In February 2017, President Donald Trump intensified his attacks on the press by tweeting that major news organizations—including The New York Times, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS—were “the enemy of the American people,” a phrase historically associated with authoritarian regimes. This unprecedented condemnation by a sitting U.S. president followed a combative news conference and a supporter survey framing the media as biased and deceptive. Critics argued that such rhetoric reflected an authoritarian mindset and posed a serious threat to democratic norms, drawing comparisons to figures like Richard Nixon and even the German American Bund, which similarly sought to delegitimize the press. This report examines how the Trump administration further normalized authoritarian tendencies through its legal and rhetorical assaults on the media.