Zorn: Shame on ABC for surrendering to Trump's flimsy lawsuit

The network appears to be trying purchase Trump's favor. It's troubling

To read this issue in your browser, click on the headline above.

Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

ABC’s white-flag settlement

The headline,“ABC agrees to give $15 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle defamation lawsuit,” was stunning and disturbing.

Trump sued ABC and (George) Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami days after the network aired (a) segment, in which the longtime “Good Morning America” anchor and “This Week” host repeatedly misstated the verdicts in (E. Jean) Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump. … During a live “This Week” interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. (on March 10 of this year), Stephanopoulos wrongly claimed that Trump had been “found liable for rape” and “defaming the victim of that rape.” Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law. ... The settlement agreement was signed Friday, the same day a Florida federal judge ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for separate depositions in the case next week. The settlement means that sworn testimony is no longer required.

Why not at least compel the reflexively, compulsively dishonest Trump to sit for a deposition before surrendering so easily for such a large sum of money? Trump’s legal claim was based on the fine distinction between forced digital penetration — the sexual assault for which he was found civilly liable in May, 2023 — and rape.

From the Bulwark:

When dismissing Trump’s countersuit against Carroll, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan explained from the bench that the claim of rape was “substantially true,” noting that New York’s legal definition of “rape” was “far narrower” than how the word was commonly used.

That the jurors did not find that Carroll had proven rape according to New York law, Kaplan explained, “does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’” Indeed, Judge Kaplan continued, “as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”

Margaret Sullivan, former media columnist for The Washington Post and former public editor of The New York Times:

ABC News should never have caved. They might well have prevailed if they had hung in there. The legal bar is very high for libeling a public figure, and Trump is the ultimate public figure. Instead, this outcome encourages Trump in his attacks on the press — and he needs no encouragement. … Why did ABC News throw in the towel? It‘s hard to know for sure, but gets easier if you are aware that the news organization is owned by Disney, a huge corporation with a lot of turf to protect. … Was this settlement, which includes ABC’s public expressions of regret, a simple case of kissing the ring? It sure looks that way.

I don’t know any other way to interpret this move by ABC. As a public figure, Trump would have had to prove that Stephanopoulos knew the statement was false and spoke with reckless disregard for the truth — a high bar — and I very much doubt Team Trump wanted to spend weeks in a courtroom parsing the distinction between forced digital penetration and rape.

The network bent the knee. It bowed and scraped. It appeased the famously vindictive Trump with an infamous act of anticipatory obeisance, of tremulous submission. It deserves our contempt and our deep suspicion about ABC’s ability to cover the White House in the coming four years.

There we went a wassailing!

Photo by Ken Carl

Songs of Good Cheer had five performances over the long weekend and came off with only a few minor hitches. Some of you came up to me afterwards and said you are PS readers, which I really appreciated. I’ll have a longer report in Cheer Chat on Thursday, but a quick thanks to everyone who came out and filled that lovely auditorium at the Old Town School of Folk Music for five shows.

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

Who gets to say our mayor and governor suck?

Bob E. — I disagree with your contention, “Sorry, but outsiders don't get to tell us our mayor and governor suck,” As a current Michigander and former long-time Chicagoan I contend that I and others similarly situated are well within our rights to opine publicly about these two officeholders, who both do suck in my opinion.

Zorn — I’m fine with specific and factual criticisms of political leaders wherever they might be, but the blanket, dismissive, unsupported slam saying a certain politician “sucks” is suspect when coming from those who don’t live under the rule of such leaders. If you live elsewhere, it behooves you to explain just why you think they suck.

Tax avoidance, Chicago style

Dennis Davis — If Chicago were really interested in generating more revenue without increasing property taxes, officials could try to find everyone registering their car in a neighboring state and ignoring their obligations to purchase city vehicle stickers. I'm aware of a person who has lived in Chicago for at least 10 years and registers his five cars in Wisconsin. He also ignores the law that requires him to have a city vehicle sticker for each car, thinking with an out-of-state license plate he won't be ticketed even though he parks his cars on the street in the city. He's not been ticketed. Think of five cars over a 10-year period and the amount of fines and fees he could provide this city. And that's only 1 household in a city of this size.

Garry Spelled Correctly — You never have to pay the bag tax if you use the self checkout. When the screen asks you how many bags did you use, just touch zero. Remember, there are no bag police watching you! It’s not stealing, it’s a protest against a ridiculous and unnecessary tax.

