The "Be Careful What You Wish For" Department

Yes, yes, I know that yesterday the story broke that Trump told John Kelly that he thought Hitler did some good things.  Stomach-churning as that is, I suspect it surprised very few people.  And the problem for Trump is that even if by some remote chance it's not true, it fits all his past actions and past statements far too closely and he long ago lost the benefit of the doubt.  It just defines him too well.  Do we know that he said it?  Of course we don't know for absolute certain that of course he said it.

The thing is, because the story is so unsurprising, I'd rather get to the other big Trump story yesterday.  That's him filing a lawsuit against Facebook, Google and Twitter.

I know that pretty much all legal opinion is that the lawsuit is ridiculous and that it will get thrown out of court.  And that it's really only being done for Trump to raise money -- which, of course, is what all supposed multi-billionaires do when they have no money problems.  The thing is, I so dearly hope that the court lets the suit continue.

Not because I want Trump to win, of course.  He wouldn't and he can't, the lawsuit is crazy.  But if the case progresses, then the opposing lawyers can depose Trump under oath.  And it's not just that they can depose him, but the very subject of the lawsuit -- the point on which they can depose him -- is that they wrongfully kicked him off their social media sites, and so they can depose him, under oath as part of discovery, about everything that prompted their actions.  Like the January 6 insurrection, and everything he said and wrote to others about that, and all the communication he had with others in the months leading up to the insurrection.  It would be Trump's worst nightmare.

And course, he'd never let it get that far.  If the court didn't throw the lawsuit out (which they almost certainly will), then he'd drop the case faster than I can type the period at the end of this sentence.  The thing is, I'm not 100% that the court can't still compel discovery to go forward.  I'd think not, except that last night, journalist Tim O'Brien talked about when Trump sued him, and then dropped the lawsuit when before matters got to discovery -- yet O'Brien and his lawyers were able to continue with discovery and got to see Trump's tax filings.

That aside, what I'd love is for the social media giants to call Trump's bluff.  Much as I'm sure they'd like the lawsuit over, they have to know it's just a PR gimmick to impact his base and raise money and that he'd lose -- and so I wish they'd tell the judge that they have no objections and are fine with it all going forward.  And, oh, Your Honor, here is the list of people we would like to depose.

And if they ever did get Trump under oath, after all the questions about the insurrection and the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and all his plans leading up to January 6  -- I'd love them to also ask one last question, under oath, about what he really thinks of Hitler.  With a reminder that not only would they be calling other witnesses, but also that his most loyal far-right White Supremacist supporters would be hanging on his every word, waiting to stand down and stand by.