JON RAPPOPORT

APR 27, 2024

∙ PAID

Every independent political writer in America is a potential target.

GP, one of the biggest and most influential conservative sites in the world, has filed Chapter 11.1

I don’t know the specifics of the lawsuits it’s facing, but I have some comments on the new defamation parade.

In this political climate, an accuser can claim a defendant is causing him great emotional distress…

He can play the victim.

If the jury doesn’t like the politics of the defendant, the case is over before it begins.

And the punitive damages can be outrageous.2

It’s called lawfare. It’s a straight con.

Every such case puts a chill on free speech. People start censoring themselves. “Well, I better not say this…”

I have a dream. A plaintiff playing politics gets screwed good and proper. The tables are turned, and he has to pay millions for filing a hostile case in the first place. Yeah, it’s just a dream.

JUDGE: Mr. Smith, were you really harmed when Campbell said you cheated your way into a Grateful Dead concert without paying, 35 years ago?

SMITH: Of course. I was devastated. My wife left me.

JUDGE: She didn’t leave you because you cheated on her with three hookers in a motel two miles from your home?

SMITH: That was incidental.

JUDGE: Really. You don’t hold animus against Campbell because he exposed rank plagiarism in two medical journal articles you authored?

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