Trump has filed or threatened to file a lot of lawsuits over alleged defamatory coverage. But he hasn’t won one, hasn’t even come close to winning one. Now he has.

The development particularly shocked Trump’s most determined adversaries. He’s not supposed to win a case like this! The media have a right to say virtually anything they want about the former president and current president-elect and not have to worry about Trump having some legal recourse to fight back. That, at least, was their implicit assumption.

At issue was the March 10, 2024, edition of ABC’s This Week in which Stephanopoulos interviewed Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), a strong Trump supporter. Mace had recently revealed she had been raped at age 16. She wanted fellow victims to be able to discuss such things without shame. At that, Stephanopoulos pounced. “You endorsed Donald Trump for president,” he told Mace. “Judges and 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 [that]?”