Earlier this week we asked the following questions of our Bridge Alliance, Coffee Party and Fulcrum communities regarding the recently settled defamation case against Fox News for its previous claims about unsubstantiated reports of fraud in the presidential election:
- How might we better distinguish between news, analysis and opinion to be better informed citizens?
- How can we pivot towards a more thought-provoking approach to news media in developing political discourse?
Days removed from the landmark settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, the conversation surrounding Fox News’ responsibilities as a network rages on. Currently, the network is still entrenched in a pending defamation case with voting tech company Smartmatic; compared to its recently settled counterpart, this particular case could be settled for a much higher price tag. But a major consideration must be made whether or not the news network is directly responsible for defamatory comments made on its airwaves, with current legal shuffling potentially pinning it instead on the network’s hosts.
With all of these complexities considered, your responses indicate a clear need for adjustments (with fair criticism of the potentially overly complex nature of the questions). Many seem to find the fix simple: going back to the previous way of doing business, removing the money, the political posturing, and focusing on the bare bones truth. At least, clearly delineating between what is considered fact and opinion on all sides of the political discourse.
Here is a sample of your thoughts. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
If it offers analysis or opinion, label it as such. Clearly. Basically, do all good things taught traditionally in "objective" journalism before the trade decided its job was subjective "truth" rather than unbiased accuracy. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. There was a time everybody knew the difference between news and opinion, and a time everybody knew what the standards of objective journalism were that, while rarely perfectly realized, could always be aspired to.- Quin Hillyer
We should return to the fairness doctrine. Media delivery of news is no longer a public service. It has become "info-tainment" with content determined by ratings. The only way to reverse this is to severely limit or prohibit the amount of time devoted to commercials during the delivery of news. - William R. Hunn
News is not supposed to be thought-provoking, news is supposed to be information-sharing backed up by fact checking! This isn't a Sociology class. - Michael Ornce
We should stay conservative and cover more than just the AP headlining stories. There are more than 6-8 important news stories in a day. - Deborah Brown
News used to be a public service by media outlets, it wasn't expected to make a profit, money corrupts everything it touches. - Chris Brimmer
In leading workshops for Truth in Common I've found that showing folks how both the CNN and Fox prime-time lineups are mostly opinion shows, and that you may see the same breaking news topics, but with different commentators, from one show to the other helps them see the overabundance of opinion in cable news programming. That's not to toss out cable news overall; many shows are about fact-based reporting, it's just important for folks to understand when they're taking in opinions vs being left to form their own. Generally speaking, national news outlets can be more polarizing than local ones; they're more vilified by those whose agenda is to discredit quality sources of information and thus become part of how we "choose sides." We need to support quality outlets on the national and local levels, as these are how we know what's going on in our communities and our nation. - Deanna Troust
Just tell the truth. - Elmer Harris
Being most informed I think would make us better able to distinguish between news, analysis and opinion. I myself look for sources that will provide links and footnotes that I can peruse myself to decide on the strength of the argument. So if I read an opinion, I look for that. - Ed Heath
It has become increasingly difficult to find political discourse in the growing amount of tribal violence in politics. Any progress would involve the news media sifting through the character attacks to find the underlying civics issue. - John Ruble
It's not easy to distinguish news and opinion when news is driven by a profit motive. The FOX saga is a shining example of that, but all of the networks are driven by profit. News analysis is a cancer on real news and it dominates. Non-profit news is the only way. - Randy Ricks
In order to best distinguish between news, analysis and opinion you have to get your news from more than one source. When you see several sources reporting roughly the same thing, then there is a reasonable degree of certainty that it is true. - Angela Bridgman
I'm sure there are many informed, respected, and patriotic citizens that have political opinions. That is foundational to America and gives us all perspective. In my opinion, there needs to be a change in the use of the word "News". News is intended to provide facts from reliable sources to allow citizens to make decisions. Any citizen should have the right to obtain political information provided it is not breaking the law or inciting violence. One can have political news, and political opinion, as long as the media is appropriately labeled we are free to consume. - Richard Detrick
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.