Daily Beast: “Earlier this month, a lawyer for the busted Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio offered a remarkable defense for his client: It was Fox News’ fault. After losing his job during the pandemic, his lawyer argued, Antonio spent the next six months watching Fox News ‘constantly.’ In doing so, he developed ‘Foxitus,’ which caused him to believe Donald Trump’s ‘stop the steal’ lies and then storm the Capitol. While this defense has garnered loads of media attention for its novelty, a much more cynical courtroom defense involving Fox News and right-wing punditry has been largely overlooked. That defense, dubbed the ‘No Reasonable Person’ defense, has been made by a string of prominent conservatives, including Sidney Powell, Alex Jones, and Tucker Carlson. It argues that ‘no reasonable person’ would believe the statements they make, which ostensibly gives them the right to say whatever they want – no matter how reckless or untrue. The ‘No Reasonable Person’ defense is significant because it shows that conservative media stars and their networks, and even prominent conservative lawyers, are finally admitting that they are not reliable sources of facts: They are opportunists and entertainers, first and foremost.”

“Take Sidney Powell, Donald Trump’s former lawyer. In March, Powell sought to dismiss a $1.3 billion defamation suit filed against her by Dominion Voting Systems. Her lawyers argued that ‘No reasonable person would conclude that the statements [Powell made] were truly statements of fact.’ The ‘statements’ the motion referred to were Powell’s claims that Dominion engaged in a widespread conspiracy to rig the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden – by, among other things, electronically switching votes cast for Trump to Biden. Those statements were repeated constantly by Fox News and other right-wing outlets, doing untold damage to our democracy by helping entrench the fallacy that the election was stolen (polls show most Republicans still believe this). As Orwellian as Powell’s defense sounds – she is a lawyer, after all – it was just the latest attempt by a prominent conservative to use this argument to avoid responsibility for making potentially libelous claims. Given the enormous influence Powell (by representing Trump) and these other conservative stars hold on the Republican electorate, the essence of the argument is jaw-dropping. They are arguing, in a court of law, that they should not be held accountable for their statements because most people should know that their statements are not true. Whether their viewers and listeners are ‘reasonable’ is another matter, but one need only look at Antonio and the Capitol riot to know that ludicrous, baseless statements are often widely believed.”