Flake: Trump's rhetoric about the media 'has real damage'

Sen. Jeff FlakeJeffrey (Jeff) Lane Flake GOP strategist donates to Alabama Democrat Sasse: RNC help for Roy Moore 'doesn't make any sense'Sasse calls RNC decision to resume support for Moore 'bad' and 'sad'MORE (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that President TrumpDonald John Trump House Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE’s rhetoric about the media “has real damage."

“When you reflexively refer to the press as the enemy of the people or fake news, that has real damage,” Flake told ABC’s “This Week.”

Flake has not been shy in critiquing Trump, and recently slammed the president’s reported comments about “shithole countries.”

Trump often attacks the media on Twitter, invoking his signature “fake news” line for stories he dislikes.

Flake, who will retire after his current term in the Senate ends, argued the president’s language in regards to the press negatively impacts American’s standing on the world stage.

“It has real damage to our standing in the world,” Flake said.

“And I noted how bad it is for a president to take what was popularized by Joseph Stalin, the enemy of the people, to refer to the press,” he added, referring to the deceased leader of the Soviet Union.

Trump early Sunday went after The Wall Street Journal, calling the newspaper "fake news" over an interview in which Trump is quoted as saying “I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un."

"The Wall Street Journal stated falsely that I said to them 'I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un' (of N. Korea). Obviously I didn’t say that," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"I said 'I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,' a big difference. Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters... ...and they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!"

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