Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

People are weird.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

The willow is too close to the house.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / LET THEM FIGHT

LET THEM FIGHT

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Donald Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch, the Wall Street Journal, and Dow Jones for libel over yesterday’s story about the birthday letter he allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein several years ago. Via the BBC:

We are still waiting for more on Trump’s lawsuit but preliminary court documents show it was filed in the Southern District of Florida federal court in Miami.

Besides the Wall Street Journal’s parent company and owner Rupert Murdoch, the two reporters who broke the story yesterday are also listed as defendants: Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.

According to their staff profile on the paper’s website, Safdar is an enterprise reporter based in New York while Palazzolo is an investigative reporter.

Palazzolo has won three Pulitzer Prizes, most recently this year, while Khadeeja Safdar was a finalist in 2020.

Legal eagles on Bluesky raised their eyebrows at the fact that the suit names individual reporters. If any of the many JDs in the Jackaltariat can speak to why that’s so, please do.

And yes, I know: So many things this man has done in the past have reeked of flop sweat and seemed doomed to fail, and then — ah, well, nevertheless:

LET THEM FIGHT

Still, I think it is the sign of a balanced mind to be able to accept that this lawsuit may not harm him while simultaneously being able to cherish this present moment for a while, knowing that he is somewhere in Washington, sphincter-puckeringly furious and flailing.

Open thread.

UPDATE: New details are coming out about this, and it appears the president has filed this pro se. As in, representing himself:

Wait: pro se? PRO SE? He’s a business tycoon and the f’ing president of the United States, and he filed a suit representing _himself_?! (*uproariously cackles*)

[image or embed]

— Greg Greene (he/him/his) (@greene.haus) July 18, 2025 at 10:47 PM

To quote a fictional media tycoon loosely based on Rupert Murdoch:

LET THEM FIGHT 2

Reader Interactions

113Comments

  1. 1.

    mrmoshpotato

    POS real billionaire is about to bitchslap the shit out of POS fake billionaire, but real sex pest!

  2. 2.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    I am sick to death of the cynics who urge us to NEVER TRY because success is not guaranteed.

    “He always gets away with everything” is code for shut up, give up.

    Well, we’re not going to shut up about this. And we’re not going to give up on breaking the fascist coalition and pursuing justice against the monster in the White House.

    Somehow, some way. Fuck the cynics.

  4. 4.

    mayim

    I’m guessing [hoping?] that Murdoch and the WSJ aren’t the type to roll over and settle. Guessing Murdoch has as many lawyers as Trump ~ and Murdoch might actually pay his.

    Anything that even potentially divides the various parts of the GOP coalition is a good thing.

  5. 5.

    Anonymous At Work

    Standard practice is to name everyone in the suit, sue them for all the things, and have those parts without much support dismissed.  Suing reporters (why not the editors?) could mean that he wants to give Rupert the out of saying that his reporters lied about everything and faked whatever proof they came up with.

  6. 6.

    bbleh

    OMG he is losing it. Like seriously.  And yo dude SUING A NEWSPAPER is NOT what you want to be the last thing going into the weekend news cycle.

    This is good in multiple ways.  Rooting for injuries. Crippling ones.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    I think Trump will get rolled.  Discovery could be lit.  He lies and lies.  Call him on it.

  8. 8.

    Anonymous At Work

    PS: Venue is to try to get the young Sarah (cannon) as judge.  I expect there to be a change of venue to NY since the reporters will presumably plead jurisdiction.  The better venue is…New York City…and Trump may see a familiar name assigned to his lawsuit.

  9. 9.

    Dangerman

    So, apparently DJT signed his name as if it was (enjoy the googling), which is the sign of a sex obsessed, truly sick motherfucker. I’m calling chances this thing is a fake are about same as me hitting Super Lotto. Not zero, but seriously damn close.

    Zero chance Murdoch settles.

  11. 11.

    Lobo

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:To your point.  I, and others, have argued Democrats can do more.  I am not saying this they are. Much like Musk being a Nazi.  I wasn’t saying it.  The Nazis were.Many want the comfort but not the work that goes with this.

    See below:‪@senategabe.bsky.social‬

    They all wanted to go home and didn’t want their constituents to get rewarded for asking they do the bare minimum during the worst constitutional crisis we’ve faced since the civil war. If that means public media and foreign aid get destroyed in the process? So be it.​​
    ———————————————————————

    Yes, but: Members “would be really unhappy,” if Jeffries gave a long speech “after what he did on July 4,” a third House Democrat said on the condition of anonymity.
    • Some lawmakers were frustrated that Jeffries spoke for nearly nine hours after his team maintained he would only go for about one,
    forcing them to scramble to reschedule flights ahead of the July 4 recess.
    • “The base doesn’t even give a s*** about this. The rescissions thing is not on their radar,” the lawmaker added, arguing that if the grassroots does take notice of it, “they’ll forget about it two days later and be like,
    ‘What’s next.'”
    • “You can’t feed that beast,” they said.

