THE ENEMY WITHIN IS NOT US: A Letter to the GOP About the American Line You Just Crossed

Trump’s “enemy within” rhetoric isn’t tough talk; it’s the most un-American doctrine ever uttered by a U.S. president. And the GOP’s silence is the stain that will outlive them.

THE ENEMY WITHIN IS NOT US: A Letter to the GOP About the American Line You Just Crossed

Trump’s “enemy within” rhetoric isn’t tough talk; it’s the most un-American doctrine ever uttered by a U.S. president. And the GOP’s silence is the stain that will outlive them.

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #686: Friday, December 12th, 2025

There are moments in a nation’s life when the mask slips…

…and then there are moments when the mask is ripped off…hurled to the ground…and stomped on in full view of the world.

Trump’s declaration…yet another in a long parade of deranged authoritarian broadcasts…that “the enemy within” resides inside the American population is not one of those moments you debate…massage…spin…or quietly disagree with.

It is a moment you condemn…repudiate…and bury under the weight of every constitutional oath you once pretended to honor.

And since you won’t do it yourselves…I’ll do it for you…loudly…clearly…and with enough voltage to light up the entire failing apparatus of the Republican Party.

Let’s begin with the most obvious truth:

Any American leader who calls American citizens “the enemy” has forfeited the right to lead them.

Period. No asterisks. No fine print.

Because the minute you label your own population an internal threat… the minute you start using “enemy,” “traitor,” “infestation,” or “threat” as blankets to throw over people who disagree with you…

You are no longer governing.
You are dividing.
You are no longer defending freedom.
You are preparing the public for state-sponsored persecution.

And the GOP knows this.
Every elected Republican knows this.
Every strategist…donor…influencer…and consultant in your orbit knows EXACTLY what this language means in history…and what it signals in the present.

You know it the same way you know gravity exists.
You don’t need a briefing.
You need a spine.

But you keep standing there…wringing your hands…issuing soft objections…or worse… nodding along like hollowed-out accomplices…pretending you don’t see what is right in front of your faces.

So…let’s spell it out:

The enemy within is not Democrats.

The enemy within is not Black Americans.
The enemy within is not immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ citizens, progressives, students, protestors, journalists, or anyone else Trump wants to label as targets.

The enemy within…
is the movement that thinks labeling Americans as enemies…is a legitimate political strategy.

And that movement…unfortunately…is now yours.

The GOP’S Moral Spine: Missing In Action Since Approximately 2015

Let me speak to the GOP directly…because apparently subtlety died sometime in the last decade:

You had a choice.

You could have rejected this rhetoric the first time Trump used it.
You could’ve rejected it the tenth time.
You could’ve rejected it yesterday.

Instead…you amplified it.

You winked at it.
You fundraised off it.
You integrated it into your political marrow.
You treated it like a marketing hook…not a constitutional emergency.

And…now here we are:

A former (and current) president openly declaring that millions of Americans are an internal threat to the nation…and the party that once claimed to revere the Constitution can’t even muster the courage to clear its throat.

Let me ask you something…and let me ask it with the force and contempt it deserves:

What exactly is “conservative” about threatening your own citizens?

What is “patriotic” about turning Americans into targets?
What is “law-and-order” about stripping legitimacy from whole segments of the population?

You cannot invoke the Founding Fathers…and simultaneously cheer for a man who thinks internal dissent is treason.

You cannot wrap yourselves in the flag…while elevating someone who wants to weaponize the government against political rivals.

You cannot claim to defend liberty…while promoting rhetoric historically associated with fascism…authoritarianism…and every failed regime that treated its own people as enemies.

The Founders didn’t risk their lives for THIS.
Lincoln didn’t hold the Union together for THIS.
Every soldier who ever bled for this country did not sacrifice for THIS.

You think you look tough?

No.
You look terrified.
Terrified of a base you groomed but no longer control.
Terrified of Trump’s devotees turning on you.
Terrified of losing your seats, your donors, your access, your power.

