Words of Warfare

Under different political regimes, authoritarian leaders often employ tropes that enemize others, using discourses of enmity as political currency to bolster in-group/out-group divides. Key to this dynamic has been and continues to be the prolific use of the political trope “enemy of the people”, which has long entrenched itself as a tool wielded by regimes to consolidate power, repress opposition, and frame narratives of internal threats. This paper serves to trace the history of this political trope and show how it has evolved across political systems alongside how it has been adapted by different leaders in different contexts. By conducting a comparative case analysis of the US under Donald Trump and China under Xi Jinping, this study also explores its contemporary resonance within a broader historical framework of strategic communication, propaganda, and information warfare. It draws on key historical episodes—from the initial traces of the terminology under the Greeks, to its utmost percolation in the twentieth century—to show how modern leaders adapt similar rhetorical strategies rooted in such histories in the present day.