Repugnant statements of opinion are not defamation, but false staements of facts are, but what about repugnant statements of opinon that are NOT supported by facts?

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-says-cnn-big-lie-202205180.html 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-says-cnn-big-lie-202205180.html

My take as a former law professor:  

Opinions are protected by the First Amendment, but repugnant opinions aimed to inflict emotional distress without any support in fact should constitute actionable defamation, and should not be defeated by a Motion to Dismiss. The facts must be developed, especially if the opinion is clearly contradicted by facts, which the defendants knew or should reasonably have known, yet recklessly disregarded such falsehood).    

This ruling shoudl be limited to this case, involving a former President/public official/public figure and the national media.