Donald Trump has said that he does not “need international law” and that his power is limited only by his “own morality”.
In a new interview with the New York Times, Trump said the only constraint to his power as president of the US is “my own morality, my own mind”.
"It’s the only thing that can stop me,” Trump said, adding: “I’m not looking to hurt people.” He went on to concede “I do” in regards to whether his administration needed to adhere to international law, but said: “It depends on what your definition of international law is.”
Trump, who spoke to the newspaper as his administration looks into “a range of options” in attempts of gaining control of Greenland, also emphasized the importance of ownership.
“Ownership is very important,” Trump said, adding: “Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do with, you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”
72 Comments
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 105 pts · 207d
“My own morality” says the child raping baby killer that Epstein called the worst person he’s ever met
beejboytyson@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 207d
Imagine the devil calling you evil
neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 206d
And it not being a compliment
Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world · 77 pts · 207d
Well... that's not reassuring.
capt_wolf@lemmy.world · 73 pts · 207d
I'll take "Things a dictator says" for 800, Alex.
ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 207d
Considering he has no morality, I guess that means "unbridled powahhhhh!!!"
Alexstarfire@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 207d
aarch0x40@piefed.social · 32 pts · 207d
His what?
phoenixz@lemmy.ca · 28 pts · 207d
Yeah, that's a lie. You do and you're loving it. You can't be a mass murderer and say that you don't want to hurt people
ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online · 7 pts · 207d
Most gangsters and bullies talk like that.
TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca · 25 pts · 207d
What's crazy isn't the headline, it's his rationale. "Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success." You are going to begin a conflict with allies (every day less so, but still) because of Trump's personal feelings and psychological needs. Only a dictator and those that enable dictators would be ok with this.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 206d
The fact that he thinks this way isn't the truly bad part - it's that nobody in the government is willing to oppose his mad whims, no matter how dangerous and stupid.
TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 206d
Point, although they are opposing, but they are opposing by the same rule of law that he is both ignoring and rewriting at the same time. I wonder when they are going to realize they are being stringed along into a manner of opposition that is much easier for the Trump administration to deal with than any actually effective opposition.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 206d
I should amend that to "Nobody in the government with the power to do so."
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 24 pts · 207d
Back in the real world, Trump has very little morality to constrain himself, but other social factors surprisingly do still constrain him, even if he’d never admit it.
GuyFawkesV@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 207d
I mean based on what I’m seeing daily he’s not wrong.
MyNameIsIgglePiggle@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 207d
Unfortunately this is the most right he has been
mrdown@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 206d
With laws and with every person pretending to have the ultimate morality, the world will fall into chaos
mokus@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 21 pts · 207d
The human race is so fucked
peopleproblems@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 207d
Antisocial Personality Disorder with Narcissistic traits.
Jesus fuck. We have the worst kind of mental illness in a dude with power, drunk on that power.
rayyy@piefed.social · 3 pts · 206d
Says a lot about those who voted for him too.
inkzombie@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 19 pts · 206d
I misread that as mortality and got excited for a second
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 206d
His power is also constrained by that.
this@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 206d
Any day now. I hope he dies slowly of explosive diherea.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 206d
lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 206d
Same, I was all, "let the joyous constraining begin!"
Mihies@programming.dev · 18 pts · 207d
Basically no restraints, eh.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 206d
What morality?
Etterra@discuss.online · 5 pts · 206d
Exactly.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 206d
his “own morality”.
From a pedophile rapist and convicted felon.
D_C@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 207d
Then everything is fucked unless someone does something about the orange turd because that child rapist has no morality. None whatsoever.
fonix232@fedia.io · 15 pts · 207d
Can someone please take care of the diapered, dementia-ridden orange shitsack please? Also, rescue that cat he's got stapled to his head. It's starting to look mangy...
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works · 15 pts · 207d
Famously the type of phrase said by the protagonist in the movies and not the villains.
bagsy@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 207d
Jesus christ, how much blackmail does this asshole have? is he blackmailing half the worlds billionaires? How many names are really in the epstien files?
Rothe@piefed.social · 12 pts · 207d
I think you misunderstand his relationship with billionaires. Trump is an asset to billionaires. They have never had it as good as they have it under his administration. Removal of all regulation over their industries, dismantling of federal oversight and complete legal tax exemptions.
