Sen. Jeff Flake to compare President Trump to Stalin in speech ahead of 'Fake News Awards'

Outgoing lawmaker Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is slated to compare President Trump to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin for waging a propaganda war against journalists, according to multiple reports.

The frequent Trump critic will deliver a floor speech Wednesday to shame the White House for taking abusive liberties with truth, especially in 2017 with the obsession with “alternative facts” and the denouncing of critical news as “fake,” according to excerpts of his speech.

Flake’s remarks will take place shortly before Trump picks the winners of his so-called "Fake News Awards." The President has tweeted that news outlets will be judged on the basis of being “the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media."

By the time Trump announces the winners, Flake will have accused Trump of borrowing Stalin-era tactics to deride the news media. A copy of Flake's remarks was sent to multiple news outlets by his office Sunday.

“‘The enemy of the people,’ was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017,” excerpts of Flake’s speech read. “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.”

Flake will note that the phrase was banished after Stalin’s regime came to an end. The Georgian-born dictator’s successor, Nikita Krushchev, prohibited its use in an attempt to reverse Stalin’s cult of personality aimed at annihilating his opponents.

“This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the president’s party. For they are shameful, repulsive statements,” the speech continues.

He goes on to defend members of the press as “the despot’s enemy,” not the people.

“When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him ‘fake news,’ it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press,” he adds.

Flake’s speech comes as he prepares to leave his Arizona seat at the end of the 2018 session.

Facing declining support for taking on the Republican leader, Flake announced his retirement in a Senate floor speech in October. During those remarks, he targeted Trump as a danger to democracy.