Trump has sued the New York Times for $15 billion for allegedly defaming him. This is a fatuous, ridiculous suit. No chance of winning. Disney, ABC, and CBS Paramount, to their discredit, paid off Trump when he sued them, but that wasn't because of the journalism, that was because of their business interests. And they cave and was really outrageous. I think that this is first president.
By the way, he did those suits before he was president, but in suing the Times and the Wall Street Journal, this is the first president to ever sue news organizations while he was president. He sued the Journal for 10 billion for publishing a story about the lewd birthday message he sent to sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. He said that was totally false, except turned out to be totally true. Now he's suing the New York Times, which he says is out to get him.
That is equally ridiculous. Even though he's brought the suit before a friendly judge in Florida, he has no chance of winning this suit. What he hopes to do is just flame that further narrative among the MAGA base, the press is all evil, the enemy of the people. And he's gonna try to intimidate, not so much the Times, that won't work, but try to intimidate other news organizations that, they have...
less deep pockets and I'll go after you too. And ultimately he and his right-wing allies want to overturn the Sullivan case, which protects press rights. So he's an authoritarian with no regard for the constitution, including the first amendment. And the only recourse is to fight back as you do with any bully. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and others Ann Selzer in Iowa will fight back and they will win.
I worry about his ability to bully and intimidate others, but the stakes are clear. A free press is synonymous with a free country.
If they're so ridiculous. why do the media he sues cave?