And all for what they consider pocket change as bribes to him.
TipsyMcGee@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 206d
Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 206d
It's disturbing how apparant this all is. Backed by all of these assholes from the very start, and now he's going down the line chopping every last thing that held them back as though he's splitting logs in a pile. AI regulations, gone. Any kind of oversight, gone. Okay, who next. Chevron! Thanks for your support. I knew you were smart. Everything beneath Venezuela is yours. Fuck 'em.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 14 pts · 206d
What morality?
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 206d
Precisely.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 206d
"Why do you make me hit you, baby?"
allriledup@piefed.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 207d
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 206d
This is the guy MAGA wanted. They project their personal power fantasies and approve of him acting on his own hatreds, whims and impulses the way they dream of.
fizzle@quokk.au · 10 pts · 207d
Despite desperately wishing this guy would encounter some fucking consequences... I kinda feel like hes not really wrong?
Like what does it matter what the law says if its not applied and there are no penalties?
driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br · 9 pts · 206d
He's above American law, why international law would restrict him?
Frozentea725@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 207d
Read that as mortality, I thought I was some supervillain onion piece. Truth is not too far off though
santa@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 207d
He doesn’t have any so we are f’d
borQue@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 206d
Bakkoda@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 207d
Well on the upside, every single jackass who used to stop me and wanna argue politics doesn't even look me in the eye anymore.
cosmicrookie@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 207d
He called it 'things and elements' instead of 'valuable minerals'
asteriskeverything@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 207d
Listen hear me out...
Can we just have a newsletter of "trump says" instead of reporting every fucking thing his geriatric mind spews 3 times a day? While it is important to be aware of the context of the crazy; at this point it isn't real news ffs! he's basically weekend at bernies at this point.
betanumerus@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 206d
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 206d
Because he's probably the single most powerful man in the world right now. He can send the US military anywhere in the world on a whim.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 206d
And there is nobody willing to stop him.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 206d
It so damn stupid. This is the same problem we humans have had to deal with over and over again all through history, and we walked right into it AGAIN. American apathy gets a lot of the blame, of course. but so do other country's governments for continuing to treat the US government as civilized and legitimate when it clearly isn't.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 206d
Power can be constrained by prison cells and handcuffs.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 206d
Nobody with the power to do that has the spine to. A well-placed bullet is more likely to constrain him than that.
ChonkyLincoln@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 206d
I’d love to drink that bottle of champagne in my fridge soon
Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 206d
Okay, then why does he continue to fail so spectacularly?
DarkFuture@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 206d
Huh.
Sounds like how kings work.
Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 206d
And this is only first week of the year…
HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 206d
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 206d
No, they will continue to get worse until everything collapses before they can get better.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 206d
It will peak late 2026 when the midterms are cancelled.
Siegfried@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 206d
Die Völker haben die Regierungen, die sie verdienen.
Los pueblos tienen los gobiernos que se merecen.
itisileclerk@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 206d
TIL that Pedophile morality is between nuclear war and destruction of humanity and peace.
KnitWit@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 207d
John Roberts: yep, checks out!
SpraynardKruger@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 206d
Misread that as "my own mortality", and thought he was poking the bear, so to speak.
Fortunately, his power is also limited by the amount of time he has left. So, hypothetically speaking, if anyone wants to... finish his term early, it would certainly constrain his power.
Mulligrubs@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 206d
He's right. Without the Constitution, there's nothing holding him back.
That's the entire problem, our government has ignored the Constitution for so long, they can't suddenly decide that it's now relevant and should be adhered to. They made it into a joke decades ago.
The only thing stopping Trump is a no longer relevant piece of paper.
mrdown@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 206d
At least this scum is honest in his evilness
CitizenKong@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 206d
L'etat, c'est moi.
Aubmaire@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 207d
oh my god someone put a bullet in this government, you need to fucking do something american citizens
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 207d
He's just saying out loud what has always been true.
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 206d
Someone almost put a bullet through his skull but missed sadly
HurlingDurling@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 206d
But somehow his ear magically regrew in less than a week
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 206d
have you not seen his hands? man has exceptional healing capabilities!