The Dictatorship

Matt Taibbi filed a Trumpian, free speech-chilling lawsuit against me. A judge just threw it out

Published

1 month ago

May 8, 2026

May. 7, 2026, 3:17 PM EDT

ByJohn Higgins

Matt Taibbi, the left-leaning journalist known for his acerbic writing and contrarian who has become a right-wing pundit cosplaying as a free speech warrior, had his defamation lawsuit against me thrown out of court on Tuesday. But winning was never his goal.

When Taibbi filed the complaint last November against me and Hachette, the publisher of my book, “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left,” it was a serious cause for concern. I wracked my brain trying to think of what I could have gotten wrong — then I read the sloppily written and argued initial legal complaint. Taibbi and his lawyer, Robert Garson, who represented President Donald Trump in his frivolous lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward (dismissed by a judge in July 2025), would soon file an amended complaint that targeted some out of context language and presented it as proof that I was making claims I was not. But that argument didn’t stand up to scrutiny, it was the one dismissed this week.

It’s hard to view Taibbi’s defamation suit as anything other than a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP. These are meritless suits aimed at silencing critics.

In “Owned,” I detail how tech billionaires, angry about the state of critical mainstream and independent media, have used their fortunes to try to buy up parts of the business. Those independent journalists who go along with the conservative project often find themselves benefitting, whether from added reach, opportunities to address conferences or contracts. Taibbi’s journey from upstart expat magazine scribe in Russia to Elon Musk’s mouthpiece for spreading the “Twitter Files,” highly curated internal documents from the company that the billionaire used to push his version of an out of control internal bureaucracy at the social media company prior to his taking it over in 2022, is part of that story.

Unsurprisingly, such a critical look at Taibbi did not go over well. He was far from the only target in the book. Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the NSA leak story in 2014 and has subsequently become a right-wing affiliated commentator, takes up the bulk of the narrative — but Taibbi has proven, thus far, the thinnest-skinned.

It’s hard to view Taibbi’s defamation suit as anything other than a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP. These are meritless suits aimed at silencing critics and have led to anti-SLAPP laws in states such as New York and California. The New York anti-SLAPP law is likely why Taibbi filed his lawsuit in federal court, the Southern District of New York, rather than in state court.

For opponents of free speech like Taibbi, the purpose is not necessarily to win a judgement. These censorious busybodies are willing to endure losses in order to tamp down on the speech of their adversaries, betting that the cost and stress of ongoing litigation will make them think twice rather than continue their attacks. (Trump does it all the timeand he has for decades.) The message being sent to other would-be critics: write truthfully about these litigious anti-speech warriors, and you too could find yourselves in court.

The case is part of an ongoing downfall for Taibbi, who has puffed himself up throughout his career as a noble, contrarian advocate of free speech and free expression — unafraid to take on conventional wisdom in his quest for the truth. His reporting on the financial crisis from 2008 to 2010 broke down the details of macroeconomics for a lay audience who were wondering how the global system was collapsing. A decade ago, as most of the mainstream press embraced Russiagate and went all in on tying Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Taibbi looked for the holes in the story in an admirable attempt to parse out the truth.

In recent years he’s drifted to the right and become fixated on conservative culture war issues. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Taibbi spread anti-vaccine conspiracies and embraced alternative, untested cures to the diseaseall while embracing the right-wing movement that would eventually become Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s “Make American Healthy Again” coalition. He has been critical of transgender rights activists and often targets New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his affinity for socialism.

The message being sent to other would-be critics: write truthfully about these litigious anti-speech warriors, and you too could find yourselves in court.

The one-time opponent of state power has become a darling of the Republican Party, often called on to appear as a witness by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in the House and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in the Senate. He’s chummily”https://x.com/SenTedCruz/status/1633952123628003329″>rubbed shoulders with Sen. Ted CruzR-Texas, who he once described as an “incurable skin condition.” No surprise he used one of Trump’s lawyers to sue me and Hachette.

All of that is his right. But as a public figure, he cannot expect to escape criticism for his ideological shift. Suing one of his most outspoken critics simply shows the ideological emptiness of trying to fit square peg into the round hole of his self-image.

