Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said a free press is vital “to preserve democracy as we know it,” and he cautioned about efforts to muzzle it, saying “that’s how dictators get started.”
The senator was asked in an interview for NBC’s Meet the Press how he felt about President Donald Trump’s recent tweet criticizing “the fake news media” that said “it is the enemy 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
McCain told Meet the Press, ”The fact is we need you.”
He added: “When you look at history, the first thing dictators do is shut down the press.”
McCain said he isn’t asserting that Trump is trying to be a dictator, but “we need to learn the lessons of history.”
