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| - In February 2025, as concerns mounted that U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration were refusing to comply with federal court orders that placed a hold on spending freezes mandated by some of his executive orders, a rumor began to spread that he had said, in response to those concerns, that someone who saves his country cannot be breaking the law.
For example, the claim appeared in a post on Reddit (archived):
The rumor appeared elsewhere on Reddit, as well as on Facebook and Bluesky. People took this to mean that Trump believed that rulers who purport to be "saving their country" are above the law.
"The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants," one user wrote on Bluesky. "Good news, everyone! You get to do whatever you want! As long as you say you were trying to save the country, it's all legal now," another user posted on the same platform.
Indeed, on Feb. 15, 2025, Trump posted the words on Truth Social (archived):
(Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump)
He also posted them on X moments later (archived):
Many people recognized the passage as a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte, the first emperor of France. It first appeared in "Maximes et pensées de Napoléon" by French author Honoré de Balzac. The book, published in 1838, 17 years after Napoleon's death in exile, is a compilation of aphorisms Balzac attributed to France's former emperor. The author wrote in a letter to Ewelina Hańska — the woman who would become his wife — that he spent around seven years writing down in a "kitchen book" each "new and striking thought said by [Napoleon]." Indeed, in the book, Maxim 97 reads in French, "Celui qui sauve sa patrie ne viole aucune loi" — "He who saves his fatherland violates no law."
While it is not clear whether Napoleon actually said the quote, or in what context, Balzac did spend years researching the former emperor's life through books, letters and exchanges with those who knew him. His sources included Napoleon's niece Letizia Bonaparte, with whom he corresponded extensively. But Balzac was an admirer of the emperor and contributed to developing the myth around the man.
On Feb. 16, 2025, Trump shared on Truth Social a screen shot of an X post dated Feb. 10, 2025, of the quote set on an equestrian portrait of Napoleon by painter Jacques-Louis David. The portrait is part of a series of five known as "Napoleon Crossing the Alps," in which Napoleon rides a horse rearing on its hind legs. The artwork is triumphalistic and flattering to Napoleon, whom the artist portrays as a conqueror. The X poster added this image while sharing a headline that read "JUDGE RULES TRUMP ADMIN DEFYING COURT ORDER TO RELEASE BILLIONS IN GRANTS: NYT" (archived):
(Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump)
Indeed, on that day, John J. McConnell Jr., a federal judge for the district of Rhode Island, had ruled the Trump administration had not fully complied with his order to unfreeze federal spending, according to The Associated Press. On Feb. 12, 2025, U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia, announced on X (archived) he was drawing up articles of impeachment against McConnell.
Regardless of whether Napoleon said these words, the emperor's eventual destitution and exile show that, whether he broke the law or not, he could not escape the consequences of his actions.
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