"Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!" President Donald Trump declares in a Truth Social rant inspired by the cancellation of Joy Reid's MSNBC show. "This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party. They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they've done to our Country."
Trump's claim that journalism he does not like is "illegal" and constitutes a tort justifying massive civil damages should be familiar by now. He has made such claims not only in social media posts but also in actual lawsuits against news organizations. As the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) explains in a motion filed last Friday, these chilling attempts to convert Trump's complaints about press coverage into causes of action are legally baseless and blatantly unconstitutional.
Last October, Trump sued CBS in Texas, claiming that its editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris constituted consumer fraud that had caused him "at least" $10 billion in damages. In December, he filed a similar lawsuit against The Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer in Iowa, claiming a voter survey that erroneously predicted a Harris victory in that state likewise amounted to consumer fraud.
