A federal judge has thrown out a $475m (£369m) defamation lawsuit brought by Donald Trump against CNN for allegedly likening him to Adolf Hitler. The US cable network described Mr Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him as the “Big Lie”. Mr Trump argued the phrase referred to a Nazi propaganda campaign used to justify the persecution of Jews.
US District Judge Raag Singhal ruled CNN’s comments were not defamatory. In his ruling dismissing the lawsuit, Mr Singhal - who was appointed by Mr Trump - said the comments constituted opinion, and so Mr Trump could not legally sue the network for defamation.
“There is no question that the statements made by CNN meet the publication requirement for defamation under Florida law. The next question is whether the statements were false statements of fact. This is where Trump’s defamation claims fail,” wrote Mr Singhal in his verdict. “CNN’s use of the phrase ‘the Big Lie’ in connection with Trump’s election challenges does not give rise to a plausible inference that Trump advocates the persecution and genocide of Jews or any other group of people. No reasonable viewer could (or should) plausibly make that reference. CNN’s statements while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory,” he added.
Neither CNN nor Mr Trump have commented on the verdict.
“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”, is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. But the description first appeared in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, 16 years before Goebbels’ use of the phrase, the European Center for Populism Studies says. Hitler first used it to describe the behaviour of Jews rather than a tactic he himself advocated.
The Cold War historian Zachary Jonathan Jacobson describes its use:
Adolf Hitler first defined the Big Lie as a deviant tool wielded by Viennese Jews to discredit the Germans’ deportment in World War I. Yet, in tragically ironic fashion, it was Hitler and his Nazi regime that actually employed the mendacious strategy. In an effort to rewrite history and blame European Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I, Hitler and his propaganda minister accused them of profiting from the war, consorting with foreign powers and “war shirking” (avoiding conscription). Jews, Hitler contended, were the weak underbelly of the Weimer state that exposed the loyal and true German population to catastrophic collapse. To sell this narrative, Joseph Goebbels insisted “all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands.”
In early 2021, The New York Times examined Trump’s promotion of “the big lie” for political purposes to subvert the 2020 election, and concluded that the lie encouraged the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In early 2022, The New York Times presented a detailed analysis of the continuing efforts by Trump and his allies to further promote “the big lie” and related lies in their attempts to overturn and influence future elections, including those in 2022 and 2024. On June 13, 2022, the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack presented testimony that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election, but nevertheless, promoted the false narrative to exploit donors, and, as a result, raked in “half a billion” dollars.
According to CNN fact checker Daniel Dale, as of June 9, 2021, former president Donald Trump had issued 132 written statements since leaving office, of which “a third have included lies about the election” – more than any other subject.
American historian Timothy Snyder observed:
Part of telling the big lie is that you immediately say it’s the other side that tells the big lie.
Confusin’, ain’t it … 