The 2020 presidential election, which saw Joe Biden defeat then President Donald Trump is shaping up to be one for the ages. Trump was a surprise victor over candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. He was dogged by the media with rumors that Russia helped him steal the 2016 election. Rapper Pusha-T even said, “The Russians did it” in his notorious diss track to Drake. Trump was dealt the ignominy of being the only president impeached twice … just because.
When 2020 election seemingly turned overnight in Biden’s favor. Trump and the republicans suspected something nefarious was again afoot. How can mail dumps of hundreds of thousands of votes be recorded for Biden at over an 80% clip? Trump, the republicans, Fox News challenged the election results and turned their attention to Dominion Voting Systems, the machines used to tally the vote. Dominion had to have been in on the gag, right? Dominion fought back with a defamation lawsuit against Fox and was recently awarded a $788 million settlement – the largest sum in U.S. history:
Dominion Voting Systems did more on Tuesday than settle its lawsuit against Fox News for $787.5 million: It also set the tone for the many related defamation cases it has filed.
Legal experts say the settlement with Fox News, one of the largest defamation payouts in American history, could embolden Dominion as it continues to defend its reputation, which it says was savaged by conspiracy theories about vote fraud during the 2020 election. The company has several cases pending against public figures including Mike Lindell, the MyPillow executive, and news outlets such as Newsmax.
When describing the settlement, CNN’s Jake Tapper could barely keep a straight face:
It was a very emotional moment for the country. The election took place during the pandemic, which allowed for millions of mail-in votes, which may have changed the tallies in unprecedented ways as votes were counted. The “We need to resist Trump” narrative from the left during Trump’s entire time in office did not help matters.
The complaint from Dominion claimed Fox “recklessly disregarded the truth” in fingering Dominion as part of a larger conspiracy, and implied that Fox knew statements it made about Dominion on-air were false. The complaint made several other outrageous claims, which if true, likely pushed Fox to settle to avoid any public embarrassment:
Fox endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion. These outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions included Fox falsely claiming that: (1) Dominion committed election fraud by rigging the 2020 Presidential Election; (2) Dominion’s software and algorithms manipulated vote counts in the 2020 Presidential Election; (3) Dominion is owned by a company founded in Venezuela to rig elections for the dictator Hugo Chávez; and (4) Dominion paid kickbacks to government officials who used its machines in the 2020 Presidential Election.
I understand others, including election workers and Smartmatic, another election technology company. Fox could stay in the stays and be required to make additional payouts to avoid costly, embarrassing trials. Ultimately, the U.S. wins. It could result in more honest reporting from the corporate media and less public relations.
