"If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press," John McCain said. | AP Photo McCain: Trump’s attacks on press are 'how dictators get started' The Arizona senator said the nation needs a free and at times adversarial press.

President Donald Trump’s attacks on the press echo the language of dictators, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” warning the nation to heed lessons of history.

Attacks on the press, McCain said, are “how dictators get started.”


“I hate the press. I hate you especially," McCain told NBC's Chuck Todd, according to excerpts of the interview set to air Sunday. "But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital. If you want to preserve – I'm very serious now – 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.”

McCain’s comments came in response to a question about Trump’s recent declaration, made via Twitter, that the press is the “enemy of the American People.”

“They get started by suppressing free press,” McCain said of dictators. “In other words, a consolidation of power when you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press. And I'm not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I'm just saying we need to learn the lessons of history.”

There is no love lost between Trump and McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee for president. Trump said during the campaign that McCain was not a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam, and has continued to lash out at McCain on Twitter since the election. McCain withdrew his support of Trump in October after a tape was released in which Trump bragged about groping women.

McCain is one of the most vocal Republicans in Congress calling for an investigation of Russian attempts to influence the presidential election.

Trump recently said on Twitter that McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a fellow Russia hawk, were “looking to start World War III” after the pair criticized his immigration ban, which has since been barred by federal courts.