The believe that various forms of one-person rule are derived from a unique authority-conferring relationship with the divine has existed in multiple forms throughout history. In Europe, the "divine right of kings" was formalized into a theory of legitimacy during the period following the middle ages, in the face of attempts at dominance by the Pope, feudal lords, and emerging theses based on the consent of the ruled. Its adoption attempted to end the instability caused by divided loyalties between political and spiritual leaders. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, the will of his people, the aristocracy, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. It implies that only God can judge an unjust king and that any attempt to depose, dethrone or restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act. As a political theory, it was refined by James VI of Scotland, the future King James I of England, and fully adopted by King Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 - 1715, becoming the longest reigning European monarch on record.
King Louis' parents christened him Louis Dieudonne - meaning "Gift of God." He ascended the throne at age 4, assisted by his chief minister, the Italian-born Cardinal Jules Mazarin, his godfather. The latter instilled in the child the notion that kings were divinely chosen, infallible and impotent, having unlimited power. He chose the sun as his personal symbol and became known as the Sun King. His identity remains visible throughout he Palace of Versailles, a former royal hunting lodge Louis transformed after he decided he did not want to live in Paris any longer. Louis XIV also gained notoriety because of his supposed exclamation that "L'etat c'est moi," (I am the state), expressing the spirit of the rule by which he held all political authority. However, there is no real evidence he actually said it. The first reference of this statement came almost 200 years after his death, in Jacques-Antoine Dulaure's 1834 "History of Paris." It refers to a time when young King Louis sat in parliament in 1655. Listening to its president lecturing on affairs of state, he reportedly got fed up enough to interrupt he man with "l'etat c'est moi."
Fast forward to our current political environment. President Trump's assumption of powers he believes he has have produced regular headlines comparing his demeanor to assumptions made by former kings. David Armitage, in "Trump and the Return of Divine Right," (The New York Times, July 12, 2018), wrote: "In deploying his pardon power freely and using the Bible to justify family separation, the president is exactly the sort of ruler that Enlightenment thinkers feared." Dana Milbank posted: "Trump's not claiming executive power. He's going for divine right." (The Washington Post, May 14, 2019). He recounted arguments made on behalf of the president by one of his lawyers, William Consovoy, who argued that Congress can't use a subpoena or otherwise probe a president unless it is doing so for a "legitimate legislative purpose, and any legitimate legislative purpose Congress could conceivably devise would be unconstitutional."
President Trump claims to have the "absolute right" to do a lot of things. When speaking to a group of young conservatives in D.C. at "The turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit" on July 23, he told his audience "I have an Article 2 where I have the right to do whatever I want as president." He claims to have the right to pardon himself, or to order U.S. companies out of China. Through his lawyers he has claimed being the state. In a leaked memo intended for Robert Mueller, they asserted: "Put simply...the President has exclusive authority over the ultimate conduct and disposition of all criminal investigations and over those executive branch officials responsible for conducting those investigations." (Ed Simon, "Donald Trump: L'Etat C'est Moi!" History News Network, Jun. 5, 2018). And, just recently, he reportedly told his aides to get a wall built along he southwestern border before the 2020 election by whatever means necessary, including seizing land on the U.S.-Mexico frontier, and waiving environmental and public health laws, while floating the idea of offering pardons to aides willing to break the law.
Examples are plentiful. Much of these percolated back to the front pages after conspiracy theorist Wayne Allyn Root described Mr. Trump, literally, as being like the King of Israel and said "Jews love him like the second coming of God." Trump, never bashful, embraced Mr. Root's claims, adding, while tilting his head to the heavens, "I am the chosen one." (Ostensibly to fix the U.S. trade imbalances with China).
These were not the first "divine right" references related to Trump on record. During an interview for the Christian Broadcasting Network, Sarah Sander related: "I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times, and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that's why he's there." Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager, has said that "only God could deliver such a savior to our nation." And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested earlier this year that Trump "might have been sent to protect the Jewish people from Iran."
Even though, at the onset, several of our founders, like Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin, accepted the role of a king, ultimately, because of King George III of England's abuse of power, our founding fathers became vehemently opposed to establishing a monarchy in our country. They would turn over in their graves if history books ended up publishing a name like "Donald the Omnipotent" side by side with names like: "Alexander the Great," "Philip the Bold," or "Farmer George" as King George III was also known.
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