Trump Sues The Des Moines Register, Escalating Threats Against the Media

President-elect Donald J. Trump sued The Des Moines Register for running a poll before the election that showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris, escalating his threats to seek retribution against the mainstream media and his political enemies.

Mr. Trump has long said that people he claims have wronged him should be prosecuted, including President Biden and his family; Jack Smith, the special counsel who charged Mr. Trump with trying to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents; and Liz Cheney, the former representative from Wyoming who helped lead the House investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to cling to power in 2020.

In recent months, he has filed various legal actions against the media that amount to a warning shot about what sort of retaliation journalists, in particular, might face.

As he prepares to take office again, Mr. Trump will have at his disposal the levers of government, a Republican Party that is more pliant than it was four years ago and a well-funded external political apparatus.

“It’s clear that Trump is waging war on the press,” said Samantha Barbas, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law whose book, “Actual Malice,” is about the Supreme Court’s most famous defamation case. “Trump and his lawyers are going to use any legal claim that they think has a chance of sticking. They’ll cast a wide net to carry out this vendetta.”

Ms. Barbas added that prevailing in court may be beside the point. The lawsuits “are not so much geared toward winning as much as threatening,” she said.