In January, Taibbi penned an essay for The Free Press, the online magazine founded by fellow free speech hypocrite Bari Weisssaying that by suing me, he was in fact standing up for the First Amendment. A blog post I wrote about the suit “set off a wave of jeers from the online left-wing peanut gallery, who claim to think my legal challenge clashes with my avowed commitment to freedom of speech,” Taibbi wrote in what is perhaps an unintentional exposure of the real issue — conservatives prefer to yell than be yelled at, and see the latter as anathema to a free society.

For those of us who value freedom of expression and the American value of standing up to the powerful, it’s a good outcome, the dismissal of Taibbi’s suit this week is a good sign for free speech in the U.S. It shows that a powerful man can’t wield the legal system as a weapon against his critics and be assured a victory. We still live in enough of a free society that you can’t buy a verdict.

But while today’s legal win is a welcome development, I can’t be sure that Taibbi won’t appeal it. He has more than enough money to keep the case going and drag myself and Hachette into court again in order to send a message.

Criticism of the powerful is key to a free society. If people like Taibbi can continue to use the legal system to intimidate and harass their ideological opponents — no matter how they dress it up as a defense of free speech — then they have found a loophole to the First Amendment. It’s up to all of us to refuse to be intimidated, and continue to confront power.

John Higgins

Eoin Higgins is a writer based in New England. His book, “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left,” is available now.

The Dictatorship

Court denies request to immediately block DOJ ‘slush fund’

Published

7 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Court denies request to immediately block DOJ ‘slush fund’

Jun. 10, 2026, 6:14 PM EDT

A federal judge in Washington has denied a bid Wednesday brought by a watchdog group to immediately block the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization” fund, for now choosing to trust the department’s assertions that it is not moving forward with the fund.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled immediately, denying Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked the Department of Justice from taking steps to create the fund.

Throughout the 30-minute hearing, the DOJ reiterated that the administration was not moving forward with the nearly $1.8 billion fund, which seeks to compensate individuals who allege they have been politically targeted or victimized by the DOJ.

Andrew Block, the only lawyer present for the government, repeatedly cited Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s June 2 congressional testimonyin which he said the administration was “not moving forward” with plans to create the fund.

Leon indicated he agreed with the DOJ’s position that the case appeared to be moot, saying he was not persuaded there was an issue for the court to decide regarding the creation of the fund. He issued a stern warning to the DOJ, saying, “Don’t play possum with this court!” — meaning he does not want to be deceived.

The plaintiffs argued Blanche’s testimony did not amount to an official cancellation. Nikhel Sus, CREW’s attorney, said Blanche “refused to memorialize that rescission,” or in other words, put it in writing. Sus said that was “highly unusual.” Leon responded, “This whole case is highly unusual to say the least.”

Leon asked the government twice why they would not just rescind the order that established the fund. Block responded, “I don’t know,” and pointed again to Blanche’s public statements about the fund’s future.

Both Leon and Sus raised the issue of Trump’s continued public defense of the fund. “It can still be an important issue and also not moving forward,” Block said. “That isn’t a direction to move forward with the fund.”

Although Leon rejected CREW’s bid for an immediate block, he indicated he is still considering its request for a longer-term block against the fund.

A block order from a separate federal judge in Virginia remains in effect until at least Friday.

Fallon Gallagher is a legal affairs reporter for MS NOW.

The Dictatorship

Trump is accelerating our Social Security insolvency crisis

Published

7 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Jun. 10, 2026, 5:50 PM EDT

The date when Social Security’s trust fund is expected to run out of money just got bumped up. The fund is now projected to empty in 2032according to a new report released by Social Security’s trustees.

The new depletion date isn’t an earth-shaking change — it’s only a quarter earlier than the estimate in last year’s report. But it illustrates how President Donald Trump’s policies are degrading a program he promised to never jeopardize — and accelerating an approaching crisis in how our government will assist the elderly and disabled.

The report names three factors that contributed to the earlier insolvency date. One is a declining fertility rate, but the other two drivers can be traced back to Trump: a drop in immigration into the country, and the “substantial effect” of the tax policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill he signed last summer.

Trump’s acceleration of the program’s insolvency comes atop his assaults on the program’s administrative capacities.

