Twice-impeached former President Donald Trump seems to be having a tough time accepting the fact that Joe Biden beat him by about 7 million votes in the 2020 presidential race.
Trump on Tuesday criticized Fox News for how it is defending itself in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems, which claims Fox hurt its business by spreading Trump’s lies that Biden stole the election.
“It amazes me how weak and ineffective FoxNews is at portraying itself in the lawsuit against them,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They look too scared and frightened to reveal the massive amounts of voter fraud & Irregularities already found.”
Investigators have found no massive amounts of voter fraud. Trump is lying in a pathetic attempt to explain his loss to his supporters.
Dominion accuses Fox of knowingly amplifying Trump’s lies and lending them credibility despite evidence there was no voter fraud. Dominion has obtained messages between Fox hosts and executives. Fox representatives have given sworn testimony in the case.
Recent court filings by Dominion revealed Fox knowingly mislead its viewers to maintain profitability. Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and other Fox commentators encouraged viewers to believe Trump’s false claims about voter fraud.
“Yes. They endorsed,” Murdoch said under oath, according to portions of a deposition that were unsealed as part of a court filing Monday.
Attorneys for Fox have said the network also aired Dominion’s denials that its voting equipment could be manipulated to change votes. Fox has said Trump’s claims were newsworthy and that Dominion is cherry picking quotes to make its case.
In an earlier filing, Dominion disclosed messages between Fox commentators Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham about Sidney Powell, an attorney for Trump.
“Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane,” Carlson wrote in a message to Ingraham. In other messages, Carlson called Powell a “lunatic” and “nutcase.”
Media analysts have expressed shock and amazement at the damning nature of the communications disclosed in Dominion’s lawsuit. Some have said the messages show strong evidence of malice, a high bar to prove in a defamation lawsuit.
Others have said the court filings show Fox News is not a news organization, but rather entertainment. No news organization would knowingly spread false information and recklessly disregard the truth. Dominion seeks to prove Fox did just that out of fear of losing viewers and profits to more right-wing media outlets.
Carlson’s show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” typically draws an audience of about 3.5 million viewers and is the top-rated “news” show on cable television. However, Carlson’s ratings have declined about 22% since April 2020, when he surpassed Hannity to make history as host of the most-watched prime-time cable news show with about 4.5 million viewers on average.
Fox and Trump are part of a bizarre culture that tries to warp reality by inventing fiction when facts fail to suit the narrative. Former Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway famously invented the phrase “alternative facts” during a “Meet the Press” interview in early 2017.
Conway was defending White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s false statement that Trump’s inauguration attracted the biggest crowd in history. Irony is lost on leaders and followers of this movement. Trump often used the phrase “fake news” to describe CNN, The New York Times and other legitimate outlets that told the truth.
In reality, “fake news” accurately describes Fox News, according to evidence that supports Dominion’s allegations against Fox.
Thankfully, the American justice system allows those who believe they were harmed to pursue remedies. The Dominion case has a high level of public interest. The company makes equipment often bought with taxpayer funds to conduct elections. Americans deserve to have the utmost faith and trust in election integrity.
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When one side loses and makes up stories about faulty or manipulated voting equipment, that’s a serious threat to the right of a company like Dominion to pursue the American Dream of achieving success through hard work, capitalism and free enterprise.
For far too long Americans have tolerated lying politicians. Trump has been the most extreme liar to date. We’ve also tolerated entertainment that tries to pass itself as news. When it comes to politics, after all, everyone is entitled to their opinions.
The entertainment venture Fox News has been very successful at generating profits for its parent company, Fox Corporation. The publicly traded company reported revenues of $3.19 billion for the three months ending Sept. 30. Its full-year revenue was $13.97 billion for fiscal year 2022, an 8% increase from $12.91 billion reported for fiscal 2021.
Even if Dominion is awarded $1.6 billion in damages, that is unlikely to bankrupt Fox. A consequential damages award might, however, cause Fox and others to tread more cautiously when it comes to spreading lies and misinformation.
The courtroom is the arena where this battle is being fought. A trial is set to begin April 17, Reuters reported. Some view the lawsuit as a significant effort to seek accountability for ongoing threats to democracy.
There is a direct line, after all, from voting fraud claims following the 2020 presidential election to the deadly assault by right-wing extremists on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The “big lie” of Trump’s claims about voting fraud continue to threaten democracy. Election deniers and conspiracy theorists are battling for control of Republican Party organizations in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states.
In the Southland, the losing candidate in the 2022 race for Will County clerk asked a judge to order a new election. Republican Gretchen Fritz filed the lawsuit Dec. 28, claiming she believes “mistakes and fraud have been committed in the casting and counting of ballots” because her opponent, Democratic Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry, received more votes than Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
It is shameful that credible members of the Republican Party are so reluctant to denounce unfounded claims of voter fraud and other lies that benefit them politically. But that’s politics.
Dominion’s lawsuit is about business. Monday’s filing included a Murdoch message explaining that allowing Mike Lindell to run ads for his company, MyPillow, on Fox was a financial decision and not a political one.
“It is not red or blue, it is green,” Murdoch wrote in a message, according to the filing.
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.