Ridiculous.

Trump was an effective witness against himself. His lying is well established. He has boasted about sexual assaulting women in the past and said he can't help himself. Carroll has no history of lying, she told friends about Trump's assault within hours of it happening:
www.cnn.com/2023/05/09/p...

Testimony depends on credibility. She had tons, he had none.

Don’t forget he never said “ I would never do a thing like that!l he said “she’s not my type”. Then it turned out he couldn’t tell the difference between his and wife and E. Jean. So he was a pretty strong witness against himself.

Yes! Beware the old crank who claims there is nothing new because he’s seen it all before. See it for yourself. Context matters. Fresh eyes are often what makes the crucial difference.

The trust issue is much larger than just trust in media. Trust is eroding in democratic institutions, the rule of law, science, etc. Maybe trust in the media depends first on restoring trust in those others areas. TBH I don’t expect to see it in my life time. The good news is that I’m pretty old.

Testimony is evidence. Carroll testified at length under oath and the jury believed what she said. That is why Trump was found liable of sexual assault.

With respect, the issue is press freedom and whether it is under threat from a president who brands all negative media reporting as fake news.

If you mean only that ABC did not want to risk discovery, that might be true, we don't know. . But under US libel law Stephanopoulos had an airtight defense based on what we do know, because the media have a first amendment protection even if they are wrong (Times v Sullivan).

Christmas Day, his birthday, as
decision day would appeal to his flair for melodrama.

Wow. You still haven’t learned.

This is the same faith in market discipline that led to the 2008 financial meltdown, the opioid crisis and a couple of Boeing crashes.