McCain on media bashing by Trump: ‘That’s how dictators get started’
Feb 18, 2017, 5:59 PM | Updated: Feb 19, 2017, 9:34 am
Arizona senator John McCain appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday where he supported the importance of a free press in a democracy.
McCain was asked by host Chuck Todd of a tweet from President Donald Trump, defended the importance of the media. He also underscored the importance of the media acting, at times, adversarial.
“I’m very serious now: If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and, many times, an adversarial free press. Without it, I’m afraid we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.”
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
Todd asked McCain to clarify if he meant that dictators were started by tweets like the one previously mentioned.
“No, they get started by suppressing a free press,” McCain said. “In other words, in consolidation of power, when you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press. And I’m not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I’m just saying we need to learn the lessons of history.”