Reduced immigration during Trump’s second term — especially when coupled with a declining fertility rate — strains Social Security because the program is funded through payroll taxes. Those come out of people’s paychecks, and fewer workers supporting an aging population means the program receives less revenue. Indeed, Social Security already has been tapping its trust fund for the better part of the past two decades because the program’s costs have exceeded its cash income. And as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out last yearlast year’s tax cuts were a boon to the rich but a bust for the solvency of the Social Security trust fund.

To be clear, if the fund is depleted, Social Security won’t go belly up. Benefits will continue to be paid out, but there will be a large drop in the amount. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the “average monthly cut would total $500, which is more than what the average retired household spends on groceries each month.”

That would be a huge blow to the budgets of many older Americans. Social Security is a major source of income for most retirees, and roughly 40% of beneficiaries over the age of 65 rely on it for most of their income. And it would mark the destabilization of the sole source of retirement security for most Americans that is supposed to be insulated from ups and downs — unlike 401K plans. As the CBPP has pointed outSocial Security is “most workers’ only source of guaranteed retirement income that is not subject to investment risk or financial market fluctuations.”

Trump’s acceleration of the program’s insolvency comes atop his assaults on the program’s administrative capacities. His cuts to the Social Security Administration have left offices understaffedincreased wait timesand reduced quality of customer service.

Ultimately, Trump is exacerbating a colossal social safety net problem that predates him, and the trust fund will hit dire straits after he has left office. Democrats need to have clear plans for shoring up the program and making it robust for the future — which will require not being sheepish about taxes as a tool for renewing the social contract. And when Republicans try to claim that they, too, are champions of Social Security, all Democrats need to do is point to the truth.

Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He primarily writes about politics and foreign policy.

The Dictatorship

Wednesday’s Mini-Report, 6.10.26

Published

7 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* The latest from Northern Ireland: “The family of a man who lost an eye in a knife attack appealed for calm on Wednesday after the incident triggered a wave of anti-immigrant violence in Belfast overnight, with masked men burning families out of their homes and torching vehicles. The appeal ‌came as a Sudanese man appeared in court charged with attempted murder and as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and politicians in Northern Ireland condemned the violence by ‘masked thugs’ that had targeted ethnic minorities.”

* In related news: “The British government hit out at X owner Elon Musk Wednesday, accusing him of whipping up tensions online ahead of disorder in Belfast.”

* The tenuous state of a dubious ceasefire: “Trump said the U.S. is going to hit Iran ‘hard’ today when pressed by reporters in the Oval Office about his statement earlier that Tehran will ‘pay the price’ for taking ‘too long’ to reach a peace agreement. ‘Well, we’re going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard, resuming bombing,’ he said.”

* The latest casualty figures from Lebanon: “Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon has killed at least 3,666 people, including 131 healthcare workers, and injured more than 11,300 since the U.S. and Israel began their war with Iran in late February, the Lebanese health ministry reported yesterday.”

* The changing nature of modern warfare: “Ukraine is wreaking havoc on unarmored trucks and trains in the battlefield’s rear, using drones with upgraded engines and batteries, integrated Starlink communication systems and new artificial-intelligence capabilities. The ramped-up attacks are causing fuel shortages, complicating troop rotations and reducing Russian military activity on the front.”

* This seems like a reasonable request: “Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee demanded Wednesday that Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for acting director of national intelligence, submit to a full security check before assuming the post, including an examination of his financial holdings and foreign contacts.”

* Some market trends can’t be stopped despite the White House’s best efforts: “Even as President Donald Trump boosts coal over clean energy, solar power is hitting new milestones in the U.S. and remains the leading source of new power. Data released Wednesday by global energy think tank Ember, along with a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, show the continued growth of solar and decline of coal in the United States despite federal policy. In May, for the first time, solar supplied more of the nation’s electricity than coal, or 12.8%, Ember said.”

* A bizarre schedule for a nonemergency vanity project: “Federal officials are laying more groundwork to begin construction on President Donald Trump’s planned 250-foot-tall triumphal arch, sharing additional documents that detail the project’s scope and an aggressive timetable for potentially completing work before Trump’s term ends. According to National Park Service documents posted this month, the administration envisions 20 hours per day of construction on the arch, year-round, in hopes of completing the project within two to three years.”

See you tomorrow.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”