McCain: Dictators 'get started by suppressing free press'
Now Playing McCain: Dictators start...
Story highlights
- Free press needed "to preserve democracy as we know it," McCain said
- Trump called the US press "the enemy of the American people"
(CNN)Sen.
John McCain slammed President Donald Trump's attacks on the media this
week by noting dictators "get started by suppressing free press."
It
was a startling observation from a sitting member of Congress against
the President of the United States, especially considering McCain is a
member of Trump's party.
"I hate the press," the Arizona Republican sarcastically told NBC News' Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press." "I hate you especially. But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital."
But
he continued, "If you want to preserve -- I'm very serious now -- if
you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free
and many times adversarial press," McCain said in the interview. "And
without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual
liberties over time. That's how dictators get started."
A clip of the interview, which airs in full on Sunday, was released Saturday afternoon.
McCain
has been a frequent critic of the President, particularly in the areas
of foreign policy and national security, since before Trump entered the
White House.
The 2008 Republican
presidential nominee said Americans must pay attention to history to
understand the past connections between leaders of oppressive
governments and efforts to stifle the media.
"They
get started by suppressing free press, in other words, a consolidation
of power -- when you look at history, the first thing that dictators do
is shut down the press," McCain said. "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."
Trump tweeted Friday that CNN and other major media outlets were "the enemy of the American people."
CNN contributor Carl
Bernstein, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Watergate
scandal, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon,
called Trump's words "treacherous."
"The
most dangerous 'enemy of the people' is presidential lying -- always,"
he tweeted. "Attacks on press by @realDonaldTrump more treacherous than
Nixon's."
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