{"id":160808,"date":"2025-09-16T14:39:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T20:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=160808"},"modified":"2025-09-16T14:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T20:39:41","slug":"and-you-get-a-defamation-suit-and-you-get-a-defamation-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2025\/09\/16\/and-you-get-a-defamation-suit-and-you-get-a-defamation-suit.html","title":{"rendered":"And YOU get a defamation suit, and YOU get a defamation suit …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump has expanded one front (“the guy with the most money always wins”) of his multi-front war on non-kowtowing media by suing the New York Times<\/em> for (cue Dr. Evil) $15, accusing them of defaming him.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Donald Trump files $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times<\/div>
President Donald Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and four of its journalists on Monday, according to court documents.<\/div>
Read More<\/div>
www.npr.org<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

What horrible, scurrilous, utterly unfounded, brazenly lying, callously malicious thing did the NYT say?<\/p>\n

    \n
  • They said he built his fortune and rep, in part,<\/em> through fraud.<\/li>\n
  • They printed an interview with retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, his former chief-of-staff, who warned Trump met the definition of fascist.<\/li>\n
  • They credited producer Mark Burnett, not Trump, for the success of The Apprentice<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    I suspect it’s that last one that stings Donald most.<\/p>\n

    The suit is a huge laugh, and is almost a dictionary definition of a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), designed to quell criticism by suing the snot out of anyone who criticizes. In such a suit, the smaller, less-well-funded party (the defendant) has to bankrupt themselves trying to defend the case, or else nearly bankrupt themselves settling and then publicly taking back everything the accuser didn’t like. It’s commonly used by big businesses to silence locals who speak out against their operations or projects.\u00a0 Trump has turned it into a personal weapon against those he doesn’t like.<\/p>\n

    In this case, though the NYT is a huge corporation, the Dear Leader’s deep pockets seem similarly limitless, especially since any number of wealthy backers (or, worse, already-impoverished-but-fanatical MAGA folk) will be happy to help pay into a Donald Trump Legal Defense Fund.<\/p>\n

    Indeed, the “smart” thing for the Times<\/em> to do would be to settle, as so many other targets of Trump’s private and public judicial threats have done. We know how vindictive he can be to anyone who fails to show the level of respect he demands. He will gleefully pursue this suit to the bitter end — and beyond.<\/p>\n

    On the other hand, maybe the Democratic Party can sue Trump for defamation, based on the assertion in the filing that “Today, the\u00a0Times<\/em> is a full-throated mouthpiece of the Democrat Party.”\u00a0 I know a lot of Democrats who instead consider the NYT a namby-pamby centrist rag, so eager to seem impartial and above the fray that they both-sides the most ridiculous things. Not even the Dems are inept enough to run a propaganda operation that way, and implying they are is, thus, defamation.<\/p>\n

    Or maybe I<\/em> can sue Trump for defamation. After all, he regularly posts things like this:<\/p>\n

    [blah blah blah mindless drivel blah blah] your Favorite President (ME!)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I find it deeply offensive<\/em> that someone would accuse me of holding Trump (HIM!) as my Favorite President. Indeed, I believe this clearly and maliciously defames<\/em> my intelligence, sanity, morality, taste, and patriotism.<\/p>\n

    I’m pretty sure I have a case. All I’m lacking is a herd of lickspittle attorneys and the implicit power of the US Government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Trump is, once again, out to silence critics by suing them for massive damages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[133,12,358,1071],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-censorship","category-fourth-estate","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/C1_MkcVWQAEqgLo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132784,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/07\/its-good-to-be-married-to-the-king.html","url_meta":{"origin":160808,"position":0},"title":"It's Good To Be (Married To) The King","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Feb-17 8:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Part of Melania Trump's defamation law suit against the Daily Mail is that accusing her of being a prostitute in late 2016 means she can't cash in as First Lady.\u201dPlaintiff had the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person\u2026to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3207,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/07\/25\/how_just.html","url_meta":{"origin":160808,"position":1},"title":"How … just","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 25-Jul-02 9:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"A judge shows tremendous good judgement (not to matter a sense of humor) in dealing with a defamation suit: MCA [sued Mattel] for defamation [because a Mattel representative had, in...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20674,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/06\/unblogged-bits-wed-6-apr-11-1130.html","url_meta":{"origin":160808,"position":2},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Wed. 6-Apr-11 1130)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Apr-11 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... U.S. Troops Will Fight Without Pay If The Government Shuts Down - In for a penny, GOP. If you patch all the \"problems\" with a government shutdown by selective bills, then there's no impetus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133671,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/13\/trump-has-a-third-emoluments-ethics-law-suit-filed-against-him.html","url_meta":{"origin":160808,"position":3},"title":"Trump has a third emoluments \/ ethics law suit filed against him","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Jun-17 10:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This one is from nearly 200 Democratic congresscritters, arguing that they have been unconstitutionally prevented from ruling whether Trump can accept various economic benefits from foreign governments. Trump's unilateral decision as to what he needs to do to act in an \"ethical\" fashion (retain ownership of everything, but have his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20584,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/28\/unblogged-bits-mon-28-mar-11-1130.html","url_meta":{"origin":160808,"position":4},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Mon. 28-Mar-11 1130)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Mar-11 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Microsoft asks state lawmakers to make domestic companies pay for foreign firms' software piracy - Really? Going after American companies that receive parts, raw materials, or products for resale from overseas countries that use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132074,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/20\/on-over-sensitivity.html","url_meta":{"origin":160808,"position":5},"title":"On Over-Sensitivity","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 20-Nov-16 1:05pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So the whole Pence \/ Hamilton kerfuffle (which doesn't seem to have fazed the VP-elect) may be a distraction, but it's also presenting an interesting set of insights into character of the President-elect, and concerns over what comes next.When an audience at a Hamilton performance booed Mike Pence, and then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160808"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160813,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160808\/revisions\/160813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}