Donald Trump has insisted he doesn’t need to abide by international law and the only constraint keeping his power in check is his own morality.
In a wide-ranging defence of a week of global provocation, the U.S. president laid out the motivation behind his actions.
In the last six days alone, he has launched strikes on Venezuela and captured its president Nicolas Maduro, repeatedly voiced his intention to take over Greenland and claimed that Colombia could be next on his list.
“I don’t need international law,” Trump told The New York Times in an interview in the Oval Office. “I’m not looking to hurt people.”
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has successfully tested many of the constitutional and legal limits to his authority – firing the heads of independent agencies, attempting to rewrite the 14th Amendment and punishing federal judges who insist on giving immigrants due process.
But the president’s more recent decision to conduct aggressive military operations without congressional consent and threaten to take over allies’ territory has worried international leaders.
When asked if there were limits to his power, Trump replied: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
The president added that his administration did need to follow international law, but contended that following it “depends what your definition of international law is.”
The president also explained how he uses his reputation for unpredictability and his readiness to deploy military action, such as the bombing of Iran, as tools to get other nations to do what he wants.
His comments indicate that he believes his use of the U.S. military, economy and political authority to assert dominance over foreign countries could take precedence over following international law or treaties to maintain civility with allies and adversaries.
This past week, his administration ramped up rhetoric about the U.S. using military forces to take over Greenland, a Danish territory.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” Trump told reporters Sunday.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, echoed the president’s remarks later on CNN, claiming the U.S. would use its military “unapologetically” and that “nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
Other administration officials, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, downplayed the reality of a military invasion.
The administration’s unabashed bid to take over the island has raised global concerns, especially after Venezuela.
When asked whether the U.S. allegiance to NATO outweighed the desire to take over Greenland, the president responded, “It may be a choice.”
Explaining why he felt the need to own the island, he told NYT: “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.”
Trump insisted that his actions in Venezuela would not embolden Chinese president Xi Jinping or Russian leader Vladimir Putin to take further action in their own regions.
He said the situation in Venezuela was different to China: “You didn’t have the jails of Taiwan opened up and the people pouring into China.”
When asked if he thought Xi might now make a move on Taiwan, he replied: “He may do it after we have a different president, but I don’t think he’s going to do it with me as president.”
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