My research proves that the many persuasions who use this phrase, "the
enemy from within" use it as a rallying cry, to cite a danger to society
and to the world at large, and as warning of worse to come from those who seek
to alter what they say is good and great.
Clearly, it depends o your point of view as to whether you
should be alarmed when you hear this phrase, yet since the phrase "danger
from within" is used so universally, the words when used as a phrase can
be useful in gathering a group together who have the same goals and want to
achieve the same end result.
