If you thought yesterday’s press conference was “ranting and raving”, it appears President Trump just turned the anti-‘Fake news’-media amplifier up to ’11’, declaring  CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS , The New York Times (yet not The Washington Post) as “enemies of the American people”.

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

Incidentally, this was the second tweet, after Trump removed the first version one, which some thought was deleted as it was just a little too “aggressive” but as it turned out, simply ommitted ABC and CBS.

As a reminder, Trump and chief White House strategist Steve Bannon have both referred to the media as the “opposition party.”

“The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign,” Mr. Bannon said. “Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: they were outright activists of the Clinton campaign.” (He did not name specific reporters or editors.) “That’s why you have no power,” Mr. Bannon added. “You were humiliated.”

“You’re the opposition party,” Mr. Bannon said. “Not the Democratic Party. You’re the opposition party. The media’s the opposition party.”

And here was Trump yesterday.

Trump: I’m changing CNN from “fake news” to “very fake news.” pic.twitter.com/5ZRoDXdUNz

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 16, 2017

The media – which according to the president is now America’s enemy – had reactions, ranging from the shocked, to the conciliatory, to the bemused.

I would hope that our leaders would never believe that any American desires to make another American an enemy. Let’s dial it back.

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) February 17, 2017

Trump attacks so-called “fake news” media and then deletes tweet. And here I thought we made progress yesterday. Sad. pic.twitter.com/Zr2FOFhxFI

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 17, 2017

Fact check: We are not the enemy. https://t.co/yfm99CXwjh

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 17, 2017

An American president sworn to defend the Constitution wrote those words https://t.co/RHFNb7rd6F

— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 17, 2017

But seriously, all joking aside, this is an incredibly disturbing statement. https://t.co/c8HnOmHmUW

— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) February 17, 2017

Know your enemy. Subscribe today.https://t.co/uMs28WcoPc https://t.co/c8HnOmHmUW

— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) February 17, 2017

Written courtesy of Moscow. They sent to @realDonaldTrump this morning but it took a few hours to translate. https://t.co/Nr2xhJTtzE

— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) February 17, 2017

They are on recess and for the first time in weeks out of our sight line https://t.co/OdEHWxU4nl

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) February 17, 2017

Let’s be clear: “Enemy of the people” (???? ??????) is pure Bolshevism. Trump is citing core Chekist slogans now.https://t.co/S6y7fH5Tzx

— John Schindler (@20committee) February 17, 2017

Journalists, our commitment to our craft and careers just became vital. Keep fighting the good fight.

— Shawn Reynolds (@ShawnWTVM9) February 17, 2017

You never go full Nazi. #AmericanFascism https://t.co/VZzbivOECU

— Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta) February 17, 2017

“Enemy of the people”

Boy, that’s definitely in no way fascist-sounding! https://t.co/y1niD7c4Wd

— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 17, 2017

Chilling stuff from so-called “leader of the free world”.

I used to see this sort of comment from #Iran regime when in Tehran. https://t.co/Tm2w2oUS6I

— Marc Burleigh (@marcburleigh) February 17, 2017

Which begs the question, if the “media” is the enemy, what does that make its corporate owners?