There was an air of despair on MSNBC’s The Weekend on Sunday morning, as an anti-Trump panel expressed outrage about the President-elect’s various lawsuits against journalists and news organizations, but also despair that the liberal media establishment is failing to step up as leaders of the #Resistance, singling out ABC News for its $15 million settlement earlier this month.
“Donald Trump isn’t even in office yet, but his promises of retribution against the news media are already becoming a reality,” co-host Michael Steele warned at the top of the 9am ET hour.
Co-host Alicia Menendez casually labeled Trump a “tyrant” as she asked anti-Trump lawyer George Conway: “What kind of guardrails are there, constitutionally speaking, to prevent a tyrant like this from a retribution tour?”
After Conway noted that most libel and defamation lawsuits are either settled or dismissed by the courts, co-host Symone Sanders-Townsend groused: “Isn’t that part of the chilling effect? It doesn’t actually go anywhere, but if someone pays money, like ABC has a $15 million judgement – ” referring to the amount ABC paid Trump after its star host George Stephanopoulos repeated — and wrongly — claimed Trump was deemed ‘liable for rape’ in a civil proceeding earlier this year.
Conway interjected: “Well, that was ridiculous.”
“Well, they are paying it,” Sanders shot back.
“People have to band together,” Conway advised. “These media organizations can’t cave the way ABC did, which was outrageous....It’s really incumbent on people to stand up and do something, because if you don’t do that, then they win by intimidation even if they don’t actually win these lawsuits.”
Steele argued the other networks should have joined forces with ABC and Stephanopoulos in their fight against Trump. “I didn’t see other networks and other outlets defend, come to the defense of ABC....There is strength in numbers here, I think.”
Vanity Fair’s Molly Jong-Fast agreed that the anti-Trump forces “need to be brave,” but cautioned that the liberal media are much weaker now than they were in 2016: “There are many fewer outlets. There is much less money. There is much less, you know, good will towards the mainstream media than there was eight years ago. This is just a sort of husk of a business....”
Despite their unanimous advice that the broader liberal media needed to join forces against Trump, there wasn’t much optimism that the press would follow MSNBC’s instructions. Here’s a clip of the a portion of that discussion, followed by a partial transcript (click “expand” to read it).
# MSNBC’s The Weekend
December 22, 2024, 9:02am ETCo-host MICHAEL STEELE: Welcome back to The Weekend, everybody. So Donald Trump isn’t even in office yet, but his promises of retribution against the news media are already becoming reality. Trump is now suing Iowa pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register over her final pre-election poll that showed Vice President Harris beating him in the Hawkeye State. Now, Trump’s lawyers have been warning journalists and others of defamation lawsuits for what they’ve said or written before and after the election. So have two of Trump’s Cabinet picks,...Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel. As The New York Times notes, “The small flurry of threatened defamation lawsuits is the latest sign that the incoming Trump administration appears poised to do what it can to crack down on unfavorable media coverage,” now and after the election.... [continuing to quote] “Mr. Trump and his allies have discussed subpoenaing news organizations, prosecuting journalists and their sources, revoking networks’ broadcast licenses and eliminating funding for public radio and television.”
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Co-host ALICIA MENENDEZ: Did the Constitution imagine this, right? What kind of guardrails are there, constitutionally speaking, to prevent a tyrant like this from a retribution tour?
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Co-host SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: On Monday, about a week ago, almost a week ago, Donald Trump actually spoke about the lawsuits, at Mar-a-Lago, against the press. Take a listen.
President-elect DONALD TRUMP: I feel I have to do this. I shouldn’t really be the one to do it. It should have been the Justice Department or somebody else. But I have to do it. It costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press. Our press is very corrupt. Almost as corrupt as our elections.
SANDERS-TOWNSEND: I heard this and I think about the fact that we — people often talk about, ‘oh, there is guardrails’ and I’m like, ‘the guardrails are few and far between and people are not actually willing to stand up and do their due diligence.’ You have to actively protect democracy. It doesn’t happen on its own. And in 1964 during the civil rights movement and all the way through 1964 news organizations were regularly sued for libel by governments, by local — like, people were suing for libel. and it was a Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan, that ended up protecting the press, saying — protecting them from libel lawsuits and really reinforcing the freedom of the press to report vigorously. That Supreme Court precedent still stands today, yet civil lawsuits left and right are being brought.
Lawyer GEORGE CONWAY: Yeah. But most of these lawsuits never go anywhere. Most libel lawsuits, defamation lawsuits, don’t go anywhere. They make a big splash and then they are ultimately dismissed or settled with an apology or something, or they’re just withdrawn.
SANDERS-TOWNSEND: But that’s what I mean, George! Isn’t that part of the chilling effect? It doesn’t actually go anywhere, but if someone is — someone pays money, like ABC has a $15 million judgment –
CONWAY: Well, that was ridiculous.
SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Well, they are paying it. George Stephanopoulos is also on the hook for $1 million of his own money. Someone threatening a lawsuit, then people maybe think twice about if they want to be even slightly critical of the folks in charge even if it’s warranted.
CONWAY: Right. No. I mean, and that is a problem. I mean, this is how the intimidation works. They are trying to impose costs on people and, you know, this is one of the ways they’re trying to make people obey in advance, to use Professor Snyder’s words. And it can work because, it’s like, it’s not worth it to any single individual to just say something if they are going to incur this cost. And that’s why you are absolutely right — people have to band together. We have to work and help defend — first of all, these media organizations can’t cave the way ABC did, which was outrageous. But also there has to be a lot — I think lawyers need to step up now. Lawyers need to volunteer their time, volunteer their services and learn new tricks and learn new trades....And it’s really incumbent on people to stand up and do something because if you don’t do that, then they win by intimidation even if they don’t actually win these lawsuits.
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STEELE: I’m surprised that the media is not locking arms. I didn’t see other networks and other outlets defend, come to the defense of ABC, standing, knowing that they could be next and likely are next. [to Molly Jong-Fast] What’s your thoughts there in terms of much more of a, hey, we’re all in the crosshairs here as opposed to this sort of competitive kind of, oh, we’ve still got to get, you know, one more viewer than you, which then loses sight of the fact that you’ve now possibly exposed yourself to the same thing that we see other outlets and networks and individuals exposed to? There is strength in numbers here, I think.
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Vanity Fair’s MOLLY JONG-FAST: What George is talking about, which I think is so important, is this idea that be need to be brave, right? We need to be brave....Look, the mainstream media is not in the place it was in 2016. In 2016 there were many more outlets, there was much more money, there was, you know, a sort of belief in the mainstream media from the right and the left. That is no longer true. There are many fewer outlets. There is much less money. There is much less, you know, good will towards the mainstream media than there was eight years ago. This is just a sort of husk of a business, you know, anymore. And so, like, in my mind the goal has to be, because this is really, you know, protect norms and institutions, and that means the kind of journalism, the kind of reporting, that Pro Publica does, the stuff that is very expensive, very important, and hard to replicate anywhere else.
