Trumpty Dumpty broke a lot of eggs today. He didn’t just drop a cartoon. He went into an egg factory and began blowing out the walls. All anybody knows is that he made one hell of a mess today. Monday afternoon it was revealed that Trump had filed a 29-page lawsuit against CNN in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale to the tune of $475,000,000. Yes, Virginia. those are six zeros. $475 million.
Trump has threatened to sue media outlets — including CNN — many times over the years but it’s all smoke and mirrors. He huffs and he puffs and threatens to blow their outlet down and nothing ever comes of it. He unsuccessfully sued the New York Times and the Washington Post in 2020. The Times suit was dismissed and the Post suit is still pending.
In July, Trump sent CNN a cease and desist letter, demanding that they immediately stop referring to his stolen election verbiage as false and using the term “The Big Lie” to describe said verbiage. Trump finds this abusive.
Here is Trump’s official statement, which was emailed to media outlets and published on Truth Social on Monday.
Much ado about nothing. Here is a link to this legal opus. Knock yourself out. And what is the reaction?
The First Amendment protects the right to opine that Donald Trump is a racist, demagogic insurrectionist and compare him to any number of dictators.
— Adam Steinbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh) October 3, 2022
This lawsuit isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. It’s a media stunt, not a serious lawsuit. https://t.co/Zwl0KzE3qv
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) October 3, 2022
I like George Conway’s take on it.
Truth is an absolute defense. He'll lose. Also, he has no lawyers because he won't pay them.
— Anastasia Pantsios (@anastasjoy) October 3, 2022
The lawyers on this lawsuit: insurance defense attorney, Lindsay Halligan, and white-collar criminal defense attorney, Jim Trusty.
— Katie S. Phang (@KatiePhang) October 3, 2022
Katie Phang makes an interesting point here. An insurance defense lawyer and a criminal defense lawyer acting as plaintiff’s attorneys in a high ticket media lawsuit? Media/entertainment law is its own legal genre. This isn’t a small claims suit, this is a freaking $475 million dollar suit, brought against a major media outlet, by lawyers who know nothing of the area of law involved. That’s a bit like getting a dentist to replace your knee.
I would say “unbelievable” but what would truly be unbelievable is if some reputable media lawyers decided that they had a meritorious case and proceeded to bring it on Trump’s behalf. That would be the heart stopper. That would make eyes roll. This is just another day and another PR stunt in the life of Donald Trump. I’m surprised Jenna and Rudy didn’t sign off on the complaint. Oh wait — Rudy doesn’t have a license anymore. Never mind.
Clearly, this is one of those stories where the big question is why? My personal theory is that there is something to be revealed in one of the cases that Trump has in litigation now that is so damaging that he believes that he has to gain control of the narrative first, with this specious, makeweight nonsense, so as to soften the blow.
Personally, I think that something will come out of the Mar-a-Lago “raid” case that Trump is going to find hard, if not impossible, to defend and so he’s trying to gain the upper hand first. Admittedly, this is all speculation but think about it for a minute: what Trump has done here is make himself the center of attention 36 days before the midterm election. That has got to be putting Ronna McDaniel and all of the Republican election machinery folks to reaching for their heart meds and calling their shrinks.
Even Bill O’Reilly was quoted on Charlie Kirk’s program earlier today as saying that Trump should “disappear” and “be down in Honduras for a couple of weeks.” “Get out of the [news] cycle!” O’Reilly ringingly declared. Well, you see how much effect that had.
Bottom line, nobody thinks that the timing of this bomb of Trump’s is going to do the Republicans any good. But maybe Trump thinks it will. Or, maybe he just flat out doesn’t care. It’s been notated in a number of news stories and opinion pieces (which we have cited here on the blog) that Trump is intending to incite violence amongst his followers. Maybe that will happen sooner rather than later.
Only one thing is certain: Trump has chosen to create a major brou ha ha right now. So what is it he wants to deflect attention from?
- The New York State attorney general’s investigation of the Trump Organization?
