One By One They All Fall

Not too long ago, ABC's George Stephanopoulos (below) showed how tenacious the press could be - "could" here is past tense - in telling the truth about Donald Trump. This past March, on the ABC News program "This Week," Stephanopoulos repeatedly said that Trump had been "found liable for rape" in the civil case brought forward by Elizabeth Jean Carroll.   Even though a jury did not find that Trump raped Carroll, it did decide that he did sexually abuse her, which allowed him to be held liable for battery, even though what he did is pretty much the same thing as rape.  Trump has denied any and all wrongdoing.

Trump responded with a lawsuit against ABC, which everyone believes ABC could have won had it actually gone to court.  Instead, ABC chose to settle, paying Trump $15 million (which will go to his, ahem, presidential library) for daring to tell the truth about him.  Media critic Brian Stelter wrote on CNN's Web site that while "some media law experts believed ABC had a good chance of beating him at trial, given the inherent challenge of proving Stephanopoulos acted with 'actual malice,' he added that "trials also add uncertainty and a risk of severe reputational damage – factors that ABC’s parent company, Disney, is now avoiding."  Some lawyers have wondered if ABC and Disney have settled to avoid discovery, which might have unearthed documents that would cast the network and its news division in an unflattering light.

I hope Disney CEO Bob Iger was not involved directly in this, because it means that, once again, even the highest-ranking corporate officer prefers not to anger Trump as he prepares to retake power next month.  And I'm also sure that Willow Bay, dean of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism - Iger's wife - would not approve.

Having come just a month after former newspaper editor Joe Scarborough and former CBS reporter Mika Brzezinski - who haven't practiced real journalism in over twenty years - went to Berghof-by-the-Sea to lick Trump's boots, this revolting development (as Chester Riley would have called it) is just a taste of what Trump plans as part of his campaign of retribution against the media.  He plans to sue CBS for what he calls a misleadingly edited "60 Minutes" interview that was intended to make him look bad.  The interview was with Kamala Harris.  Also, he plans to sue retiring Des Moines Register pollster Ann Selzer for election interference after she put out a poll showing Harris carrying Iowa by a narrow margin before Trump carried it by a wide one.  More media outlets will likely capitulate to Trump and play nice with him to avoid such lawfare.

It's all part of his plan to silence the media and prevent any negative stories about him during his second presidential term . . . and likely any negatives stories about him or MAGA beyond January 2029 as well.  Trump hopes to make it clear that if you criticize him, he'll sue you and force you into bankruptcy even if he ultimately loses the suit.   

And if that doesn't stop you, FBI director Kash Patel (below) will have the United States Secret Police (currently the Oath Keepers) arrest you.

Correction: The photo above is not of Kash Patel.  The photo above is of Stephen Miller.  I regret the error.