Former President Donald Trump — whose various slanders against his real and perceived political foes made him the most libelous president ever to hold the post — is now suing Hillary Clinton and others who highlighted his suspicious behavior toward Russia during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. If and when Trump submits to being deposed by the defendants, we’ll believe this is something more than his usual empty bluster. If that doesn’t happen (prediction: it won’t), Trump should be on the business end of a major frivolous-litigation judgment.
In addition to the unprecedented penchant for insults and lies, Trump is the most litigious president in America’s history. For decades, he was known for throwing around frivolous lawsuits, often based on his inability to brook even the mildest criticism. USA Today tallied it up in 2016, and at that time he’d been party to some 3,500 lawsuits, almost 2,000 of those as the plaintiff.
He has sued people for saying he’s worth less than he claims (this despite his documented habit of lying about his own wealth). As a real estate developer, he once sued the Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic for disputing Trump’s prediction that he would build the world’s tallest building. He once sued a small drugstore company — whose owners weren’t related to him but happened to be named Trump — for using their own name on their company.
