What did Donald Trump do today?
He gave an interview, which—according to him—should be grounds for someone to file a $20 billion lawsuit.Trump gave an interview with Fox News today, which aired ahead of the Super Bowl. It was pre-taped, and—as is common practice, and virtually mandatory to fit into broadcast schedules—was subtly but clearly edited before it aired.
Kamala Harris sat for an interview with the CBS news program 60 Minutes in October. CBS edited that interview too, as it always does for clarity, to fit segments in between commercial breaks, and to avoid wasting time airing its subjects drinking water or clearing their throats.
Trump is suing the parent company of CBS for $20 billion dollars because, he claims, it is "unfair" for a news organization to do such editing. It's not clear why Trump believes he was damaged or is entitled to money. He's also forced the Federal Communications Commission—which reports to him as president—to investigate.
Trump is suing the parent company of CBS for $20 billion dollars because, he claims, it is "unfair" for a news organization to do such editing. It's not clear why Trump believes he was damaged or is entitled to money. He's also forced the Federal Communications Commission—which reports to him as president—to investigate.
Trump has a long, long history of filing lawsuits he knows have no merit in order to punish enemies who can't afford the cost of a trial, or to force the other party to endure years of delay before the case is finally resolved in their favor. In this case, the real motive appears to be to force CBS to cover him more favorably, because he will ultimately decide whether its owners can merge with another media company.
Fox News (which is not suspected of deceptively editing Trump) has not released the unedited footage, nor has Trump's FCC begun an investigation.
Other things that happened in the interview:
- Trump predicted that the Kansas City Chiefs would win, on the strength of "the quarterback" whose name he could not appear to recall. Patrick Mahomes is an outstanding quarterback, but Kansas City was blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-22. (Earlier this week, Trump remembered Mahomes' name, but told an odd rambling story about how now-Sen. Tommy Tuberville said that Mahomes had made him into a great coach when they were at Texas Tech. As Mahomes confirmed, he and Tuberville have never met, much less been part of the same team.)
- He insisted, without giving details, that he is in control of Elon Musk's unlimited authority over government agencies, and that he disagreed with the results of lawsuits temporarily blocking him from undertaking every headline-grabbing action he's taken since returning to office. Trump has dispatched underlings like Vice-President JD Vance to argue that courts "aren't allowed" to restrain Trump.
- He declared today "Gulf of America" Day, the name he thinks people should call the body of water that has been known as the Gulf of Mexico since 1550.
Why does this matter?
- It's bad to file frivolous lawsuits, and it's worse if Donald Trump really believes he needs 248.100 times the average American household income in emotional support money because someone interviewed a different presidential candidate.
- It's okay if a president isn't a big football fan or picks the wrong team to win, but it's less okay if he can't tell when he's getting confused about the basic facts or his memories.
- In a democracy, nobody is above the law and court rulings aren't optional.