Is Donald Trump going to sue the media into complicity and silence?
Laughter and terror: these will most certainly be the primary contributions of a second Donald Trump administration to the national mood.
To wit: a new report from Columbia Journalism Review details a letter from Trump’s lawyer sent to the New York Times and Penguin Random House seeking $10 billion in damages for defamation. The letter, sent a week before the election, accuses Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner of “false and defamatory statements” in both articles they’ve written (Baker and Schmidt) and for sections in their book (Craig and Buettner). As the CJR points out:
The drumbeat of legal threats signals a potentially ominous trend for journalists during Trump’s second term in office. Litigation is costly and time-consuming. Most news organizations will look to settle rather than face months—more likely years—of discovery and depositions, plus significant legal fees.
This, of course, is the terrifying part. It’s not hard to imagine a President Trump finding sympathetic judges across the country who will at the very least give his lawsuits standing, thereby forcing media companies (small and large) to either settle or pony-up for legal fees. It is meant to have a chilling effect, and it most certainly will.
So where’s the comedy in this?
In attempting to point out how awesome a guy Trump is, and how you shouldn’t really denigrate him, the letter includes some of his totally awesome accomplishments and lists:
…fifty “businesses, projects, and brands” that Trump has “built, transformed, established, and revitalized,” noting that it “can be accurately and fairly stated that President Trump built much of New York City’s famed skyline.” It also lists twenty-three books he has authored and thirty “history-making media appearances,” including WrestleMania V (1989); the romantic comedy Ghosts Can’t Do It (1989); Donald Trump Real Estate Tycoon! (video game, 2002); and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1994).
Yes, the President-Elect made a brief appearance in one of the worst movies ever made. In case you’ve forgotten, Ghosts Can’t Do It starred Bo Derek and Anthony Quinn as—and here I’m just assuming… ghosts who can’t do it?—and went a little something like this:
Feel free to laugh and then cry.
