Trump Labels New York Times a ‘National Security Threat,’ Demands It Be ‘Stopped’
President Donald Trump escalated his long-running feud with The New York Times on Tuesday, branding the paper a “national security threat” in a fiery Truth Social post and calling for it to be “stopped.”
“The Failing New York Times, and their lies and purposeful misrepresentations, is a serious threat to the National Security of our Nation,” Trump wrote. “Their Radical Left, Unhinged Behavior, writing FAKE Articles and Opinions in a never ending way, must be dealt with and stopped. THEY ARE A TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”
The post follows years of animosity between Trump and the legacy newspaper, including an ongoing $15 billion defamation lawsuit the president filed earlier this year. That suit alleges that The Times knowingly printed false and defamatory statements about Trump’s business record in an effort to damage his reputation and interfere with the 2024 presidential election.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the lawsuit also names several individual Times reporters and Penguin Random House, which published a book cited in the reporting. Trump’s legal team said the defendants smeared his professional career “which he painstakingly built for decades as a private citizen before becoming President of the United States, including as a successful businessman and as star of the most successful reality television show of all-time—The Apprentice.”
Trump’s latest remarks on Tuesday referenced a recent Times article claiming that he was “slowing down” and “losing energy.”
“The Radical Left Lunatics in the soon to fold New York Times did a hit piece on me that I am perhaps losing my Energy, despite facts that show the exact opposite,” Trump said in response last month. “They know this is wrong… This cheap ‘RAG’ is truly an ‘ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.’”
That suit followed a similar September case that was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday, who claimed the defamation claims were “improper.” Trump’s legal team refiled with expanded evidence and a new strategy, now focused more squarely on national security implications and election interference.
The renewed attack on The New York Times comes as Trump intensifies his broader messaging war against legacy media institutions he says are actively undermining American values and sowing division.
Whether his latest legal salvo gains traction in federal court remains to be seen, but Trump’s warning that the paper represents a serious threat to national security is one of his most direct escalations yet — with millions of his supporters now echoing his “enemy of the people” label for corporate media outlets they view as dishonest and agenda-driven.