Donald Trump followed through last week on his threat in July to sue CNN for libel. The network’s coverage, Trump complains, has caused him to suffer “embarrassment, pain, humiliation and mental anguish.” If those criteria are sufficient to qualify for a lawsuit, the entire nation should be suing Trump for exactly the same.
Trump embarrassed America before the world with his crass behavior and insulting language. He inflicted pain on immigrants at the border and used language that inspired followers to attack minorities. He inflicted withering humiliation on anyone who didn’t display unquestioning loyalty to him, including his own vice president. The nation’s collective mental anguish continues pretty much unabated to this day.
But America’s grievances, substantial as they are, aren’t before the court. Trump’s lawsuit is. He asserts that CNN presenters and guest commentators undertook “a smear campaign to malign” Trump “with a barrage of negative associations and innuendos, broadcasting commentary that he is like a cult leader, a Russian lackey, a dog whistler to white supremacists, and a racist” whom the network compared to Adolf Hitler.