Zorn — I was unaware of these practices and can’t endorse them. Both are forms of tax fraud, as is registering your cell phone or streaming service account using an address in a place where such things are taxed less or not at all. The city needs revenue to support essential services, and even if you’re likely to get away with such deceptions they aren’t right.

Regarding Garry’s framing of avoiding the bag tax as a form of civil disobedience, reader Steve T. noted, “it qualifies as civil disobedience only if you tell management that you’re doing it. Otherwise it’s a rationalization.”

That said, I admit to buying gas and other products in the suburbs or even in other states when it’s convenient in order to avoid extra taxes levied in Chicago and/or Illinois, which means I’m not a purist by any means. Doing so is not against the rules, but does violate the spirit of the game.

K. Mason — Please stop referring to those thin plastic grocery bags as "single use". I have used reusable bags for years, always have at least one in my purse & car, etc. But sometimes I just have more groceries than bags. After I put away the groceries, I use the plastic bags to collect the waste in my cat's litter box, to line waste paper baskets, to carry drippy messy things from one place to another, to keep raw meat from touching other foods, etc. If I didn't have the re-usable grocery plastic bags, I would have to buy and use garbage bags, which, by definition, are single use.

Mass deportations?

David Leitschuh —Illegal immigrants represent a significant and important part of our workforce. They perform much of the lower wage unskilled labor in this country. If they were to disappear, it would have disastrous consequences for employers and our economy. It’s imperative that we have comprehensive legislation providing an expedited path for people to be properly vetted and come here on a visa as necessary workers. Apprehension and removal under Trump is going to focus at first on people who have broken our laws after arriving here. After that, I am hoping we’ll see legislation for strict compliance with E-Verify for all employers, with serious consequences for violation to remove the economic incentive for people to come here illegally, and then the previously referenced process for admitting workers on a work visa. I believe this would be a great benefit to our country as well as treating people coming here to work very fairly and bringing them out of the shadows.

Zorn — You are one of the PS’s more conservative contributors but I’m pretty much with you on this, though I’d limit deportations to undocumented people convicted of felonies, not simply those “who have broken our laws.” I doubt the wisdom and the humanity of investing in rounding up and deporting otherwise law-abiding residents. And the idea of increasing legal immigration to fill employer needs is solid.

I like the concept of E-Verify, a program in which employers obtain proof of legal status from prospective employees.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates for lower levels of immigration, is all for it:

Employers are already accountable for making sure their workers are legal, but the accountability is a sham. The point of E-Verify is not to punish employers, but to empower them. The vast majority who are responsible would finally know who they’re hiring. The only ones facing punishment would be those who persist in hiring illegal immigrants. … Mandating E-Verify would not only be an important enforcement tool, it would also be an important political step toward resolving our current immigration mess.

But the American Civil Liberties Union points out the problems associated with E-Verify that the organization says make a mandate unwise:

In order to detect the small percentage of job seekers who are undocumented immigrants, a mandatory E-Verify system creates a whole new level of intrusive government oversight of daily life—a bureaucratic “prove yourself to work” system that hurts ordinary people. The system’s inaccuracies could mean undue obstacles to employment for hundreds of thousands of citizens. The scope of private information housed in the system will create enormous privacy and security risks. It will be extremely expensive.

The libertarian Cato Institute is similarly skeptical:

Many Americans are opposed to mandatory E‑Verify not out of some Democratic Party-inspired desire for open borders but rather because they are justifiably skeptical of an error prone, easily fooled, and deceptively expensive federal mandate that has great potential to diminish the privacy of Americans and lead to a national biometric identity program.

I suspect the incoming Trump administration won’t try to impose such a mandate, not out of any such concerns but out of fears that it would hurt employers who now rely on undocumented workers.

Marc Martinez — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he is in favor of deporting illegals that have been convicted of violent crimes. But arrest and conviction rates for violent crimes are very low. Such a program might make us a bit safer, but only until the criminal reenters the country, as many do. Further, progressive prosecutors have been very generous in their definition of non-violent crime (e.g. carjacking robbery, gun possession, simple assault, etc), getting to a conviction means taxpayers will be funding public defenders and the cost of incarceration prior to a verdict.

