Donald Trump enjoyed what may be his second biggest win of the year last Friday when ABC settled Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the network and its best-known anchor. The suit related to George Stephanopoulos saying Trump was found “liable for rape.” ABC, through its foundation, agreed to contribute $15 million to the future Trump Presidential Library, cover $1 million in Trump’s legal fees, and issue an apology.
The settlement surprised many in the media. While Trump was not found guilty of rape in the E. Jean Carroll case, the judge in the case wrote, “The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word rape. Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
Trump’s victory over ABC was followed yesterday with a lawsuit against The Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer over a poll held shortly before election day that indicated Kamala Harris leading Trump by 3 percent in Iowa. Trump won Iowa by 14 percent. .
Before the election and during his first term in office, Trump threatened “fake news” outlets such as ABC and NBC with revocation of their broadcast licenses. He has also routinely ridiculed media personalities who dare to criticize him.
Earlier in his “career,” in 2006, Trump sued Warner Books and the author of a book titled The Art of Being the Donald, who wrote that Trump was only a millionaire, not a billionaire. Trump’s suit was dismissed.
In October 2022, Trump sued CNN for $2.75 billion. In part, the complaint read: “CNN has sought to use its massive influence – purportedly as a ‘trusted’ news source – to defame the Plaintiff in the minds of its viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically, culminating in CNN claiming credit for ‘[getting] Trump out’ in the 2020 presidential election.”
Trump alleged the term “The Big Lie,” was “uttered” more than 7,700 times on the network from January 2021 to the date of the lawsuit.
In May 2023, Trump sued The Washington Post for $3.78 billion for publishing news relating to the finances of Truth Social, the social media platform that has become the go-to news outlet for the Trump transition. Trump alleged the Post acted with malice to undermine him politically.
There have been other lawsuits filed by Trump or his campaign, including actions against a Wisconsin TV station for running an ad that suggested that Trump had called the coronavirus a hoax, Bob Woodward, and CBS.
After January 20, 2025, will Trump attempt to silence his critics with further attacks on the free press? That is a worry all of us should have. And it gets worse. As traditional news outlets have lost ground to social media sites, podcasts, blogs, and other non-traditional news-sharing, those previously unregulated sources of information (and misinformation) could find themselves subject to new regulations or lawsuits intended to intimidate them against speaking out against Trump and his policies.
Trump’s threats to the media and anyone else criticizing him should be taken seriously. In the case of the media, I wonder whether the nature of the threats will change from lawsuits to governmental action after Inauguration Day. Will Trump or soon-to-be FBI Director Kash Patel develop an enemies list?
I also wonder whether the threats themselves will suffice to hush many, or even most, critics, even those outside the media but who may be known in their communities as Trump-haters. If Trump fails to close the IRS, will some of these people find themselves subject to tax audits?
It is ironic that Donald Trump is pursuing “dishonest” media. The Washington Post has cataloged more than 30,573 of what it calls “lies” told during Trump’s first term in the White House.
Remember when Donald Trump said that Senator Ted Cruz’s father was with John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, right before Oswald was shot? The implication was that Cruz’s father was somehow involved in the assassination. To my knowledge, Senator Cruz, today one of President-Elect Trump’s strongest supporters in the U.S. Senate, never sued for defamation.
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.
Wilson Dean says
One of the saddest truths of history is that societies that have morphed into dictatorships never saw the harshness that followed that transition coming. This article points out extremely well that Trump has never hesitated to attack media reporting on his antics. Given his campaign for President this time around that centered so heavily on retribution and revenge, why would anyone dismiss the likelihood he will use every government agency now under his command to crush dissent.
John Dean says
Thank you for your comment. As always, you share important insights.
Merry Christmas!
James o. Siegman says
As the new administration prepares to take office in a few weeks, we are seeing an unprecedented number of individuals with shady and/or criminal backgrounds being nominated for posts in the Cabinet. This, on top of others who are simply not qualified by any measure of prior experience to hold the positions that they may be entrusted to hold. But this is only one problem. Already, the president elect and his cronies are exercising political power over our government for which they have ZERO legal authority and the decisions that they are making are VERY likely to hurt our most vulnerable citizens. This week, the president elect and his appointees for a newly and audaciously formed Department of Government Efficiency are calling for a government shutdown. This on the heels of calling for criminal prosecution of members of the January 6 Committee whose actions are protected under the Constitution under the “speech and debate” clause….AND ABC rolling over in a defamation suit that they would likely have WON.
These people have won this “power” by dividing us against ourselves. And most of us out here in small town America feel powerless to make any appreciable change in what happens in DC.
While many reading this commentary may feel that the moves of the incoming administration are acceptable and right…I ask you….How did you come to that thought process? Have you felt that your neighbors are out to get you? Did you ever really care about people that live different lifestyles than you or were you motivated by rhetoric that was intentionally designed to increase your anxiety about the erosion of your values in the public sphere (despite the fact that your values never waivered?).
