International Law, The Constitution, And Donald Trump’s Conscience – OpEd |
By James Fite
Just days after raiding Caracas and capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump made one of the most concerning statements a US president could ever make. When asked in an interview with The New York Times if there were any limits to his global powers, Trump responded: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” He went on to say that he doesn’t need international law. Well, at least he got it about half right.
The part the president may have gotten right – at least to some degree – is that he doesn’t need international law. The US has signed onto thousands of treaties, UN Charter obligations, and various other pacts and customary international laws. As well, the UN regularly passes dozens of resolutions per year, though they aren’t exactly binding on the member states.
Refusing to abide by those agreed-upon rules violates those deals, but President Trump has worked to pull the US out of many of the international agreements in favor of whatever course of action is best for America. As Liberty Nation News Assistant Editor Elizabeth Lawrance recently reported, the president withdrew the US from 66 international organizations – 31 of which were UN entities.
For many Americans, the idea of cutting ties with these global outfits and taking back both American sovereignty and billions of dollars a year in tax........