Donald Trump’s ghostwriter said last year that he would try to shut down the free press

Trump has a particular vendetta towards what he calls “fake news”.

If an very imperceptive alien landed on earth right now, they’d probably assume pretty quickly that Trump is an advocate for truth and fairness.

Except, Trump has branded some of the US’s biggest and most reputable news sources as “fake”.

He also described a handful of outlets as the "enemy of the American people".

All the best leaders do that.

He also wants to end the free press, according to his ghost-writer Tony Schwartz.

Swartz spent almost a year shadowing Trump to write the former businessman’s book, The Art of the Deal.

Last year, he told The Independent that he believed he knew Trump well enough to know the president would try to attack the free press.

Swartz said:

On day one he would end a free press. In any way that he could, he would use the government to shut down a free press, and listen, he has plenty of precedents for doing that, including his hero Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this year, Russian journalist Alexey Kovalev wrote an article that went viral, warning American journalists to stand up to Trump.

He wrote about the restrictions on free press in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and he said quite a few things Trump has said and done remind him of Russia’s prime minister.

More: This was the most terrifying Donald Trump press conference yet

More: Donald Trump gets fact checked in real time by journalist, and it's beautiful