Trump’s rally in Florida came as he faced harsh criticism throughout the day Saturday from Arizona Senator John McCain and others after Trump tweeted Friday night, “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” This is McCain speaking to Chuck Todd in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Sen. John McCain: “A fundamental part of that new world order was a free press. I hate the press. I hate you especially. 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’m afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.”
That’s Arizona Republican Senator John McCain. Journalists and editors also condemned Trump’s comment. Gabriel Sherman, the national affairs editor at New York magazine, called it “full-on dictator speak.” Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said Trump’s comment “crosses an important line.”