When I wrote last week that Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is media’s new Donald Trump, I was referring to the Orange County attorney’s ability to manipulate the press.
The more I think about it, however, the more it seems like Avenatti really is like a low-rent version of the president. From his flimsy threats and cheap insults, to his lame branding efforts, to his millions in free media, Stormy Daniels’ attorney is like a Chinese knockoff of the man in the White House.
On Monday, Avenatti threatened to sue the Daily Caller because it had reported public information that reflected poorly on him.
“Let me be clear. If you and your colleagues do not stop with the hit pieces that are full of lies and defamatory statements, I will have no choice but to sue each of you and your publication for defamation,” Avenatti said in an email to Daily Caller reporter Peter Hasson.
The lawyer added, “If you think I’m kidding, you really don’t know anything about me. This is the last warning.”
He also said he would exact “significant” financial consequences from individual Daily Caller reporters.
Threatening litigation against reporters because they print something you don’t like? How very Trumpian.
Avenatti later defended his threats against the Daily Caller, saying, “All journalists are not ethical, just because they’re a journalist. There’s good journalists and there’s bad journalists. There’s ethical journalists and unethical journalists.”
He added, “If we encounter journalists that don’t get their facts straight by design, don’t follow the basic rules of journalism, purposely skew stories to fit their own political dialogue of what they want the message to be, we’re going to continue to call them out on that. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Hell, President Trump could’ve written those lines. The only thing missing from Avenatti’s defense are the words “fake,” “news” and “sad!”
Then there’s the issue of media’s obsession with Avenatti, who has made more than 100 media appearances since March 7.
He has been on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” 20 times, MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” 14 times, CNN’s “New Day” 12 times, CNN’s “Tonight with Don Lemon” eight times, and MSNBC’s “Deadline White House” seven times.
Avenatti has also appeared on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Showtime’s “The Circus,” NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today,” ABC’s “The View,” HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and network morning shows “Today,” “CBS This Morning,” and “Good Morning America.”
All in the span of 64 days.
It seems like the only other person who can dominate newsrooms this effectively is Trump himself. For what it’s worth, I’m not the only one who sees clear parallels between Trump and Avenatti. The main difference is that Avenatti is adored by media, while Trump is scorned.
But hey, if Avenatti is the hero newsrooms want to lean on to make the Trump White House look bad, by all means go for it.
