Reuters
Donald Trump visits Napoleon's tomb, Paris, July 13, 2017. [Source: Reuters]
Echoing France’s Napoleon Bonaparte, U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday took to social media to signal continued resistance to limits on his executive authority in the face of multiple legal challenges.
The phrase, attributed to the French military leader who created the Napoleonic Code of civil law in 1804 before declaring himself emperor, drew immediate criticism from Democrats.
Trump, who took office on January 20, has made broad assertions of executive power that appear headed toward U.S. Supreme Court showdowns. Some lawsuits accuse Trump of usurping the authority of Congress as set out in the U.S. Constitution.
While Trump said he abides by court rulings, his advisers have attacked judges on social media and called for their impeachment. Vice President JD Vance wrote on X this week that judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Washington lawyer Norm Eisen, who like Schiff worked on the first of Trump’s two impeachment trials, said Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to argue that if the president does it, it’s not illegal.
Napoleon’s saying, he said, excuses illegal acts.
Trump, whose longtime slogan is “Make America Great Again,” attributed his survival of an assassination attempt in July to God’s will.
