On Saturday, posting to his Truth Social account, President Trump invoked Napoleon with the apocryphal, “He who saves his country does not violate any law”. This partly appears to be world-class trolling of the corporate press, who began choking on their tongues almost immediately after Trump hit ‘publish’, and partly a justification for his unprecedented executives actions taken in under a month (yes, it’s been less than a month). But in another sense this quote alludes to something very real about Trump’s motivations while President. Trump, unlike almost every previous executive leader, appears possessed of an intense sense of nobless oblige, one that is fueling his relentless policy blitzkrieg. For Trump, this isn’t about merely going through the motions of his office, but commandeering and helming an extreme national course-correction to avert total disaster. Can a single President accomplish this in a single term, allowing succeeding executives to coast on his success? Time will tell, but the numbers rolling in now are promising. Trump won’t stop until someone makes him stop, and that will be well nigh impossible, judging by the way he’s prepared himself this time around.
