McCain says he also hates the press but sees it as vital for democracy

MUNICH: US Senator John McCain, defending the media against attacks by US President Donald Trump, has warned suppressing the free press was “how dictators get started”.

The Arizona Republican, a frequent critic of Trump, was reacting to a tweet in which Trump accused the media of being “the enemy of the American people”.

The international order established after World War II was built in part on a free press, McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press”.

“I hate the press. I hate you especially,” he told interviewer Chuck Todd from an international security conference in Munich. “But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It’s vital.”

“If you want to preserve democracy, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. Without it, we’d lose our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started. They get started by suppressing free press. In other words, a consolidation of power. When you look at history, the first thing dictators do is shut down the press.

“I’m not saying President Trump is trying to be a dictator, but we need to learn the lessons of history.”

McCain’s comments followed Trump’s tweet and came days after Trump repeatedly criticised reports about disorder in the White House and leaks of his phone conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel underscored the importance of a free press, calling it “a significant pillar of democracy”.