President Trump is facing new backlash today for suggesting that he can't be accused of breaking the law if he's working to save the country. Hours after posting that message, Trump's former vice president Mike pence shared a link to an article he wrote in 2010 about the importance of adhering to the Constitution. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said, quote, spoken like a true dictator.
And Democratic Congressman Richard Torres said in part, Trump seems to believe he can do whatever he wishes in the name of saving the country. Horace adds the US Constitution trumps the policy preferences of President Trump. Joining us now is Margaret Talev, senior contributor for Axios and director of the Institute for democracy, Journalism and Citizenship at Syracuse University.
Margaret, I want to get your reaction to Trump's post. What do you make of this? Well, it's certainly designed to get everyone's attention and create quite a reaction.
And it's doing that so far. He's taking steps like, pinning it or putting it out there to begin with is it's obviously he wants people talking about this. So the question is what is he trying to tell us as you foreshadowing, a series of actions that will flout the law that judges will push back on and that he'll say, I'm doing it anyway because it's for the country.
or is it is the purpose of it to get the reaction, or is the purpose of it somewhere in between? And the truth is, at this point we don't know yet, but we do know that, the the very essence of the quote, it's been attributed to Napoleon. Yes.
The former French emperor who was then exiled after Waterloo and who, took hold of leadership with a coup. So it is a provocative quote. It's designed to be provocative.
I think the question or the concern, both from lawmakers and also from the legal community is, is this more than just a provocation? It is this him, broadcasting, his intentions as he continues to push boundaries? Well, speaking as someone who's not known to be provocative, former Vice President Mike pence wrote and linked to this article where he says, quote, without proper adherence to the rule contemplated in the Constitution for the presidency, the checks and balances in the constitutional plan become weakened.
What's he getting out here? There has been, a debate or provocative discussion, again, inside sort of Trump world about the idea of whether we're in a post constitutional era, whether the Constitution, that that founded the United States, continues to be relevant or should continue. it's irrelevant.
But of course, you know, to your point, you're right. It's a nation of laws. there's a rule of law, and they're, three separate branches of government.
And the Supreme Court, ultimately decides whether actions fall within the law, that those are the rules of the country. And if there weren't those rules, there would be, you know, lawlessness and violence and, everything be a jump ball. So, I think, you know, there again, I think it looks to me like all these various parties where they're whether they're Republican, whether they've been aligned with Trump in the past or not, are trying to figure out, is this, again, meant to have a chilling effect?
or get everyone's attention and that's it? Or is this foreshadowing of steps to come? And at this point, because we're only a few weeks into the new administration, all you have to go on are the early actions of the administration.
But certainly, with Doge, with some of these mass firings, with many moves that are already headed to the courts, the president has shown a willingness, certainly to push the boundaries of, what has ever been, allowable behavior by an executive in the modern United States. Now, Trump is also responding to critics who say it's Elon Musk who is actually, the one in charge. let's take a listen to what he said in a joint interview with Musk on Fox.
Actually, Elon called me and said, you know, they're trying to drive us apart. I said, absolutely, you know, they said, we have breaking news. Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk.
President Musk will be attending a cabinet meeting tonight at 8:00. And I say it's just so obvious there's so bad at it. I used to think they were good at it.
They're actually bad at it because if they were good at it, I'd never be president. What do you think is going on, with that interview and behind the scenes? I mean, if if it were a reality show, it would certainly be a scripted moment.
It seems like, again, a moment that is meant to entertain, to provoke people, to talk about it. But the truth is, Elon Musk isn't doing anything that President Trump hasn't empowered him to do. If President Trump didn't want him doing the things he's doing, he wouldn't be doing them anymore.
So I think for a lot of the members of Congress, there was all of this debate early on about, how how much scrutiny should cabinet nominees get? Well, it if you can install someone outside of the nomination process who, doesn't have to answer to anyone in the Senate and is empowered uniquely by the president. And once the court says they can't be, then why does it matter who the cabinet nominees are?
So I think, again, you are really seeing something very different here play out. And it is meant to provoke. It is meant to get, you know, people who are concerned about boundaries in the system all whipped up and fired up.
It is they are playing it as they have intended it. And that's what's going on right now. Margaret Talev, thank you.
More when we come back.
