Trump Will Sue the Press into Submission

ABC foolishly pays out on a 'defamation' suit, and the incoming administration sees a path to silencing criticism.

Courtesy of SafeJournalists

Earlier this year, George Stephanopoulos misspoke. He said that Donald Trump had been found “liable for rape by a jury.” The problem arose because, in the state of New York, it can only be called rape when it has been established that a man forcibly penetrated a woman with his penis. In the case to which Stephanopoulos was referring involving E Jean Carrol, the judge ruled that Trump was liable for “sexual abuse” only.

Proving that a person’s character was defamed because of mischaracterization is difficult. There is very little that any of us could say that would hurt Trump’s image. Even his followers accept that he is a flawed person with a past that borders on the criminal. The semantics between “sexual abuse” in this case and “rape” are so raw that most people would just want the whole matter to go away so people could more expeditiously forget the crime. Trump is a criminal, though. He was convicted on 34 felony counts and somehow got off scot-free for many other crimes. Drawing attention to the semantics around whether or not he forced his penis into a woman in a dressing room or just put his hand on her vagina for a serial criminal and abuser is really no skin of his apple.

Instead, it becomes a new strategy for America’s mob boss president.

The legal threats have arrived in various forms. One aired on CNN. Another came over the phone. More arrived in letters or emails.

All of them appeared aimed at intimidating news outlets and others who have criticized or questioned President-elect Donald J. Trump and his nominees to run the Pentagon and F.B.I.

The small flurry of threatened defamation lawsuits is the latest sign that the incoming Trump administration appears poised to do what it can to crack down on unfavorable media coverage. Before and after the election, Mr. Trump and his allies have discussed subpoenaing news organizations, prosecuting journalists and their sources, revoking networks’ broadcast licenses and eliminating funding for public radio and television (Threaten More Lawsuits).

Because Trump is picking such an array of flawed individuals to join his administration, the likelihood that these vile people will be peppered with critical coverage is great. The more negative coverage there will be, the greater the likelihood that Trump’s government lawyers, who will all be loyal to him, will bring more lawsuits for defamation of character against the media.

As I wrote above, proving that one’s character has been defamed is exceptionally hard. This, however, will not stop the Trump team because their strategy is not to win. The strategy is to cause the media to hesitate when it wants to print critical articles. Win or lose, news organizations will have to hire lawyers and put together legal strategies to protect themselves. ABC most likely would have won the case against Trump had it not thrown in the towel. Weighing the costs, though, someone figured it would be cheaper to settle than fight.

Actual or threatened libel lawsuits are another weapon at their disposal — and they are being deployed even before Mr. Trump moves back into the White House. But that high bar has not stopped a wide range of politicians, business leaders and others from threatening or filing such suits — a strategy that often seems tailored to cause news outlets and individuals to rein in aggressive coverage of the public figures.

The strategy can pay other dividends as well (Threaten More Lawsuits).

The strategy being conceived by the Trump team is genius in many ways, and it is completely in Donald Trump’s tradition. Throughout his failed real estate career, Trump was notorious for not paying contractors the final payments — sometimes up to as much as 30 percent of the contracted fee. Builders in New Jersey and New York were forced to sue if they wanted their money, but because most were small companies, they couldn’t afford the costs. They usually had to swallow the losses, forcing many to declare bankruptcy.

Trump has gone after ABC, and ABC caved. Most experts believe ABC shouldn’t have paid the $15 million, which will fund Trump’s inauguration and library construction. ABC’s capitulation will make it easier for Trump and his goons to go after critical news sources all over the country.

The media is a mirror of society, and the state of media freedom is a benchmark, actually the real image of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in one country. Because, the media are the ones who promote, monitor and warn about cases of human rights violations, and also often journalists themselves are victims of human rights violations (The Suppression of Media Freedom).

If I were in charge of carrying out this strategy for Trump, I would spend 20 percent of my resources on the ABCs of the world and 80 percent on everything else. When a college newspaper prints a critical article, boom! Sue them for defamation. The Trump thugs have come up with a truly impressive weapon for silencing criticism, and I don’t doubt that relatively soon, we will be reading about new defamation suits daily.

The most effective way to establish fear is to be unpredictable. Putin has been especially successful with this tact in Russia. No one knows when, where, or who will end up on the wrong side of the Kremlin’s suppression, so everyone is scared. If the Trump team files suits daily against every form of journalism, quite soon, Americans will become silent in their criticism lest they lose the thing they cherish more than freedom: money.