Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said President Donald Trump’s claims of fake news and jokes about Democrats who did not stand for positive news at his State of the Union being treasonous gave “aid and comfort to authoritarians around the world.”

Flake said, “I think the president stops — needs to stop calling Democrats or Republicans or others who don’t stand or applaud at every line that he has, that they are un-American. He also used that term, or treasonous. Words matter, and when he talks about fake news, for example, I gave another speech where I talked about how that gives aid and comfort to authoritarians around the world who are labeling their position or dismissing real dissent as fake news.”

He added, “So those things matter. I don’t think it’s a joking matter to say that somebody is treasonous and he ought to stop it.”

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