- The election interference case in Georgia, headed by Fani Willis?
- The Mar-a-Lago document seizure case? Remember, just today George Conway was quoted as saying how this was an easy case, like finding the mafia don driving the getaway truck after a jewel heist. It may do for Trump what Al Capone’s tax evasion, also an easy case, did for him.
- The January 6 Committee investigation? Remember that the latest meeting of the committee, scheduled for last week, was postponed due to Hurricane Ian. It was anticipated that damning testimony about Roger Stone — and Trump, by obvious extension — was to have been presented. Is this what has Trump all a tither?
- The rape trial of E. Jean Carroll? It pales in insignificance next to these other legal explosives, but it’s still going on, scheduled for February. I mention it to be thorough.
- Could it be possible that Trump simply wants to use the case as a fundraising mechanism?
- All of the above?
More will be revealed. To paraphrase an old movie quote, “fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy election.” To political scientists everywhere, who have wondered, “What would happen if a former president decided to make himself the center of the news cycle the month before a crucial election, when all members of his party have begged him to stay out of sight?” you’re about to find out. All we know for sure, is that whatever happens, there’s going to be a lot of orange yolk to clean off of everything. Trumpty Dumpty isn’t just falling off the wall, he’s blowing up every wall in fairytale land and taking the GOP down with him. So there.
Comparing him to that guy is not defamation per se. It’s just a comparison.
What is Trump’s angle here? You have any idea? Trying to deflect from all of the bad publicity from his legal problems?
No, most know by now they’re just fraudulent lawsuits to make Trump look bad by people like you. Notice I didn’t call you a writer? Yeah, you have to have some writing skills for that. Lying is a skill you can’t seem to portray.
475 is a very specific amount, I wonder if that’s the amount in loans he has coming up?🤔
It’s always about the money with Dimwit Donny.
Maybe it’s connected to one of these anniversaries on 25th April:
799 – Leo III was attacked by partisans of his predecessor Adrian I, but was rescued and taken to Charlemagne, as described in the epic Karolus magnus et Leo papa.
1644 – Ming–Qing transition: The Ming dynasty of China fell when the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1932 – Gladys Elinor Watkins consecrated the carillon of the National War Memorial in New Zealand (dedication pictured).
1946 – Two passenger trains collided in Naperville, Illinois, leaving 45 people dead and some 125 injured.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro took office as president of Nicaragua, becoming the first female head of state in the Americas to have been elected in her own right.
My money’s on something coming out from the Mar-A-Lago raid. I’d say J6 but he’s got no insiders to feed him intel on that.
Just yesterday, the media reported that the National Archives said there are documents still missing. I think that could be a very big deal, because they can name specific items.
So you admit, you don’t know what you’re talking about. That doesn’t make you look very informed online.
Unlike you, little troll, I know what I don’t know. It’s called an “educated guess” for a reason. And sorry, you’re not my type.
“Even Bill O’Reilly was quoted on Charlie Kirk’s program earlier today as saying that Trump should “disappear” and “be down in Honduras for a couple of weeks.” “Get out of the [news] cycle!” O’Reilly ringingly declared. Well, you see how much effect that had.”
As much as I loathed (and still loathe) O’Reilly, I never thought he was such a stupid MFing moron as his quote indicates. For crying out loud, O’Reilly KNOWS who Trump is and how he operates. Trump only lives to be IN the “cycle” as much as possible. When someone else is getting press attention (especially a GOPer), Trump will absolutely NOT let that pass. Trump MUST be at the center of everything and if he isn’t, then he’s going to damn well make sure he gets there ASAP.
As an avid follower of Keith Olbermann back in the day (still catch his podcast now), I KNEW O’Reilly was this dumb. It’s more than corroborated by stories from Al Franken.
Well Bill O’Reilly didn’t make it to President so I would take what he said with a grain of salt. Oh, and Trump is always in the “cycle” because places like this just can’t stop writing about him 24/7/365.
and trolls like you love this site so much you just can’t stop coming here 24/7/365. So sweet, how much you love us.