  12. 12.

    karen gail

    Talk about thin skinned!

    The more something is denied the more people are going to believe that letter exists; he never learned to ignore, and it will go away.  He definitely failed grade school playground where you learn to ignore things; he just keeps feeding the trolls and seem to lack the understanding of why they persist.

  13. 13.

    RaflW

    I’d love to see a lifetime running tally of how many suits he’s filed vs how many have settled or gone to court, and how many just wither away or get slapped down in preliminary rounds.

    Speaking of which, I guess one of Don’s recent legal attempts to hit Bob Woodward for Fifty Million Bucks! just failed. (Part of his schtick is to pick uuuuge numbers as an intimidation tactic. Which might work when countersuing a cement contract from Bayonne, but not against Simon & Schuster.)

  16. 16.

    sab

    @Rose Judson: Seriously? Doesn’t  pro se mean by himself without lawyers, or at least his team or the US Govt. ? Maybe govt lawyers wouldn’t sign on. Where are you Pam Biondi?

  21. 21.

    mrmoshpotato

    @karen gail:

    He definitely failed grade school playground where you learn to ignore things. 

    In Dump’s defense, some kids do need to be squarely punched in their disgust, orange, fascist, Kremlin-humping faces so they stop being such assholes.

  23. 23.

    JoyceH

    I’d guess the pro se is a placeholder while they try to find a lawyer incompetent and desperate enough to be willing to put their name on the case.

    But geez, I’m loving this story! Before a couple days ago, MAGA’s whine was that Trump wasn’t being assiduous enough in unmasking the famous Global Cabal. But now the casino story and that skeevy letter! However deluded they might be, some of them must be thinking, “whoa, what if…”

    How interesting has the story become? Lawrence O’Donnell is coming in on a Friday!

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    @RaflW:

     

    when countersuing a cement contract from Bayonne

    Except if you sue a cement contractor from Bayonne, there’s at least an even chance that you become encased in his product at the bottom of the Hudson.

  28. 28.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JoyceH:

    I’d guess the pro se is a placeholder while they try to find a lawyer incompetent and desperate enough to be willing to put their name on the case. 

    What’s all of the tried-to-steal-the-2020-election trash up to these days?

  30. 30.

    Shalimar

    @Rose Judson: I cannot think of a single case of a rich person filing pro se for anything.  There is always a lawyer willing to take the money for any nonsense you will pay for.  This is insane even for Trump.

  33. 33.

    Shalimar

    @JoyceH: That seems likely.  But why file before you find the lawyer?  I guess this is Trump trying to control the news cycle by responding asap?  It’s really stupid legally.

  36. 36.

    Quaker in a Basement

    So let me get this straight. The president can take the time to file a lawsuit and represent himself in court if he wants to–but he can’t be sued by anyone else because a lawsuit would distract him from his very important duties as president?

    That can’t be right

    ETA: Also too: “Libel, Assault, Slander”?

  38. 38.

    Baud

    @HopefullyNotcassandra:

    That actually makes some sense. But I wonder who the filing got on the court’s system. Someone needed to have a log in, usually an attorney.

    Unless someone submitted a paper copy and the court put in the info very quickly

    ETA: There’s also a filling fee that must be paid.

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    Monstrous bastards.

    The Trump administration will start sharing the personal information of nearly 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, with federal immigration authorities as the president seeks to ramp up deportations. Source

  43. 43.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Baud: yes.  Yes.  Yes.
    and yet the entry is there, doxxing Rupert Murdoch and one of the reporters, without any court case.

    A clerk could do it.  How likely is that?  It would likely mean termination.

    This president’s legal subversion team said his lawsuit is not ready yet.  My bet is they are begging him to drop it, since discovery would be brutal.

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    And there it is. Thanks as always, Tulsi. (Don’t Hawaiians stick together?)

    “Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Friday released a report alleging Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election,” The Hill reports.

    “Gabbard asserted in a statement that former officials engaged in a ‘treasonous conspiracy’ and said her office was turning over evidence to the Justice Department for possible criminal referrals.”

  49. 49.

    Dan B

    @trollhattan: Senate Republicans released a report that Russia had interfered in the election.  So what is Gabbard trying to do?  Is she trying to adjudicate in the court of public opinion?

  51. 51.

    MazeDancer

    “Discovery!”

    You can sing it to the tune of “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof.

    You can do the Zero Mostel dance moves, too.

    Trump sues WSJ. And we can’t wait for “Discovery!”