So…you do nothing.
You say nothing.
You become nothing.

The Enemy Within Is A Fascist Idea: NOT An American One

Let’s turn the temperature up, because this is where the GOP’s silence moves from cowardice to complicity.

Labeling an internal population “the enemy” is a classic prelude to:

• censorship

• surveillance

• state violence

• roundups

• political prosecutions

• paramilitary crackdowns

• suspension of rights

• and the normalization of domestic force

This is not paranoia.
This is political science.
This is history.
This is what every authoritarian movement does before turning the machinery of the state against its own people.

And the GOP knows damn well that when Trump says “enemy within,” he doesn’t mean drug cartels…foreign spies…or cybercriminals.

He means voters.

He means activists.
He means journalists.
He means critics.
He means political opponents.
He means anyone who refuses to kneel.

That is the true obscenity behind this rhetoric.

Not that he uses it.
But that the Republican Party…allows it.

Every American Is Off-Limits To This Kind Of Hate

Let this be etched into the stone of the American psyche:

No U.S. president…has the right to declare ANY American citizen an “enemy within” based on race…religion…political belief…ideology…ancestry…or protest.

NONE.
Zero.
Not under the Constitution.
Not under the Bill of Rights.
Not under any legitimate governing philosophy in a free nation.

If you support democracy…you reject this rhetoric.
If you support the rule of law…you reject this rhetoric.
If you support basic human dignity…you reject this rhetoric.

There are no partisan exceptions.
There is no GOP waiver.

If you defend this language…you have crossed into territory that is fundamentally un-American… and historically dangerous.

This rhetoric belongs to the regimes America has fought against…not the one Americans died to preserve.

You don’t get to use it here.
Not without being called what you’re acting like.

The GOP’S Time Is Up: Choose America Or Choose Trump

Here’s the final truth, and it’s the one the GOP hates more than anything:

Your crisis isn’t Trump.

Your crisis is your refusal to confront Trump.

You could stop this tomorrow.

You could stand up as a party and say:

• “No American is an enemy for disagreeing with us.”

• “No citizen becomes a traitor by voting differently.”

• “No president can weaponize the government against internal opponents.”

• “No democracy survives when leaders divide the population into loyalists and enemies.”

But you won’t.

Because you are no longer a political party.
You are a hostage syndicate.
A protection racket.
A group of elected officials terrified of the monster you helped build.

Well…guess what?

The rest of America isn’t terrified of you. Not for one Goddamned minute.
We see through you.
We see your cowardice.
We see your complicity.
We see your betrayal of the Constitution you pretend to revere.

And we will not accept ANY president…your president or anyone else’s…calling Americans the “enemy within.”

That is the line.
That is the wall.
That is the point where democracy either stands or collapses.

And whether you like it or not…

We WILL defend that line.

Because America belongs to its people.
ALL its people.

Not just the ones who worship Trump.
Not just the ones who wear red hats.
Not just the ones who cheer at rallies.
Not just the ones he deems “good Americans.”

America belongs to every citizen in every community in every state across every race… creed…faith…and political belief.

And NO aspiring autocrat gets to declare otherwise.

Not now.
Not ever.
Not on our watch.

Finally:

So to the GOP:
If you want to save whatever shreds of credibility you have left…do this one simple thing:

Stand up and say:

“American citizens are NOT the enemy.”

If that sentence…is too hard for you to speak…too frightening for you to endorse…too dangerous for you to risk…

Then you’ve already told the nation….everything it needs to know.

We are NOT the enemy.
But…to many, you seem intent…and excited…about becoming one. Pathetic…and clearly…very anti-American.

I hope your families are, at least secretly…ashamed of you. If not…they should be ashamed…of themselves.

Fuck. This. Shit.

Those who are hellbent on defending democracy….#HoldFast

-Jack

Jack Hopkins