HOT TOPICS | Has Trump Declared Himself King!? - February 17th, 2024
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning, everyone. Oh, that's me. I got it up in two different places. Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good to see you on this Monday. It is 10 a.m. Eastern time. This is Hot Topics, and I'm so glad you're here. Look. We're not supposed to have kings. Remember that whole reason like this country was started and we left because we didn't want to be under a monarchy. Remember that whole thing? And then, well, let's we take that back. Right. I mean, unless you guys are not OK with it, maybe you are. Some folks may be OK with it. Checks and balances, says Nicola Ungo. Yeah, but checks and balances doesn't appear to be so much. We're not calling him a king, Miss G, Mia G. He's calling himself a king. And I got proof for you.
So let me just tee this up for you and tell you. But I'm so glad that you're here. Let me know where you're streaming from, where you're watching us, tuning in to us from. I'd love to know those things. And I'm glad that you're here. But I want to know if you're okay with someone who is part of a monarchy or someone who says that they can do whatever they want. And I know you guys are like, wait a minute, Don. What are you saying? Donald Trump is king? Would it be King Trump or King Donald? You guys are, am I saying that? I'm trying to fix something here. Let me fix this. Okay. I'm going live on TikTok now. I say wannabe king. Look, I say this kind of in jest, but it's not. Look, Donald Trump is acting like a king.
I'm going to set this up for you, and then I'm going to move on, and I'm going to do my thing that I normally do, because this really does. It concerns me, and it kind of pisses me off, okay? One simple question. And what we should be asking, because is it one king or maybe there's a co-monarchy? I don't know. The United States of America, are we ruled by three equal branches of government or are we ruled by a king or kings or monarchs or kings and princes and court jesters or any of that? That should be a simple question, and it's no longer quite clear to answer. On Saturday, this is what President Trump posted, an eerie one-sentence insight into what appears to be the guiding philosophy behind the first two weeks of his presidency.
And so some people may have seen this as innocent, and maybe you didn't even get it. He who saves his country does not violate any law. What that says is, I'm above the law. So I'm trying to save the country. I'm acting within my capacity of the king. Therefore, I'm not violating any law. Therefore, I'm just going to continue to be able to do what I want to do with impunity. Don, you know we're not okay with it, says Sabrina Hogan. Well, I don't know.
Because what are we doing it?
He has zero desire to work with the other branches of government, says Nancy. Right on. So he posted this. Now, it may seem innocuous to some people. It's gotten probably by now 225 million views. Pamela Andrews says the post was horrifying.
Did you guys see it? America is being led by fools, says Jasson Laughter.
He who saves his country does not violate any law. That message now pinned to the top of his social media profile appears to be in reference to a line. It's from a 1970 movie called Waterloo. There's Waterloo when Napoleon Bonaparte ends democracy in France.
King or emperor, same thing.
Says someone in the chat as well. You may have blocked someone in the chat saying all of those folks that you said on your socials, but they can get through because they program the algorithm. A lot of people had blocked the owner of Twitter, and they somehow still kept getting his messages and his timeline. He appeared on their timeline. Same thing with Trump. Casual observer, Napoleon Dinah Dunn. Hilarious. This is serious, though. Now, some would say that Trump is not a king yet. I don't know about that, guys. Dozens of court cases have swiftly challenged his policies and prompted judges to put on hold some of the implementation to determine whether the moves are legal. But what does that matter? Because he's defying them.
He's saying, I don't care. I'm still going to do it.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:14–11:21
2
Did Trump’s pinned tweet mean ‘He who saves his country does not violate any law’—is he claiming to be above the law?
11:21–23:10
3
What examples show the administration defying judges and challenging checks and balances?
23:10–1:05:17
4
How are allies and influencers (Posobiec, Musk) responding—are they normalizing extralegal actions?
1:05:17–1:21:22
5
Why are pardons for January 6 defendants raising concerns about expanding immunity for other crimes?
1:21:22–1:21:34
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Don Lemon Show
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