It’s telling that Donald Trump is sensitive enough about being called Hitler to sue over an oblique—and likely unintentional—reference to the OG Nazis, their propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, and Hitler himself.
It would be wrong—and not quite accurate—to call the disgraceful, twice-impeached, and twice-indicted (so far) 45th U.S. president Adolf Hitler. Pol Pot Pie, sure. Joseph Stollen? Maybe. Generalissimo Francisco Fuckface? Why not? But Hitler? That’s not fair. Let’s be real: No one is Hitler—no matter how hard they might try.
Those are just the führer facts. And so the Big Loser and Big Liar lost his little defamation lawsuit before it could begin—capping yet another week of legal losing.
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The Hill:
A federal judge in Florida has thrown out former President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against CNN, in which the former president alleged that the network’s use of the term “the Big Lie” associates him with Hitler.
The lawsuit cites five times when CNN commentators and writers used “the Big Lie” to refer to Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen. The term is generally associated with the Nazis, and the origin of the term is associated with Adolf Hitler’s accusations of wrongdoing against Jewish people.
In dismissing the case on Friday, the judge ruled that the term’s use is opinion, not fact, and therefore not liable under defamation law.
It doesn’t take an especially acute legal mind to know this suit was going nowhere. Judge Reinhold could have decided this case.
But here’s what Raag Singhal, the actual judge assigned to the lawsuit in Trump’s beloved Southern District of Florida, had to say: “Trump complains that CNN described his election challenges as ‘the Big Lie,’” he wrote of the man who appointed him back in 2019. “Trump argues that ‘the Big Lie’ is a phrase attributed to Nazi Party politician Joseph Goebbels and that CNN’s use of the phrase wrongly links Trump with the Hitler regime in the public eye. This is a stacking of inferences that cannot support a finding of falsehood.”
In other words, what are you smoking, Donny? And who’s your dealer? Is he or she taking on new clients? And are they registered with Instacart, by chance?
Singhal further wrote, “CNN’s use of the phrase ‘the Big Lie’ in connection with Trump’s election challenges does not give rise to a plausible inference that Trump advocates the persecution and genocide of Jews or any other group of people. The Court finds Nazi references in the political discourse (made by whichever ‘side’) to be odious and repugnant. But bad rhetoric is not defamation when it does not include false statements of fact.”
Right? If you haven’t been compared to Hitler or Nazis at least once in your life, you haven’t been on the internet. Step out of that “James Van Der Beek Forever” AOL chatroom for a hot minute and experience the singular bliss of being accused of working for George Soros.
Then again, if anyone’s going to be tarred with the “Nazi” brush these days, Trump is probably the guy.
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And hey, Liberace once successfully sued The Daily Mirror for libel in the ‘50s after the newspaper implied he was gay. So Trump probably thought that same tack would work for him. But Trump wears his authoritarianism like a full-length, satin-lined white ermine cape.
His late ex-wife Ivana once said he kept a collection of Hitler’s speeches in his bedside cabinet. And then there’s the time he reportedly told his ex-chief of staff John Kelly that Hitler “did a lot of good things.” And remember when he dined with literal antisemites Nick Fuentes and Ye, or when retweeted neo-Nazis and other white supremacists? Or when he demonstrated in no uncertain terms that he has no use for democracy? That’s all a bit Hitler-y, isn’t it?
But don’t call his concerted effort to scuttle representative democracy and everything America stands for The Big Lie. Because that would be rude, now wouldn’t it?
Also, why is he picking on CNN? Everyone ( e v e r y o n e !) calls Trump’s stolen-election bullshit The Big Lie. Because that’s its fucking name.
Trump originally sought a $475 million judgment against CNN. Fortunately, the courts have now spoken and ...
Also? The case has been dismissed by Singhal with prejudice. That means Trump can’t bring the lawsuit again in a different court with a different judge he appointed in hopes of a different result.
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