Arizona Sen. John McCain said President Trump is wrong to tweet the press is an “enemy of the American people” — a label a “dictator” might use.

“If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and at many times adversarial press,” McCain told Meet The Press’s Chuck Todd in an interview airing Sunday. NBC released excerpts Saturday.

“Without it I’m afraid we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.”

Todd asked McCain, “That’s how dictators get started — with tweets like that?” referring to Trump’s Friday evening tweet calling broadcast television networks and the New York Times “fake news” and an enemy of the public.

“No, they get started by suppressing a free press,” said McCain, bristling. “The first thing dictators do is shut down the press.”

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