AID AND COMFORT..?

Did you listen to the President yesterday? When referring to his critics, he said he welcomed debate, but in reference to his most severe critics, he accused them of giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy.

Was this merely a spin written by his speech writers or suggested by his advisors for its psychological effect on the citizens - if they got too critical they were not only being unpatriotic but actually aiding the enemy?

Or was it a subtle (or not so subtle) warning of a possible consequence to his detractors, perhaps not immediately but in the future?

Aid and comfort to the enemy is one of the definitions for treason, and the penalty for treason is death.

There are nations who have or have had laws making it a crime with severe punishment for speaking ill of the ruler. As we head more and more towards becoming a Fascist government, will the time come that in true Hitleresque fashion it will be considered treason to oppose our ruler? Will our right of free speech and peaceful dissent be abrogated?

Scary thought, isn't it? Was our President merely trying to shame us, or was he warning his dissenters to back off?