Trump is waging all-out war against journalists

Two weeks ago, Florida sued The New York Times , claiming that inadequate oversight jeopardized the paper’s reputation and hurt the value of state pension holders’ shares in the company.

Florida attorney general James Uthmeier (R) focused on what he called the paper’s “ incorrect and biased pro-Hamas coverage ” of the war in Gaza. The Times responded that although the suit is “positioned as a corporate governance petition to inspect the company’s books and records,” it was a “transparent attempt” to “chill journalism protected by the First Amendment.”

Winning the lawsuit may not be the point. The process alone damages the Times’s reputation and forces it to waste time, energy and money defending itself. And just the prospect of becoming the next target may encourage others to fall in line.

Ironically, Trump and his allies spent years alleging that his left-wing critics were weaponizing the law to damage his political prospects and hamper conservative causes. Trump insisted he was “ shocked ” by what he called Democrats’ “lawfare,” calling it “dirty,” “vicious” and a “third world” tactic.

Shortly before returning to office after the 2024 race, Trump proclaimed, “ LAWFARE IS DEAD .” But these days, lawfare is flourishing as never before.

Trump and his red-state allies have built an extraordinary web of coercive legal and regulatory initiatives directed at news organizations. Their arsenal includes lawsuits, subpoenas, search warrants, funding threats, license reviews, access restrictions, and regulatory agency investigations. Administration officials openly acknowledge that the goal is to “reshap[e] the media landscape” by achieving “Full Spectrum Dominance.”

The damage to a free press, an essential pillar of our democracy, is already substantial.

Trump called the media “ the enemy of the American people ” during his first term. Since returning to the White House, he has filed a $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times and Penguin Random House for “industrial-scale defamation”; a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for reporting on a lewd birthday greeting he reportedly sent Jeffrey Epstein; and a $10 billion lawsuit against BBC over a documentary about the 2024 campaign.

According to an analysis by Axios , Trump, his administration and his businesses were involved in 16 media and defamation lawsuits last year and another nine so far in 2026. Many of Trump’s past lawsuits against the media have been dismissed on First Amendment grounds, and in one case Trump was ordered to pay The New York Times almost $400,000 in legal fees.

But Trump’s personal lawsuits are just the tip of the iceberg. Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House for reporting “ FICTION and LIES ,” after previously denying access to The Associated Press for refusing to accept his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. The Defense Department has likewise restricted media access at the Pentagon and declared its press office off limits.

The day after Trump demanded that ABC fire comedian and Trump critic Jimmy Kimmel, the Federal Communications Commission ordered an accelerated review of all ABC station licenses, which otherwise would not have come up for renewal until 2028 or later. The commission, which has never before ordered such a sweeping review, insists it relates to ABC’s diversity and inclusion practices. ABC promptly sued the FCC , calling the review “blatant retaliation” for “the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air.”

The FCC has also investigated the major broadcast networks for “news distortion” and what the agency considers potentially illegal diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

The Federal Trade Commission has launched its own investigations into allegations of online misinformation, driving up costs, hurting businesses and leading some entities to self-censor.

The Justice Department has subpoenaed the phone records of some journalists (and their relatives). And as part of an investigation into a government contractor suspected of mishandling classified information, FBI agents searched a Washington Post reporter’s home and seized her phone, laptops and other devices, even though she was not a target of the investigation.

Although courts have rejected many of these tactics, the campaign continues to accelerate, and red-state governments are joining in. In 2023, the attorneys general of Texas and Florida opened investigations into the liberal press watchdog Media Matters, apparently at the urging of Trump adviser Stephen Miller. And Florida’s shareholder rights suit against The New York Times has turned stock ownership into a vehicle for investigating editorial practices.

The right’s campaign against the press isn’t conventional lawfare. It doesn’t depend on winning in court. The parent companies of ABC and CBS paid millions to settle highly questionable lawsuits — one for defamation and the other over “deceitful editing” — probably because they were seeking required government approvals of major corporate transactions.

Trump’s message to the media is straightforward: Critical coverage now carries costs that go well beyond attorneys’ fees.

Trump was right about lawfare. It can be a “dirty” tactic when used to punish political adversaries. But when the plaintiff controls the entire machinery of government, including the Justice Department, the Pentagon, the FCC, the FTC and access to the White House, lawfare becomes far more dangerous: an existential threat to the institutions we depend on to hold the government accountable.

David Wippman is emeritus president of Hamilton College. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.