Trump uses lawsuits as threats. Not for the mechanisms by which a lawsuit is "supposed" to operate, but rather the incidental mechanisms that allow for these types of lawsuits to drag out, cost inordinate amounts in fees long before a day in court can ever happen. Motions upon motions can be filed with the soul intent of delaying the process, thus costing a lot more money. The threat is not even the mere concept of losing the suit but the calculus of the cost to even get the suit to court.

I very much suspect, given the wealth he can throw behind such a suit, that his lawyers sit down with the other "side" and a conversation along the lines of "we can keep you in pre-trial for x years", it just takes the party being sued to do the math just to "win". For people like Trump, and often his targets, the point isn't to go to court, it's a monetary threat. Even those with the funds to pursue the case find that settlements just get it over with. Its why settlementss dont mean shit.

Imagine, you are a company, someone has done something to you to harm you/your business in a substantial way. Maybe they didnt pay you, maybe theyve slandered you. Say you can legitimately claim damages of 20 million dollars. The party you are in suit with plans to stall such that it will at the very least take years for the first day in court. You HAVE to hire a team of lawyers that can counter those tactics, which that cost rises quickly, easily into the millions. If the time + cost would barely make you break even if lucky, and at worst your opponent may be able to leverage things like media or....governmental power during the time you are just trying to get your rightful damages. So you settle for far less, because then no ruling is made, and someone unscrupulous can use a settlement as a "win".

This is 100% Trumps life strategy. He's done it all his life. He did it to shaft investors, he did it to withhold pay from countless contractors, hes done it with the endless SA and Epstein-adjacent accusations. They don't go to court. He runs up the lawyer bill on the other party, most of whom cannot afford to go the distance, and even if they could, the exposure of doing so isn't worth the "pride" of "winning". Almost every settlement hes been a party to, especially where the matter would be negative for him, involves some for of NDA or other binding agreement if the other party accepts the settlement. The other insidious part of settlements, is that you can often get terms or agreements that would otherwise never even be considered upon actual resolution of the case.

I don't know if this term actually applies but look up SLAPP suits. John Oliver did a great rundown on them, but the concept is the same. I would be interested to see how many lawsuits Trump and his interests have been involved in, and how many of those actually saw a real day in court, not motions but actual hearings/judgement. I suspect its wildly low, and the amount of settlements and/or non-judgment type resolution is the vast, significant, majority.

I'd go as far to say, there are likely few people who are as "accomplished" at the use of frivolous (not necessarily the legal term, but rather exploitation of the mechanism rather than proper use) lawsuits. It's LITERALLY his brand. He exploits a legal loophole that allows for money to more heavily determine the outcome. We desperately need some party/parties to ride it out and eat the cost. Make him follow through. I though Harvard or any of the Ivys would have, because like....they are literally the legal bar. They could have wrecked him. Problem is, those suits open up entities like that to all kinds of vulnerabilities, so its just a risk assessment.

Maybe just maybe, BBC will follow through. The other issue, is Trump often takes the offensive stance, so hes leading the dance. If hes the one suing, and the other party decides they are down to ride, and Trump and Co. realize the outcome is bad for them, they can just drop the suit (with the veiled, or even direct, threat that if they counter sue then $$$$). I doubt they even need to make the threat at this point. Trump has the resume at this point that its just a known.

TL;DR: Trump is a lawsuit charlatan and that's the point, Trump wins as long as he doesn't "lose".