WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. President Donald Trump echoed Napoleon as he took to social media and expressed his ongoing defiance against restrictions on his executive power amid several legal battles, wrote Reuters early this month.
Trump, a Republican, stated, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” The White House declined to comment further, reported Reuters, noting the phrase is linked to the French military leader who established the Napoleonic Code in 1804 and later crowned himself emperor.
Trump’s comment was swiftly criticized by Democrats, said Reuters, noting Senator Adam Schiff of California, a longtime opponent of Trump, said, “This was spoken like a true dictator.”
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Reuters reported, Trump has made sweeping claims of executive power, which seem poised for U.S. Supreme Court battles. Some lawsuits accuse him of overstepping Congress’s authority as defined by the U.S. Constitution.
While Trump claimed to respect court decisions, his advisors have criticized judges on social media and urged their impeachment, said Reuters, noting Washington lawyer Norm Eisen, who worked on Trump’s first two impeachment trials, said Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to argue that if the president does it, it’s legal.
“This is a trial balloon and a provocation,” Eisen said of Trump’s message.
“Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness,” Trump said after his election victory.
Like climate change, the best way to deal with what’s coming is to adapt, not freak out and fight.