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'Guardian of democracy': Flake, McCain defend free press amid Trump attacks

The speech came the day President Trump said he would be giving awards to the "most corrupt and biased of the Mainstream Media."

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Arizona's Sen. Jeff Flake spoke passionately in defense of American media and the truth, saying without it "our democracy will not last."

"From our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth," he said. "The founders were visionary in this regard, understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very basis of this ongoing idea of America."

The speech came the day President Donald Trump said he would be giving awards to the "most corrupt and biased of the Mainstream Media."

Trump tweeted saying the "interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated."

Flake called for his fellow colleagues to work together to "turn back these attacks, right these wrongs, repair this damage, restore reverence for our institutions, and prevent further moral vandalism," in reference to Trump's stance against what he calls the "Mainstream Media."

"No politician will ever get to tell us what the truth is and is not," Flake said. "And anyone who presumes to try to attack or manipulate the truth to his own purposes should be made to realize the mistake and be held to account."

At one point, Trump, who often refers to unfavorable stories as "fake news," said several news organizations, including NBC, were the "enemy of the American people."

"When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him “fake news,” it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press," Flake said.

In the speech, Flake compared Trump's words to those of infamous Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin.

It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase “enemy of the people,” that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of “annihilating such individuals” who disagreed with the supreme leader.

Flake said President Trump has it all "precisely backward."

"Despotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despot’s enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy," Flake said.

While discussing the dangerous impact of Trump's "fake news" rhetoric, Flake, citing a report, mentioned 80 journalists were killed last year and 262 journalists are jailed around the world, including 21 being held on "false news" charges.

"Those of us who travel overseas, especially to war zones and other troubled areas around the globe, encounter members of U.S. based media who risk their lives, and sometimes lose their lives, reporting on the truth," he said. "To dismiss their work as fake news is an affront to their commitment and their sacrifice."

His words were echoed by fellow Arizona Sen. John McCain who penned an op-ed in The Washington Post titled: "Mr. President, stop attacking the press."

McCain wrote:

President Trump does not seem to understand that his rhetoric and actions reverberate in the same way. He has threatened to continue his attempt to discredit the free press by bestowing "fake news awards" upon reporters and news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with. Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.

Like Flake, McCain's spoke of journalists jailed around the world saying 2017 was one of the "most dangerous years to be a journalist."

"While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets," McCain wrote. "Trump's attempts to undermine the free press also make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable."

McCain said the free press and freedom of information are "critical for a democracy to succeed."

"Journalists play a major role in the promotion and protection of democracy and our unalienable rights, and they must be able to do their jobs freely," McCain said. "Only truth and transparency can guarantee freedom."

The retiring Flake said 2018 has to be the year that "truth takes a stand against power that would weaken it."

"We are a mature democracy – it is well past time that we stop excusing or ignoring – or worse, endorsing -- these attacks on the truth," he said. "For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost."

In response to the speech, GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Flake had "gone too far."

Kelli Ward, who's seeking to replace Flake, said it was an embarrassment to Arizona while calling on other candidates seeking his vacated seat to condemn it.

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