Dem rep on Trump’s CNN tweets: ‘Dictators attack the media’ 

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) on Monday compared President Trump’s attacks on the media to a dictatorship, asking whether Trump has any understanding of the importance of a free press.

“Pretty much every president before this one has understood that the media is absolutely essential to our liberty,” Himes said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“Dictators attack the media.”

{mosads}Trump on Sunday shared a video on Twitter of himself attacking another man in a pro wrestling encounter — with CNN’s logo superimposed over the other man’s face. It was the latest in a long string of the president’s attacks on the media, which he has referred to as “the enemy of the people.”

Himes linked Trump’s video to “the outrageous, decisive, quasi-violent NRA video,” expressing concern about calls to violence in American society.

“I sometimes sit back and say, ‘My god, where is this country going? Does it have any leadership that has any idea what the real meaning of freedom and liberty is?’” he said.

Himes acknowledged that the media is “tough” and “sometimes unfair,” noting it was “brutal” around the turn of the 20th century.

But, he said, “every other president has understood that … the freedom of the press is the First Amendment for a reason.”