DAY 70: Once again Trump lies about changing libel laws

While Donald Trump dedicated most of his tweets today to pick up a fight with the Freedom Caucus (which is basically the Tea Party in the House of Representatives) he also tweeted the following this morning:

The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws? https://t.co/QIqLgvYLLi

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

Which is an empty threat, as he can't change libel laws.

First of all, Trump made this empty threat several times during his campaign in 2016 as a threat against the media telling inconvenient truths about him, which he didn't like.

Back then his empty threat was debunked, as libel laws are state laws, not federal laws. Thus, there's no way him or Congress could do anything about them. He would have to change the laws in 50 states in order change the libel laws in the country, which would be impossible, as not all state legislatures would go along with that.

On top of that, even if somehow Trump were able to change state by state libel laws, the changes would probably be struck down by the Supreme Court, as they would probably violate the First Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech.

As per the New York Times "failing", we already demonstrated it isn't failing. On the contrary: it has more readers, more subscriptions and its stock grew more percent-wise than the Dow Jones.

So what the tweet really indicates is how much it bothers Trump that the New York Times is telling the truth about him, as he has been bitching a moaning against the NYT several times now, perhaps thinking that way the NYT will lose readers. But the exact opposite happened. the NYT has more readers and Trump's approval ratings has plunged.

Oh, and before I forger: after the elections Trump said he would not change the libel laws because somebody told him they could be used against him. That much it bothers Trump the NYT is telling the truth about him. And he said it, guess where? At an interview with The New York Times. He said on November 23, 2016:

Actually, somebody said to me on that, they said, ‘You know, it’s a great idea, softening up those laws, but you may get sued a lot more.’ I said, ‘You know, you’re right, I never thought about that.’ I said, ‘You know, I have to start thinking about that.’ So, I, I think you’ll be O.K. I think you’re going to be fine.

So there you have it. One more lie by Donald Trump.