Here’s the thing, though… in 1792, the circulation of a newspaper was extremely local. Not many people outside of New York City were reading the New York Post, for example. In the modern world, where I can read articles from every newspaper in the country without getting out of bed, having “local” standards of defamation apply is a bit more tricky.

Not only that, but a lot of these criticisms of the actual malice standard are mostly bullshit. If Trump really believes that newspapers are telling completely false stories about him, then he could sue and win. But he can’t prove that the stories are false.

And I say this as someone who is skeptical of the whole “limited public figure” doctrine.