Trump’s Napoleon Quote Baits the Left Into Yet Another Meltdown

Trump’s Napoleon Quote Baits the Left Into Yet Another Meltdown

Trump has long understood how to provoke his critics into revealing their own anxieties and obsessions

BREITBART

President Donald Trump’s recent social media post—just one sentence from a historical film—has triggered a predictable wave of outrage from critics eager to cast him as a budding dictator.

“He who saves his country does not violate any law,” Trump posted to his social media accounts.

He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2025

The phrase closely resembles a line from Waterloo, the 1970 film about Napoleon Bonaparte. In the movie, Napoleon, played by Rod Steiger, speaks the words while in exile on Elba, reflecting on his reign and defending his right to rule. The line is not a declaration that a ruler is above the law or licensed to commit crimes but a response to the accusation that his rise to power itself was unlawful. Napoleon argues that his leadership was not an illegitimate usurpation but a necessary act to preserve France in a time of crisis.

While there is no evidence that Napoleon ever spoke these words, different versions of the quote have been attributed to the French leader many times over the last century and a half. It is sort of a folklore distillation of Napoleon’s claim to legitimacy.

The idea that a leader who acts to save his country should not be considered a criminal has deep roots in political philosophy, stretching back to Cicero, the Roman statesman and orator. In his work De Legibus (On the Laws), Cicero argued that salus populi suprema lex esto—”the welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.”  Trump’s invocation of the Waterloo quote plays on this same theme—suggesting that, far from being a usurper, he represents the will of the people against a corrupt elite.

For Trump’s critics, the post was proof of their worst fears, confirmation that he sees himself as a leader who transcends legal constraints.

Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, reacted with characteristic alarm, writing, “Spoken like a true dictator.” Other Democrats and media folks quickly followed, framing the post as another glimpse into Trump’s supposed authoritarian ambitions. The pattern was familiar: a cryptic Trump statement, followed by a flurry of panicked analysis, leading to dramatic warnings that democracy itself was at risk.

Yet for those who have observed Trump’s political style and the response of his rivals over the years, the reaction was entirely predictable. Trump has long understood how to provoke his critics into revealing their own anxieties and obsessions…..

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