Major media assets Most are linked to large business interests that may benefit from government policy. or may be harmed by such policy
Now that the election is over, Donald Trump has returned to his most beloved pastime. That is, nuisance litigation. Abuse of the legal system has been a guiding principle of Trump’s decades-long career as a prominent businessman. And he maintained it without habit or perhaps enjoyment during his first presidency.
The latest round of cases is different. Trump has expanded his targets to include not just journalists and commentators. pollster– on Monday His lawyer submitted nonsense. lawsuit against pollster J. Ann Selzer, accusing her of having “Election interference” and consumer fraud over the infamous poll released before the election that showed Trump losing to Kamala Harris in the Iowa primary (The case still has a name Des Moines registrationwhich published a poll The more important difference lies in the behavior of his threat targets. Different from during the first semester When they mostly laughed at his ridiculous suit. It seems that most people at the level of media owners tend to capitulate.
Last Saturday, ABC News revealed that it had decided to settle Trump’s lawsuit. By donating $15 million to the future Trump Presidential Museum. and paid $1 million in legal fees. Trump’s claim in the lawsuit is an interview with George Stephanopoulos, a frequent Trump target. With Representative Nancy Mace, he said, “Donald Trump was found guilty by a grand jury of rape.” Stephanopoulos Describing the case that Meet the jury that Trump punched writer E. Jean Carroll with his own hands But not with his penis. This is an act that is now defined as rape under New York law. But that’s not when the physical abuse happened. This is a very narrow area for defamation litigation. Not to mention the strange differences. that must bet on public protection, according to The New York time,ABC Decided This is partly because parent company Disney fears reprisals.
ABC may not be alone in this. Because expectations of a Trump revival began to look possible earlier this year. The giant organization transparently absorbed him. Patrick Sun-Song, the billionaire owner Los Angeles TimesIt didn’t just encourage newspapers to support Harris. But as the election has demanded, editorials expressing concerns about Trump’s cabinet choices must be balanced with those expressing opposite viewpoints. Many items report– at washington postNewspaper owner Jeff Bezos has also notoriously overruled his paper’s plans to endorse Harris. Bezos protected The decision was simply a poorly communicated and awkwardly timed choice to stop endorsing the president based on news that had nothing to do with Trump.
This would be a reasonable editorial decision without context. However, the context is Trump. intervene To stop the Pentagon from awarding $10 billion worth of contracts to Amazon during his first term. and is in a position to impose additional punishment on Bezos and his space business in his second term. “I’m really optimistic this time,” he said at an event earlier this month. This appears to undermine the reason for stopping certification. How is it that the editorial page of a newspaper supporting a candidate can be accused of bias? But public support by owners for the president’s agenda is not?
Amazon also has Make a promise $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee, as well as Meta, whose founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently stood respectfully with his hand raised to his heart at a rally at Mar-a- Lago to record “The Star-Spangled Banner” performed by imprisoned defendants accused of participating. in the riots on January 6 Already played above the speaker (according to reports, the identity of the singer has not been announced If you think that would make a difference in his behavior)
The important point that Trump is aware of is this. Major media assets Most are tied to bigger fortunes such as Amazon, Disney, NantWorks (the tech conglomerate owned by Soon-Shiong), etc. All of those business interests benefit from government cooperation and may be harmed. from choosing unfavorable policies Trump can intimidate these owners. Because he mostly doesn’t care about politics for himself. He can lead Republicans with almost any stance he takes. and has no public image to maintain. On the contrary He has cultivated a reputation for honesty and corruption. (His allies call him euphemistically “transaction”), which makes his strongmen’s threat extremely believable.
And who is the billionaire? do not Are you the owner of inherited media assets? The concept of “resistance” is largely out of fashion now. But what if any wealthy donors still care about protecting free speech and democracy? They might also consider civil defense funds for targets with fewer resources in Trump’s litigation spree. It has the potential to expand to criminal defense once Trump officially takes office as a judge. The department. register It is unlikely to be the last small publication targeted by Trump. During the campaign His mainstream Republican supporters have explained his repeated threats of revenge against his perceived enemies by insisting that he didn’t actually mean them. The latest frivolous lawsuit makes it clear that he’s done a lot.
