Trump’s “Enemy Within”: How Fascist Rhetoric Became U.S. Policy

Behind talk of “vermin” and “enemies,” Trump’s administration is mobilizing the tools of state power against its own citizens.

Donald Trump has been talking about the “enemy within” since his last campaign. For years before that, he invoked “enemies of the people” and the “Deep State” to persuade Americans that the country faced a grave domestic threat. In 2023, he promised to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” He also spoke of migrants “poisoning the blood” of the American people.

Anyone who has studied 20th-century history knows that the Nazis began their genocidal war against the Jews with propaganda that called them “vermin,” “rats,” and “parasites.” They used phrases like Blutvergiftung (“blood poisoning”) and der innere Feind (“the enemy within”) to sow disgust and turn Germans against Germans.

On September 30, Trump again referred to the “enemy within” in a speech to more than 800 generals and admirals at the Marine base in Quantico, Virginia. He told these senior military leaders to prepare to fight on American soil, justifying it by saying, “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”

Although some reports said military leaders sat in stunned silence, I think that, like the rest of us, they saw this coming. Since June—when Trump first sent National Guard and regular Marine troops into Los Angeles—he has deployed the military to Los Angeles, Memphis, Washington, Chicago, and Portland. His administration claims these deployments are meant to fight crime on “lawless streets” and to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as they round up thousands of supposedly undocumented immigrants each day.

While Memphis tops most lists for violent crime, the only other Trump target in the top ten is Chicago—where no one wants soldiers on street corners. Washington appears in the top twenty, but Portland and Los Angeles do not. What they have in common is Democratic leadership. Indeed, Trump has targeted only politically “blue” communities for these intimidating displays of federal force.

As for the claim that ICE agents need special protection, remember that Trump set this anti-immigration campaign in motion on January 20—the first hours of his presidency—when he signed an executive order titled Protecting the American People Against Invasion. ICE agents have faced some resistance and a few attacks, but none have been killed or seriously injured. These are armed law enforcement officers, carrying out thousands of arrests daily, often wearing masks and uniforms without name tags. As federal judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, recently pointed out, these tactics are designed to instill fear.

“ICE goes masked for a single reason — to terrorize Americans into quiescence,” Young wrote. “In all our history, we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.” He compared masked ICE agents to the Ku Klux Klan and warned, “Carrying on in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it.”

ICE is also expanding fast. After a major recruitment campaign, it will soon employ more armed officers than the police departments of New York and Chicago combined—about 18,000 new hires. Its leader, Kristi Noem, has become a publicity hound who echoes Trump’s alarmism. She loves photo ops at ICE operations, and during a recent visit to Portland she told Fox News she had warned the city’s mayor to comply with federal demands or she would “send four times the number of federal officers.”

Noem added, “Antifa-affiliated individuals are outside this building right now shouting death to my law enforcement officers while the mayor drives home and probably has a fancy dinner tonight and goes to sleep in his cushy bed. It’s just not acceptable.”

Antifa—short for “anti-fascist”—has long served as a bogeyman in Trumpist mythology. Trump recently designated it a “domestic terrorist organization,” calling it “militarist” and “anarchist.” There are two problems with this. First, there is no legal process for declaring any U.S. group a terrorist organization. People who identify as anti-fascists and commit crimes can be arrested and prosecuted like anyone else. Second, there is no national organization called Antifa. The “designation” is pure fiction—crafted to please Trump’s base.

As Trump, Noem, and others know, anyone can claim to be Antifa and show up at a protest—or even throw rocks at officers—in the name of anti-fascism. Occasionally, small local groups identify themselves as Antifa, but there is no central leadership, no real structure, and no national network. It’s more of an idea than an organization—an ideal born from opposition to Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

When you see swarms of masked officers detaining people in the streets, or troops rolling into major cities for vague reasons, it’s hard to deny Trump’s fascist tendencies. His rhetoric—“enemy within” and “vermin”—is clearly meant to inflame his followers and divide America along Red vs. Blue lines.

I hesitate to lend credibility to the idea that we are hurtling toward civil unrest along political lines—but it’s hard to avoid that conclusion. Trump and his allies seem to be provoking violence to justify military or quasi-military action. Why else would he tell generals to prepare for “domestic responsibility,” or Noem threaten to quadruple ICE forces in Portland? Why else would his administration abuse the legal system to seek revenge against officials who crossed him?

The most notorious example is the arrest of former FBI Director James Comey on fabricated charges of lying to Congress. Comey led the 2016 investigation into Trump’s campaign ties with Russia—a nation that waged a successful propaganda effort to help Trump win. After refusing to pledge personal loyalty, Comey was fired and publicly criticized Trump.

Trump then pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue Comey. When career prosecutors refused, he replaced their superior with a loyalist who had never tried a case—someone willing to do his bidding. Trump now wants similar action against other perceived enemies, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, calling them “guilty as hell.”

And who are the “communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs” Trump claims are destroying America? When was the last time you actually met a communist or a Marxist? The Communist Party USA has barely 5,000 inactive members. Most self-described leftists are Democrats—people who are statistically far less likely to commit political violence than extremists on the right. According to the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, 76% of domestic terrorist attacks from 2015–2024 were carried out by right-wing actors.

Facts, however, have been drowned out by rhetoric. Millions of Americans now believe conspiracy theories about the recent murder of conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk. A month later, the shooter’s politics remain unconfirmed—but that hasn’t stopped Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, from saying, “We will not live in fear, but you will live in exile. The power of law enforcement under President Trump’s leadership will be used to find you, to take away your money, your power, and—if you’ve broken the law—your freedom.”

As Trump’s top domestic policy advisor, Miller is reportedly developing a multi-agency initiative—combining the FBI, IRS, and Homeland Security—to investigate liberal organizations supposedly funding domestic terrorism. No evidence of such groups exists. Yet Trump has already ordered the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to target those who express “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” or “anti-Christianity.”

Let’s add it all up. Trump describes immigrants as “vermin” and “rats” who are “poisoning” America’s blood. He is sending troops into Democratic cities, persecuting political critics, and issuing threats against unnamed “enemies.” All of it serves to justify using government power—including the military—for political purposes. And in doing so, he is inflaming people on every side.

Many Trump-supporting Americans now see their fear of “blue America” as validated and believe he’s defending them. Meanwhile, many others feel targeted and endangered. In both words and deeds, this administration is setting the stage for deeper division—and, potentially, violence—from either side.

Only in Trump’s America.