Lindsey Graham warns Trump: Free press and judiciary 'are worth fighting and dying for'

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday rebuffed President Donald Trump's recent attacks on the judicial branch of government and the media.

Appearing on Face the Nation, Graham argued that Trump was undermining American values by calling the media an "enemy of the people" and attacking judges for striking down a travel ban aimed at Muslim countries.

"The backbone of democracy is a free press and an independent judiciary," Graham told CBS host John Dickerson. "And they are worth fighting and dying for."

According to Graham, America was not in imminent danger of becoming a dictatorship as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) seemed to suggest in a recent interview on NBC's Meet the Press.

"Sen. McCain was right to say we need, as politicians, to understand the role of the press and jealously guard it," the South Carolina senator explained.

But Graham also said that the "coverage against President Trump has been almost to the point of being hysterical."

"Y'all need to do some self evaluation, in my view," Graham opined. "But the enemies of democracy are not the press, it's Russia, it's Iran and radical Islam."

"But I think our friends in the press need to up their game because it really is hard to watch from a Republican point of view."

Watch the video below from CBS News, broadcast Feb. 19, 2017.

Republican Senator: "it’s just not the administration that’s got problems, Republicans in the House and Senate have problems" pic.twitter.com/HOeSUyboC0

— DNC Press (@dncpress) February 19, 2017