The answer to that is to fight back.
We still have libel and slander laws.
Take them to court and make them prove their accusation.
What if they dont have the resources?
My point has been that this is becoming a witch-hunt which will reverberate throughout our culture/society. It wont just hit the people good or bad at the top, who have the resources to fight. Tactics like this have been used against good men, in smaller circles, for decades, now.
My initial response to TwelveofTwenty was in gratitude for his point about the Rule of Law. When, in our frenzy, we forget one of the most basic and profound principles of our legal system (presumption of innocence) our entire system and one of its most important guarantors of Freedom, begin to fail.
(It doesnt matter that these accusations/condemnations of individuals happen to serve political aims of the moment.)