Former United States president, Donald Trump has slapped CNN with a defamation lawsuit, claiming $475 million as punitive damages. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Florida, revolves around the term “The Big Lie” about Donald’s false claims of widespread fraud that according to him, cost him the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Trump has claimed that the cable network has been running a ‘campaign of libel and slander’ against him.
Scandalous, False And Defamatory Labels…
It appears like the former United States president hasn’t stopped living in fallacy. For years, Donald Trump has attacked news outlets like CNN and New York Times, for spreading “false information” about him. Now, Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against their old rival on Monday (Oct 4).
In the $475 million defamation lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the plaintiff claimed that CNN has been waging a campaign of “libel and slander” against him because it fears that Trump will join the run for president in 2024. In one part of the 29-page-complaint, is it stated:
“CNN has sought to use its massive influence — purportedly as a ‘trusted’ news source — to defame the plaintiff in the minds of its viewers and readers for the purpose of defeating him politically. As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left, CNN has tried to taint the plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler.”
The Term “The Big Lie”?
The defamation lawsuit, wherein Trump is praying for $475 million punitive damages from CNN, revolves around the term “The Big Lie”, a phrase with Nazi connotations, used in reference to him more than 7,700 times on CNN since the beginning of 2021.
In the complaint, Trump has mentioned several instances wherein CNN appeared to compare him to Hitler, for instance, a January 2022 special report by host Fareed Zakaria, who even included Hitler’s footage to compare Donald’s actions to the German dictator.
A Stunt For 2024 Presidential Elections?
This isn’t the first time that Donald Trump has raged against CNN. During his tenure as president, he constantly attacked the channel for spreading lies about him. Not only, this he even filed similar lawsuits against big tech companies, but with no success.
For example, he filed a lawsuit against Twitter for blocking him following the Jan 6 US Capitol Riot scandal that was thrown out by a California judge earlier this year. The reality stands that numerous federal and local election officers from both parties, top former campaign staffers, and Trump’s own attorney general claim that there is “no evidence” of the election fraud he continues to allege.
As for this lawsuit, I don’t think Trump would succeed because there’s a lot against him already. But yes, as for the Nazi reference, the new CNN chief Chris Licht previously urged his news personnel to refrain from using the phrase because “it is too close to Democratic efforts to brand the former president.”
On the other hand, Donald Trump has alleged that he will file similar lawsuits against other news organizations. Trump also stated that he would bring “appropriate action” against the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
From my perspective, the lawsuit seems like another tantrum by the former president who continues to live in a fallacy. The lawsuit has been filed as Donald weighs a potential bid for the presidency in 2024.
In an article published on July 1, The New York Times reported, “Mr Trump has long hinted at a third consecutive White House bid and has campaigned for much of the past year. He has accelerated his planning in recent weeks just as a pair of investigations have intensified and congressional testimony has revealed new details about Mr Trump’s indifference to the threat of violence on Jan. 6 and his refusal to act to stop an insurrection.”
But again, even though Mr Trump is anxiously mulling as to when he should announce a presidential run for 2024, the decision has become more pressing as Trump continues to reconstruct his image following the shocking details that have come up amid the investigation of the US Capitol Riot and more.
However, no official announcement has been made yet on whether he would run for president, and if so, when to launch a bid, according to three people close to Trump who requested anonymity in order to share details of private conversations.
Now, as Trump decides to file endless lawsuits against channels, bringing forward his “vicious deeds”, let’s take a look at some of his biggest mistakes. Not kidding, historians and scholars rank Donal Trump as the worst president in the history of the United States. His election and policies have sparked numerous protests. Have a look at some of them:
- 2017–2019 special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller established that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit the Trump campaign. Not only this, Donald made misleading and false statements during his campaign and presidency. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist, and many as misogynistic.
- Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries.
- Trump diverted military funding towards building a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border and implemented a policy of family separations for apprehended migrants.
- He signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut taxes for individuals and businesses and rescinded the individual health insurance mandate penalty of the Affordable Care Act.
- In foreign policy, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal, and he initiated a trade war with China.
- Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un three times but made no progress on denuclearization.
- Trump has been denounced for his mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic as he reacted slowly, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials in his messaging, and promoted misinformation about unproven treatments and the need for testing.
Last month, the US Justice Department issued nearly 40 subpoenas to Trump’s associates as part of a criminal investigation into “Trump’s efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election and his supporters’ coup on the US Capitol”.
The former president is being investigated for plans to create fraudulent voters to prevent Joe Biden’s victory. We don’t know the fate of this suit, or maybe we do, but yea, Trump’s next target is “New York Times”. What do you think?