  52. 52.

    Bill Arnold

    @Baud:
    “$10 billion dollars”! :-) (emphasis mine)

    WHEREFORE, Plaintiff President Donald J. Trump demands judgment against Defendants Dow Jones & Company, Inc. d/b/a The Wall Street Journal, News Corporation, Keith Rupert Murdoch, Robert Thomson, Khadeeja Safdar, and Joseph Palazzolo for damages, punitive damages, court costs, and such other relief as the Court deems just and proper, not to be less than $10 billion dollars.

  54. 54.

    topclimber

    If Trump goes pro se, he can decline to answer questions on the basis of attorney-client privilege, rather than having to plead the Fifth.

  58. 58.

    Marc

    @NotMax: I wouldn’t pay much attention, just avoid flying Delta (if you can) until they figure out they’ve made a mistake. Think of it as an arms race. I’m sure there will also be plenty of cheap AI tools available to automatically generate the data profile needed to get the best price for a given flight.

    At best, all this will succeed in doing is launch a new generation of airlines selling their seats with explicitly transparent pricing

  59. 59.

    dmsilev

    @Baud: I only read the first page or so, and already I see a fatal flaw in their arguments:

    Defendant Keith Rupert Murdoch (“Murdoch”) is a natural person over the age of eighteen and, upon information and belief, is a resident of New York, New York.

    Are we sure about that? He seems more like a robot or an alien.

  61. 61.

    Shalimar

    @MazeDancer: Brito was the lawyer in the settlement with ABC from earlier in the year.  It is very possible they will end this with a bribe instead of discovery.

  65. 65.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: Wow, that is some dedication to being a Trump-humping moron.

    Hopefully his wife can get herself and kids the fuck out of Russia.

  66. 66.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Gin & Tonic:

    There’s a tugboat down by the river doncha know

    With a cement bag just droopin’ on down.

    Now that cement is just, just there for the weight, dear;

    Five’ll getcha ten old Macheath’s back in town…

  67. 67.

    Anonymous At Work

    First, young Aileen (cannon).  Sarah Cannon is the real name of Minnie Pearl.

    Second, you sue big because it’s harder to ask for more damages later and easier for judges and defendants to shrink the number based on reality

    Third, discovery gonna be a bitch.  Proving $10 billion in non-self-inflicted damages gonna be a bitch.  Maintaining proper venue and personal jurisdiction gonna be a bitch.  Did I mention he hopes Aileen Cannon will be the judge?

  68. 68.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @JoyceH while they try to find a lawyer incompetent and desperate enough to be willing to put their name on the case….​

    What, Foolina Hubbahubba the Parking Garage Persecutor no longer available??

  71. 71.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Baud:

    Pro se, cantcha see,

    Is the Don’s oily right.

    How so baldly he flailed

    In his late night daydreaming…

  73. 73.

    Lobo

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:  Okay, I don’t mean all Democrats, but enough.  See here:  axios.com/2025/07/18/jeffries-trump-doge-democrats-npr-pbs-rescissions

    ‪Senate Gabe‬ ‪@senategabe.bsky.social‬

    · 10h

    There is a time limit for rescissions and they were about 24 hours out from breaching it.

    Would have taken some very basic obstruction to stop it. Hell, Hakeem could have just done a senate length filibuster with his powers as leader and that would have been enough.

    I honestly am struggling to think of a fight recently that was more obviously winnable than this one(recession). So yes they should fight fights they don’t have a high chance of winning and they very obviously should ALSO fight stuff like this where they do have a high chance of winning.

     

    The extent to which they refused to obstruct Trump’s cabinet nominations is also unbelievable.

    They gave the GOP back literally hundreds of hours of time for no reason at all. And that obstruction would have absolutely made a huge difference in stopping some of these psychos.

    So not all Democrats, but enough.  Given the Supremes Education Department decision.  Trump really is functionally a dictator now.  Yes, the Republicans are responsible for all these monstrosities.  And I believe a lot of Democrats could do more.  And I always vote Democratic.  My relatives have been Democratic legislators.  Finally, the cars on the lawn crap was horribly racist when referring to Latinos.

  75. 75.

    WTFGhost

    You know, I’ve decided that, my opinion/guess is, Trump had sex with an underaged young woman, because he’s just that kind of guy, who likes to violate boundaries, and, that’s why he doesn’t want the Epstein files released.

    Now, *TECHNICALLY*, a “pedophile” is someone who wants sex with pre-pubescent children. A person who has sex with a sexually mature appearing girl, who is underaged, has committed a crime, but isn’t *technically* a pedo.

    Um. That’s it, really, I just felt I should say that once, if it turns out I’m correct, and people start calling him a pedo, I did a Hackman-Wonka “wait stop don’t”

  80. 80.

