Filing questionable lawsuits is one of Donald Trump's favorite hobbies. He undertook the followingnew york times,facebook,Twitter as is andYouTube,I'll list a few. Legal tantrums like this aren't designed to win (and usually don't). Their main goal was to soothe President Trump's bruised ego and keep his name in the press.
But the president-elect's lawsuit against pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register is different.
There are many things wrong with President Trump's claims. It's still funny, but there's a reason Donald Trump has such a hard time hiring top lawyers, other than the notorious reluctance of lawyers.pay the bill— but it's also deeply disturbing. The only question is whether the judge will use the F-word (frivolous) if overruled.
ofcomplaintMr. Trump's filing is 25 pages long, but most of it is a falsified accounting. There's only one actual claim, and it boils down to Trump saying that the Selzer polls that predicted he might lose Iowa were wrong, and that because of this false poll, Trump has been accused of “defendants' damages.'' “We had to spend campaign funds to alleviate and counteract this.” act. “
First, Trump has no standing to sue. Although he filed this lawsuit in his personal capacity, it was his campaign that spent the money and sustained the damages. But let's look at the bigger picture here.
Trump claims he can sue for damages because Selzer and the Des Moines Register made untrue statements that caused him political harm. He claims this is “election interference” and violates the Constitution.Iowa Consumer Fraud Law.
This is really interesting. President Trump's entire campaign was based on repeating that:lies exposedOver and over again. If Mr. Selzer (or any other pollster) is responsible for the wrong poll results, imagine how much damage a single rally could cost Mr. Trump.
And if the Des Moines Register is responsible for publishing the results of its poll, thousands of podcasters and news outlets will be guilty of amplifying President Trump's nonsense to their audiences. Probably. FOX News already had to pay $787 million For lying about Dominion Voting Systems. How much will they pay for the remaining claims that Trump won the 2020 election? How much will the bill be for January 6 alone?
I mean, if you can sue people for saying things that aren't true during a political campaign, Donald Trump is going to spend the rest of his life and part of his life in court. Luckily for him, you can't do that. Ann Seltzer is safe and the case will be dismissed. Unfortunately, getting to that point will take time and money for both Selzer and the Des Moines Register. That's the problem.
Although absurd, this new lawsuit is part of a very sinister and disturbing pattern of intimidation. We often talk about how authoritarianism begins. Well, this is not how authoritarianism begins—this is what authoritarianism is.
In repressive regimes, heavy-handed censorship is rarely necessary. Rather, people engage in self-censorship, knowing that if they say the wrong thing, legal action will be taken against them, and even if they ultimately win in court, it will be a painful and expensive victory. I've been trained.
Corporations are meant to make money, and media companies are also businesses. When the winds of government repression are blowing, few businesses dare to go against it. Rather, they will cooperate tacitly and avoid trouble.
Much has been written about Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Prevent the Washington Post from endorsing presidential candidatesprobably because they didn't want to embarrass Trump. The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times has done a lot. same thing. And just last week, ABC threw in the towel It's a highly defensible lawsuit in which President Trump claimed he was defamed because his attack on E. Jean Carroll was mislabeled as “rape” by George Stephanopoulos.
ABC's decision to roll over and play dead appears to have been a business decision rather than a legal one. Even if Trump were to win, the lawsuit would have awarded the plaintiff $1 in damages. When it comes to sexual assault, Donald Trump's reputation is less tarnished. ABC nonetheless agreed to pay Trump $15 million in settlement.
President Trump is already planning using The power of the federal government and a pliant Justice Department to pursue his enemies. he ponder openly About putting ABC out of business. Being off Trump's enemy list is good business, and if you're Disney, the owner of ABC, you've profited. Last year it was $89 billion. — $15 million is effectively a rounding error.
Thousands of business owners have come to the same conclusion. After January 6thth attack on the Capitol, Facebook has banned Donald Trump. After the November election, Jeff Zuckerberg made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and stood there. put your hand on your heartfor the national anthem to be sung by the J6 Prison Choir.
These lawsuits are ridiculous, but that's pretty much the point. Trump has made it clear to everyone that he intends to retaliate against his enemies, and nothing, not logic, evidence, or the rule of law itself, will stand in his way. This is a rare moment where we can watch America's culture of freedom disappear before our eyes.
Happy New Year everyone!
chris tuaxHe is an appellate attorney and served as Southern California chair for John McCain's 2008 primary campaign.
