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Let’s get one thing straight: nobody involved in this $10 billion slugfest between Donald Trump and the Wall Street Journal gives a damn about the truth. Not really. What we’re watching is a high-stakes performance, a piece of political theater where a scribbled note in a dead sex trafficker’s birthday book is the main prop. And everyone is playing their part beautifully.
Trump is suing the WSJ, Rupert Murdoch, and a couple of reporters for defamation over an article about a contribution he allegedly made to a book for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday back in 2003. The contribution? A bizarre, "bawdy" letter with a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, an imaginary conversation, and a sign-off that reads like a mobster’s greeting card: "A pal is a wonderful thing, Happy Birthday -- and may every day be another wonderful secret."
Trump’s camp is screaming bloody murder. "It's not my signature," he says. "And it's not the way I speak." His press secretary calls it fake and promises to "aggressively" pursue the lawsuit. This is Trump’s signature move: the overwhelming legal counter-assault. It’s not about winning in court; it’s about making the fight so expensive and so loud that the other side wishes they’d never bothered.
But it’s the WSJ’s defense that really sends me. This is a masterclass in corporate CYA.
The Billion-Dollar Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card
The motion to dismiss filed by the WSJ and its parent companies is a work of art. It’s a legal document that manages to say, "Everything we printed is true," and "We never actually said it was true," in the same breath. It’s a beautiful, shimmering contradiction.
First, they argue the article is true, pointing out that the letter they described is identical to one found in Epstein’s birthday book, which was helpfully subpoenaed and released by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. Checkmate, right? They reported on a real document.
But here’s the magic trick. In the very same motion, they contend the article "does not assert as a matter of fact that he personally signed the letter or drew the image." Read that again. It's the legal equivalent of a kid holding his finger an inch from his brother's face yelling, "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" They published a story about Trump’s alleged letter to Epstein, but hey, they never explicitly said he was the one holding the pen.
Give me a break. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t build an entire article on the foundation of this letter, splash Trump’s name all over it, and then tiptoe away from the central claim. This is a bad idea. No, 'bad' doesn't cover it—this is a five-alarm dumpster fire of journalistic ethics. Does this technicality even matter to the average reader who sees the headline and scans the first paragraph? Offcourse not. They see "Trump," "Epstein," and "bawdy letter," and the connection is made. The damage, if any, is done.
Everyone Gets What They Want
So, if the truth of the letter is secondary, what’s this really about? It’s about the narrative. It’s about feeding the machine.
For Trump, this lawsuit is perfect. It lets him play the victim of the "Fake News Media," it energizes his base, and it creates a massive distraction. It’s another episode in the long-running reality show where he is the persecuted hero. So who’s the real target here? Is this a genuine grievance, or just another fundraising opportunity and a chance to rally the troops?
For the WSJ and News Corp, it’s a chance to wrap themselves in the First Amendment. Their motion to dismiss calls the lawsuit "an affront to the First Amendment," casting themselves as noble defenders of a free press under attack by a litigious bully. It’s great branding. They get to look brave while relying on a razor-thin legal argument. They’re also arguing the story isn’t defamatory because it’s consistent with Trump’s public reputation for "bawdy statements about women" and his admitted friendship with Epstein. This is the most cynical part of the whole thing. They're basically saying, "We can't have defamed him, because his reputation is already… well, you know." It ain't pretty, but it might just work in court.
And let’s not forget the politicians. I can just picture Rep. Jamie Raskin, holding up a printout of this thing in some beige, fluorescent-lit committee room, the air thick with faux outrage and the quiet hum of C-SPAN cameras. The Democrats get to tie Trump to Epstein again, and the Republicans get to… well, it’s not entirely clear what James Comer gets out of releasing the book, but it certainly creates chaos, and that seems to be the primary goal of Congress these days.
This is the part of the job that just wears you down. You watch these massive, powerful entities—Trump’s political machine, Murdoch’s media empire, the United States Congress—using this sordid, pathetic little story as a proxy war. It’s like watching gods fight by throwing garbage at each other. Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one for expecting anything more.
The whole thing is a feedback loop from hell. Trump does something outrageous. The media reports on it, sometimes stretching the facts. Trump sues the media, claiming it’s all fake. The media defends itself by pointing to Trump’s outrageous behavior. And around and around we go, while the country burns. They're all just feeding the beast, and honestly...
The Truth Died of Boredom
In the end, it doesn’t matter if Trump wrote the letter. It doesn’t matter if his signature is real or if the hand-drawn woman was his creation. The letter itself is just a MacGuffin. The actual "truth" of its origin story is the least interesting part of this entire spectacle. This isn't a search for facts. It's a branding exercise, a power play, and a content-generation engine for a political-media complex that is starving for outrage. We're all just watching the show, and they’re all getting paid.