    WTFGhost

    @mrmoshpotato: Sad story I heard is, he was told his welding skills would keep him off the front lines, but, instead, after two weeks of basic training (he doesn’t speak Russian yet, so it couldn’t have been too helpful!), well… maybe he can surrender to some nice Ukrainians?

  81. 81.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @mayim: I saw that Trump filed pro se, and I immediately thought of the (true) lawyer joke that anyone who represents themselves in court has a fool for a client and an even bigger fool for an attorney.

     

    @Elizabelle:

     

    @Rose Judson:

  82. 82.

    Lobo

    @Baud: ​  I stand by my source. I try not to say anything without some back up and reference. In the end it doesn’t matter. We are at the point where we are in functional dictatorship. I truly do not know where we go from here.​

  84. 84.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @WTFGhost: Trump had sex with an underaged young woman, because he’s just that kind of guy, who likes to violate boundaries, and, that’s why he doesn’t want the Epstein files released.

    Yes, there were the words I was looking for when I read his letter to Epstein.

  87. 87.

    Annie

    @Rose Judson:

    Speaking as a former court clerk who had to deal with pro personnel on a regular basis— as in every day — he will almost certainly screw up the case.  Non-attorneys cannot usually tell the difference between their personal grievances and legal issues.  I dealt with some pro per litigants who were so sure they would win their case they didn’t bother to subpoena witnesses who could corroborate their claims.  Too expensive and they were sure the judge would see they were right, so they didn’t need evidence.

  88. 88.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Lobo: ​

    @Baud: ​ I stand by my source. I try not to say anything without some back up and reference. In the end it doesn’t matter. We are at the point where we are in functional dictatorship. I truly do not know where we go from here.​

    You showed up here just to cut in with this bullshit?Into the pie you go.​

    ETA: There! Much yummier.

  90. 90.

    Librettist

    He has dementia and doesn’t remember, at lest not enough to weave together a narrative and stick to it. So whatever impulse he’s acting on today, won’t be remembered tomorrow, and he’ll do some other crazy stuff that compounds.

  91. 91.

    JaySinWa

    Rupert is living in New York? For some reason I thought he was living abroad. Maybe he’ll end up in El Salvador, with or without de naturalization. Not that I would wish that on anyone.

  92. 92.

    ColoradoGuy

    @JaySinWa: That’s the thing with the Fox News crew, from Rupert on down: they live in flashy Manhattan penthouses worth a small fortune. They sure as hell don’t live in Sisterfuck, Arkansas.

  96. 96.

    bluefoot

    @NotMax: ​
      Wtaf. Monstrous is definitely the word. I bet it won’t stop there. Wanna bet they will start going after relatives/children of Medicaid enrollees who don’t pass the paper bag test?

  98. 98.

    Lobo

    @lowtechcyclist:  Amazingly Aaron Huertas agrees with this as do many others.  He worked in politics and advocacy for about 15 years.  I guess there are a lot of BS’s and prominent ones at that. It is our opinion.  Just like it is your opinion.

    But it is sad that more get worked up about me and others saying a lot of Democrats(not all) could do more than worked up about that racist cars on the lawn comment.

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    The indication that it was pro se is a quirk of the efiling system.  When a case has been filed, but all the info is not updated, it can show as a pro se filing for a short time.

  102. 102.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @NotMax: I see a market for an AI counter-bot that figures out how the Delta AI-bot “gets into your head” in determining how high it can price a ticket and still get your business. The counter-bot then uses this “understanding” to make it appear to the Delta AI-bot that your limit is low.

  103. 103.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Annie: He’s relying on either drawing Cannon as a judge, or simply being able to successfully threaten the judge.

  105. 105.

    Fester Addams

    Apparently this is the legally approved way to solicit a bribe. Does Rupert need anything from him?

  106. 106.

    Annie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Really?  Thought the information about parties and their attorneys was entered at the same time the  case was filed.  It’s supposed to be on the initial complaint, at least in California courts.

  109. 109.

    E.

    @Omnes Omnibus: Is it effed up that when I heard he had filed pro se I thought, “That’s an unusual twist” and then just moved on, 100 percent assuming it was true?

  111. 111.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Lobo: Wherever we go, it’s definitely the fault of the Democrats, especially Jeffries and Schumer, so there’s that, too. 🙄

  113. 113.

    chemiclord

    One thing I wish would die is this idea that there is this “one weird trick” that could stop the Republicans, but the Democrats just don’t have the stones to use them for… reasons, I guess.

    Or maybe, just maybe… there’s no one weird trick that will make 213 more than 218, or 47 more than 53, and we really need to grow up and stop getting mad that there isn’t in the real world that we all live in.

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