Harvard constitutional law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe recently drew historical parallels to characterize Donald Trump's actions regarding the media, suggesting the former president's pursuit of power surpasses that of some of history's most authoritarian rulers.
Tribe stated on CNN that Trump does not acknowledge being subject to the law and that historical comparisons are insufficient. "This president does not recognize that he is subject to the law. I was trying to think of parallels in history, but there really are none," Tribe told Erin Burnett on "OutFront."
He specifically mentioned King George III of Great Britain, asserting that even the monarch did not wield the level of power Trump has sought. "Even Britain’s King George III ‘didn’t have this kind of power,’" Tribe said. He elaborated that George III was accountable to Parliament, whereas he perceives the current Congress as largely deferring to the president due to what he described as the "MAGA element."
Further invoking King Louis XIV of France, often referred to as the Sun King, Tribe argued that Louis XIV "didn’t go this far" in his exercise of royal authority.
"We can’t have this in this country. That’s dictatorship,” Tribe concluded, emphasizing the severity of such actions within a democratic framework.