I will be clear that I am as liberally minded as any person but I recognize that my neighbors who voted differently are GOOD people with GOOD values. We may differ on a great many things but I can guarantee you that we ALL agree that what we want for America is freedom to be for our kids to be themselves, that our kids and grandkids might enjoy at least as much prosperity as we did and that the law is fair and applied equally without regard to how much one can afford to spend on an army of lawyers.
How can we accomplish this? We must CEASE to see one another as enemies, politically or otherwise. We have the same desires for ourselves and our kids. We may differ on how we achieve those wants and needs…but we are better served by REFUSING to be divided despite what our politicians and a complicit media have foisted on us. We should band together and DEMAND accountability in government, we should demand that vast sums of money be REMOVED from our political landscape. And to be very clear…to ensure that immensely wealthy people are NEVER allowed to have outsized voices that are permitted to overwhelm those with the least political power.
Our country was founded on the principle that ‘All men are created equal” and that was specifically stated to address the inequities between a ruling class of monarchs (or in the current day…oligarchs) and the rest of the population. It was stated in those founding documents t o ensure that everyone would be enjoy equal treatment under the law. The process has to undermine that quintessential American ideal has been underway for a few decades now. But that very un-American effort has finally come home to roost…and to rule us rather than govern us because a select few have enormous wealth and have been allowed to violate that founding principle.
Rather than roll over for oligarchs to re-establish class rule….a new caste system, right here in the United States of America….we must resist this with everything that we have. I am hopeful that we may do this through grass roots political action by concerned citizens who are committed to the idea that WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
John Dean says
Thank you for your substantive, insightful comment. You make many good points. As you can imagine, I agree.
Happy Holidays to you.
Mickey Terrone says
Hello John. Of course we need to be concerned with Trump’s threats against the press, just as we should be concerned about his threats against Republicans who voted, for example, to suppport the bi-partisan effort to negotiate a deal to keep the US Government open. And just as we need to be concerned with his not-so-veiled threats to suppress Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican with a military tribunal, we should be be concerned because these are the threats of a fascist. Trump will soon have at his disposal, a spineless Republican congress, a similarly toadie Supreme Court majority and an available cadre of thugs who will be far less likely ever to be prosecuted by Trump’s new lapdog FBI leadership.
With Musk throwing his money around worldwide (supporting the far right wing party in Germany) claiming the far right will “save” Germany, his aim (along with Amerinazis like Steve Bannon) will be to forcefeed national socialism throughout Europe. Creating massive chaos with a US government shutdown is OK with Elon, so long as it starts under the Biden Administration. Turning “X” into a veritable extremist propaganda machine and threatening to but MSNBC to further control the media, Musk, as Trump’s front man, is in position to control public opinion so that Trump’s extralegal power and influence can sway the public mind while their legal and judicial control can “police” the nation as the Gestapo once policed Germany.
Having bought into the Big Lie that Trump lost the 2020 election and defending him against prosecution for those crimes despite mountains of evidence, they nominated him for the presidency of the United States of America. Using hundreds of millions in dark money to finance his campaign of lies, racism, religious bigotry and fear of immigrants, they handed him a 1.5% plurality which he is claiming to be a mandate for sweeping changes to the nature of our national government and life. This is what the Repubican Party in our country has degenerated into and we likely don’t even know that half of it yet. I’m afraid the vulnerability of democracy has slipped over the edge and at this point, I seriously doubt it can come back. Those first 100,000 beds ordered by the I.C.E. chief to “house” illegal immigrants until they can turned over to their former oppressors, are America’s new concentration camps. Perhaps they’ll also become the temporary new homes of recalcitrant media editors and reporters and outspoken legislators. Once Trump declares his national emergency on Day 1, the sky is the limit on his interpretations of “national emergency”.
I’ll be listening attentively to my Republican friends’ complaints when the crap from the fan starts spraying them.
John Dean says
Mickey: Thanks for your comment.
I think the crap is already hitting the fan and soiling Republicans. Unfortunately for Trump, but perhaps fortunately for the rest of us, Elon Musk is on the job, and Trump needs a shower.
Happy Holidays. Let’s hope for a better 2025.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Hi Mickey,
I have always felt democracy benefited from a government afraid of the press not a press afraid of the government.
We have now major news organizations not owned by those who rose through the ranks of the
news room, but billionaires who only want exposure. These people care only about investment not facts and truth.
The Washington Post, the LA Times, ABC news, CNN and MSNBC Morning Joe have capitulated.
Personally, this is stunning to me. I have cancelled all of them, mostly to avoid hearing/seeing the
Trump/Musk trash with money group gloat.
There are so many people on this site who are Trump supporters. As my husband said, how can anyone listen to vile fascist/uncouth rhetoric from him and think: “gee,I want him to have the nuclear code”.
It is indeed a sign of our nation’s total cognitive decline: “Give us entertainment!!”
Our nation is indeed down that Louis Carrol rabbit hole.
Hold on tight!