MONDAY: Should Stephanopoulpos have said what he said?

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2024

Fox & Friends straightens things out: It's been strange to see people on the Fox News Channel discussing the settlement reached by ABC News in the defamation lawsuit brought by Donald J. Trump. 

It's been strange to see such people saying that Trump wasn't found liable for committing an act of "rape"—that he was only found liable for committing an act of "sexual abuse." 

It does seem to strange to see Fox personnel say that, but we've seen it said at least twice. To see the initial report of this matter on Sunday morning's Fox & Friends Weekend, along with the ensuing discussion, you can start by clicking here.

News reader Chanley Painter articulates the distinction during her initial report. The discussion continues for several minutes. Eventually, co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy somewhat oddly says this, with Kevin Corke chiming in:

CAMPOS-DUFFY (12/15/24): Well, that' an interesting turn of events. I mean, this has been a good week for Donald Trump. A lot of vindication.

CORKE: I'll say!

CAMPOS-DUFFY: A lot of the narratives by the media, by people we're supposed to be able to trust, and Donald Trump coming out on top again.

According to Campos-Duffy, Trump had come out on top again! He was only found liable for an act of sexual abuse!

Before long, the smartest of the friends jumped in, with Will Cain saying this:

CAIN: Stephanopoulos repeated the false thing over and over, like obstinately, like trying to make a jab, over and over—repeated a false thing about Donald Trump over and over and over.

Cain is perfectly bright. According to his account, someone in this age of Trump had repeated a false thing over and over and over again! It's no wonder that the trio of friends seemed to be so surprised!

So much for the weekend friends. Let's move ahead to a pair of larger questions:

Should ABC News have agreed to settle? But also, should Stephanopoulos have said what he said?

Many people have said that Trump's lawsuit would likely have been a loser had ABC News declined to settle. It seems to us that certainly could be true. There's also no way to know that.

With respect to Stephanopoulos himself, should he have said what he did in fact repeatedly say when he interviewed Rep. Nancy Mace way back in March of this year? 

He did in fact say what he said again and again and again, something like ten to twelve times in all. Also, he presumably knew that what he saying may not have been 100 percent "technically accurate" in a thoroughly perfect way.

He could have clarified his statement at some point, making his meaning clear. But he never chose to do that. To us, as we read the transcript of the interview, his repetitive presentation feels a bit like a sign of our (highly partisan) times.

Also, was he possibly being a bit insensitive with respect to the fact, which he cited again and again, that Mace has testified to having been raped when she was 16?  Here's the way the interview started:

STEPHANOPOULOS (3/10/24): Our next guest is South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a Donald Trump supporter who gave candid and courageous testimony about her own experience as a rape victim weeks before launching her run for Congress in 2019.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MACE: From some of us who've been raped, it can take 25 years to get up the courage and talk about being a victim of rape. And the first thing that happens when a woman comes out in public and says she's been raped, what is the first thing out of someone's mouth? Is that it didn't happen. This is why women do not come forward. They are afraid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Congresswoman, thanks for joining us this morning.

You endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges in two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming a victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?

MACE: Well, I will tell you, I was raped at the age of 16, and any rape victim will tell you, I’ve lived for 30 years with an incredible amount of shame over being raped. I didn't come forward because of that judgment and shame that I felt.

And it's a shame that you will never feel, George, and I’m not going to sit here on your show and be asked a question meant to shame me about another potential rape victim. I’m not going to do that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: It's actually not about shaming you. It’s a question about Donald Trump.

MACE: No, you are shaming me.

And so it went, on and on and on and on, all through a long, contentious, highly repetitive attempt at an interview.

Meanwhile, for the record:

In recent years, Rep. Mace has turned into one of the most disingenuous attention-seekers in the entire Congress. During this long, repetitive interview, she just kept repeating the claim that Stephanopoulos was trying to shame her by asking her that question.

Was she trying to avoid his question by making that aggressive claim? Is it possible that Stephanopoulos was wandering across a line by framing the interview session that way?

Eventually, Mace finally drew the distinction between the two legal terms involved in this matter. ("It was sexual abuse. It wasn’t actually rape, by the way.") But go ahead—just try to fight your way through that long, amazingly repetitive interview session.

All in all, it reads to us like a marker of a very ugly age—an age which features angry armies, Red and Blue, angrily looking for fights.

ABC News certainly might have won in court—or then again, maybe not. In our view, Stephanopoulos should have drawn the distinction in question at some point during the session.

Meanwhile, Mace has turned into one of the most disingenuous people currently serving in Congress. Luckily, we had a trio of friends on Sunday morning who were able to sort this whole thing out.

Trump has come out on top again! He has only been found liable for an act of sexual abuse!