In one year, Trump has imposed a culture of impunity
Attendees take photos with President Donald Trump's mugshot during the Liberty Ball in Washington on January 20, 2025. KIRSTEN LUCE/NYT-REDUX-REA The exchange was extraordinary. One year after his return to the White House, Donald Trump sat down with four New York Times journalists in the Oval Office on January 7. They asked the billionaire whether he saw any limits to his power on the world stage. "Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me, and that's very good. I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people." No checks and balances, no norms, no conventions, no multilateral commitments. One man, the most powerful in the world, alone with his conscience. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown!" wrote William Shakespeare in Henry IV. "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law," the American president preferred to write on X in February 2025, citing a quote attributed to Napoleon. As early as 2019, during his first term, he had said that under Article II of the Constitution, he had "the right to do whatever I want." That is not what the article on executive power says, nor was it what the Founding Fathers of American democracy intended as they sought a balanced system fundamentally different from the British monarchy. You have 88.31% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
