Sen. John McCain is taking a veiled swipe at President Donald Trump’s ongoing attack on the fourth estate, cautioning that “how dictators get started” is by shutting down the press.
The Republican Arizona senator, in an exclusive interview on Meet the Press airing Sunday, admitted that the relationship between the media and elected officials can sometimes be tense — highlighted by the Trump administration’s repeated sparring with reporters and the president calling news organizations “fake news.”
Half-jokingly, McCain said, “a fundamental part of that new world order was a free press. I hate the press. I hate you especially. But the fact is we need you.”
His defense of the media came in response to a Friday tweet from President Donald Trump in which he called certain news outlets “the enemy of the American People.”
What educated, informed people exist in an echo chamber, only hearing one side of an issue? Perhaps that is the root of Trump’s problem–his problem with inaccuracy and ignorance. He only listens to one side of an issue. How can the media be “the enemy of the American people?” This current time isn’t the only time in American history where the press brought down candidates, or elected officials.
