'Suppressing free press is how dictators get started'- Sen. McCain slams Donald Trump on his media criticism

Senator John McCain has slammed U.S President Donald Trump's attacks on mainstream media this week, saying dictatorship like that carried out by Saddam Hussein and Adolph Hitler "gets started by suppressing free press."


Last week, Trump blasted the mainstream media, accusing reporters of distorting facts to help special interests.

"Many of our nation's reporters and folks will not tell you the truth and will not treat you with the respect you deserve," Trump said. "Much of the media in Washington, D.C., along with New York, Los Angeles in particular, speaks for the special interests and for those profiting off the obviously very, very broken system. The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. The press is out of control, the level of dishonesty is out of control."

Sen. McCain of Arizona, who belongs to Trump's same Republican party blasted Trump's criticism and constant attacks on 'free press'.

"I hate the press. I hate you especially," McCain joked. "But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital." "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. "And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started." "They get started by suppressing free press," McCain said of dictators. "In other words, a 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."

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