The dangerous new twist in Trump’s latest defamation threat

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: President Donald Trump is threatening a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against one of his critics. At first glance, Trump’s $5 billion threat against the Center for American Progress, made public last week, looks like more of the same. Trump has already sued multiple news outlets over reporting he says defamed him. But this latest threat is different, and even more dangerous. The alleged defamation in a report by CAP isn’t about Trump’s private conduct from before he was president, like his lawsuits against The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times. It’s not about a specific statement made by Trump personally, like his lawsuit against the BBC. It’s about whether his government’s policies are as effective as the Trump administration clai…