For the benefit of ABC, Disney+, CBS, and many others facing threats of extortion (H-1B visa holders, those driven out of the federal government, Harvard University, Columbia University, lawful immigrants, US trading partners, members of NATO, etc.):
Giving into those threats won't remove them. Like with blackmail, domestic abuse and schoolyard bullying does _nothing_ to remove the threat. Your abuser has provided no guarantees that satisfying them in this one case will give you any long-term protection. Instead, paying the extorter removes your own resources and strengthens the bully. It marks you as weak and emboldens your attacker for the next round. It also confuses would-be allies on whether you can be trusted, or whether you're a witting tool of the abuser. What they have done to you, they will do to others. What they have done to you before, they will do to you again.
Get out of the abusive relationship while you can. Long-time US trade, intelligence and military partners are seeking alternatives since this Administration has declared repeatedly it won't be honoring existing commitments. You should consider your options as well - including seeking out other victims and forming an alliance to discuss options.
Press forward on lawsuits instead. Complain to members of Congress, especially those who have previously backed this Administration. Tell them this isn't what you voted for, and not what you backed financially or rhetorically. Speak out publicly. Do not censor yourself. You'd just be doing the abuser's job for them.
Someone who continually breaks their word and makes unproven claims is not someone you can trust. Resistance is your only option.
Bill Barr, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pence, Nicki Haley and Ted Cruz have all been publicly humiliated by this guy. Those "allies" were cowed into supporting him despite earlier, fleeting resistance. Each win makes him more aggressive. Each loss limits his power. Resistance is scary and painful - but refuse to play by his rules. Play by the rules as written and insist he does too.
Congress and the Courts are supposed to counterbalance the President, but the dominant forces in both have largely suborned themselves to him. Unite with them to push back. Many wealthy individuals have publicly backed him, in hopes of staving off his ire and (probably) bribing their way into his good graces. Convince your donors that the short-term gains from a tax cut or corporate merge are not worth the loss of the US Constitution's mandate that the President enforce the laws - including the freedom of speech and freedom of commerce. Many renowned experts have been pushed out of government for refusing to bend to an unhinged, irrational, ill-tempered bully and his conspiracy theories. Work with them to strengthen and publicly justify meritocracy. Those working to make sure every person is given a fair shot at education and employment have been slandered. Seek them out and work with them to make sure the most skilled and hard-working folks progress.
"Divide and conquer" is the oldest playbook. Putin is using it against NATO. Trump is using it against his critics. The counter play is well-known too:
- To quote a slogan from the revolutionary war, "join, or die."
- To quote the US Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security"
- To quote Vaclav Havel, leader of Czechoslovkia's Velvet Revolution, "Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to prosecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing."
- To quote Mohandas Gandhi, "Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth."
- To quote Martin Luther King, Jr., "May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership... Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause."