Daily Mirror

Trump’s media tactics is how dictators start

Rival’s warning as President continues attack on press

- BY CHRISTOPHE­R BUCKTIN US Editor chris.bucktin@mirror.co.uk

HEAVYWEIGH­T Republican John McCain has slammed Donald Trump’s campaign against the media, saying it is “how dictators get started”.

The ex-naval captain, who has clashed with the US President despite being in the same party, issued his warning a day after the leader again criticised the press.

Senator McCain said yesterday: “The fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It’s vital.

“If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and, many times, adversaria­l press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.”

Mr McCain, who stood against Barack Obama in 2008, added: “When you look at history, the first thing dictators do is shut down the press. I’m not saying that Trump is trying to be a dictator. I’m saying we need to learn the lessons of history.”

Mr Trump has branded negative stories about his administra­tion “fake news”.

Criticisin­g the media, he told supporters at a rally on Saturday: “They just don’t want to report the truth. They have their own agenda, and their agenda is not your agenda.” Mr Trump also likened himself to predecesso­rs Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, saying they had fought against the press.

He went on: “Thomas Jefferson said, ‘Nothing can be believed which is seen in a newspaper’.” Yet the quote was from a speech where Jefferson backed a free press.

In another slip-up, Mr Trump invented a terror attack in Sweden after appearing to confuse it with a city in Pakistan.

More than 85 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Sehwan on Friday.

But linking migration across Europe to terrorism, including the Berlin Christmas market horror, the President said: “We’ve got to keep our country safe.

“You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden, they took in large numbers.”

Mr Trump, joined by wife Melania at the rally in Melbourne, Florida, also told the crowd there had been an increase in jobs since he came to power. Yet US jobs have increased 81 months in a row.

It came a day after the President tweeted that “fake news media is the enemy of the American people”.

 ??  ?? LESSONS John McCain SMOOCH With Melania at the rally
LESSONS John McCain SMOOCH With Melania at the rally

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