Pritzker is also the same guy that prohibits police and jail officials from reporting immigration status to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for people arrested and held for any crime. That includes reporting to ICE when a convicted felon is released from prison.

Regarding gross-out movie scenes

Joanie Wimmer — Here is a link to one of my favorite gross-out scenes, “The Worst Toilet in Scotland” from “Trainspotting.”

Steven K. — Lucio Fulci, who was sort of an Italian Hershell Gordon Lewis, was a master of shock and gore exploitation filmmaking. His “City of the Living Dead” (retitled “Gates of Hell” in the U.S.) contains this classic gross out scene: you know you’re not feeling well when you not only throw up, you vomit up your own intestines!

Zorn — I couldn’t watch either scene through to the end and strongly recommend readers not to try. But I asked, so …

An idea for limiting the influence of money in politics

Joe Kmiec — I favor a constitutional amendment that would require that political donations come only from those who are registered to vote for the candidates receiving the donations.

Zorn — Intriguing idea! It would expand the logic of the federal law that “prohibits contributions, donations, expenditures (including independent expenditures) and disbursements solicited, directed, received or made directly or indirectly by or from foreign nationals in connection with any federal, state or local election.”

Sure, people in Illinois can argue that it stands to have an impact on their lives if Wisconsin elects a certain member of the Senate or the House. But a resident of Canada or Mexico could make the same argument.

Readers agree! Scrap conferences, divisions and leagues in sports

I was surprised and gratified by the response to last week’s commentary saying that the idea of giving preference to conference championships perverts the playoff system.

John L. —Your poll is too binary. While I miss the old geography-based conferences, I still like the rivalries of the conference structure and I am still in favor of granting automatic bids (but not preferential seeds!) to some conference champions. Clemson being able to play their way in to the upcoming college football playoff by winning a conference championship felt right; Arizona State earning a bye for the same result did not.

Steve T. — ‘Tis the season for my gentle reminder that Division 1 college football is broken and corrupt. Take a deep breath and consider spending fewer of your precious minutes on the pursuits of underpaid young athletes, their millionaire coaches, and those who profit from their games.

Zorn — Corrupt? I don’t know. But the combination of name, image and likeness (NIL) money plus the ability to transfer instantly from one school to another is at least threatening to break the system. I wonder if the solution might be to put collegiate athletes in revenue sports under contract in order to limit school-hopping; like NIL money to multi-year commitments. Then set spending caps to prevent certain schools from buying their way into controlling the top high school athletes.

A grateful reader

Curt Fredrikson — I must make my biennial call to the Tribune’s customer service line (312-546-7900) to opt out of paying for "premium issues.” Since you called my attention to that option, my Picayune Sentinel subscription pays for itself!

Zorn — More than that! Those who get home delivery of the Sunday paper are getting nicked for well over $100 a year for these “premium issue” inserts unless they call every six months to opt out. That amount could cover not only your subscription but also a gift subscription.

Something to think about!

IYKYK image

IYKYK is internet shorthand for “If you know, you know.” And the image is a reference to the debate over whether “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie because the 1988 thriller is set at a Christmas Eve office party at Nakatomi Plaza. So here we have an Advent calendar in which, on each day, villain Hans Gruber plunges one more story to his death.

My contention is that the idea that any office would hold its holiday party on Christmas Eve is patently absurd,so the debate itself is absurd.

I thought the image was too obscure to enter into the poll below. But I did want to share.

Meanwhile, an apropos of Advent, the following seasonal visual joke struck me as just a bit too corny for the contest, though it did make me laugh:

The week’s best visual jokes

Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:

There’s still time to vote in the conventional Quip of the Week poll!

Thank you for supporting the Picayune Sentinel. To help this publication grow, please consider spreading the word to friends, family, associates, neighbors and agreeable strangers.

Info

Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Contact

You can email me here:

I read all the messages that come in, but I do most of my interacting with readers in the comments section beneath each issue.

Some of those letters I reprint and respond to in the Z-mail section of Tuesday’s Picayune Plus, which is delivered to paid subscribers and available to all readers later Tuesday. Check there for responses.

If you don’t want me to use the full name on your email or your comments, let me know how you’d like to be identified.

Help?

If you’re having troubles with Substack — delivery, billing and so forth — first try “Picayune Sentinel Substack help, Frequently Asked Questions.” If that doesn’t work check out the Substack help page. And if that doesn’t work, shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to help.