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The media should be held accountable when causing lives to be ruined by their lies and slander.

I’d say what the MSM does today is suppress free speech from anyone that isn’t on the left.

The media can already be held accountable for provable lies, under the "actual malice" standard for public figures. But it requires a showing of truth, not opinion. There has to be a smoking gun that shows the media outlet knew it was stating a falsehood. And it has to be some factual assertion, not just a difference of opinion.

For example, if some media outlet said Trump gave Planned Parenthood some specific amount of money, at a specific time, and inside the media outlet there's an email chain that makes it clear they made it all up and knew it was false, Trump could win on that one, if he could get the evidence. He doesn't need to change the law at all.

But if someone comes along and says, "Trump supports planned parenthood," and then supports that statement with some combination of true facts and personal opinion, Trump has no defense against that. He cannot come back and say, "I don't feel that way anymore, therefore I can sue you for lots of money." That would end up with nothing but a long string of suits that eventually would make everybody scared to criticize the strongman, even with truth. Being sued is a painful, costly process, even when you're in the right. So Trump has no case in that scenario. Thank God.

So no, the defamation law is fine, just the way it is. My advice to Donald is this: If you get into politics, you need to put your big boy pants on and be prepared to have lots of unpleasant things said about it. It's the nature of the beast. It's ugly sometimes, but it beats the alternative.

Peace,

SR