Daily Wire host Michael Knowles defended President Donald Trump on Thursday as the legacy media fumes over the president’s quotation of Napoleon Bonaparte and his social media post that appeared to refer to himself as a king.
Knowles appeared on PBS Newshour to discuss a range of political topics with host Amna Nawaz. A main issue Nawaz brought up was Trump’s social media post last week when he wrote, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” a quote attributed to Napoleon. Days later, the president celebrated his administration’s move to end New York City’s congestion prices, writing, “LONG LIVE THE KING!” The White House reposted Trump’s quote alongside an image of Trump wearing a crown.
“Does that worry you, that kind of language?” asked Nawaz. “Do you want to see a king-like president?”
“It doesn’t worry me at all,” Knowles replied. “To make a comparison with Napoleon, I think there’s a little wink and a nod here from Trump. He makes plenty of jokes.”
The Daily Wire host added, “But this line from Napoleon, which is a re-articulation of Cicero and John Locke — two very important thinkers for the founders and framers — this just gets to a basic point about the country, that in times of great national crisis and distress, extraordinary measures can be taken. You saw this with Abraham Lincoln, you saw this with Franklin Roosevelt, you’ve seen this with plenty of American presidents.”
I’m disappointed that PBS cut my answer, in which I quoted Cicero’s De Legibus in Latin, but otherwise honored to have been invited on the show! https://t.co/BkMgjwZGmn
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) February 21, 2025
Later in the interview, the PBS Newshour host asked Knowles if he’s worried about the future of the GOP, saying that Trump appears to “push out anyone who disagrees” with him.
“Trump is the unifying figure right now, there’s no question about it,” Knowles said.
“To say that people are kicked out of the party when they disagree with Trump makes it sound like the party is shrinking,” he added. “But what we saw in 2024 is actually the party is growing. It’s just taking in new people and it’s losing some of the figures who have been members in the past like Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, those kinds of figures.”
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Knowles said that Trump “is the singular figure” of the GOP. Asked if the Republican Party can hold without him, Knowles acknowledged, “That remains to be seen.”
“I don’t think there’s really any going back to Bushism, and if anyone can pick up the standard of Trumpism afterwards, we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “But the Republican Party is a different and stronger thing now because of Donald Trump.”
