The Declaration of Independence cites “unalienable Rights”, rooted in the “Laws of Nature”, and the importance of “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind”, as references for the legitimacy of the following indictment and resolution. Not only does it use language to create a new nation; it creates a roadmap for the definition of political legitimacy—denying legitimacy to those that ignore fundamental human rights and suggesting a system of laws structured around participatory civics.

The core issue is the universal crime of a regime that acts unilaterally to impose harm and refuses to be accountable. For this reason, the Declaration cites defense of the universal human rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, among other rights, as the purpose of all governments.

When Donald Trump meets with Vladimir Putin on a military base near Anchorage, Alaska, the American people now and the eyes of history far into the future, will demand he honor the foundational values of human freedom, universal rights, and the rule of law.

Putin comes to this meeting not as a legitimate head of government, but as an unaccountable tyrant who has abused his own people and those of other nations, in the pursuit of his own power. He invaded Ukraine with apparent genocidal intent, and has relentlessly bombarded schools, hospitals, apartments, public squares, evacuation routes, nuclear power plants, and other civilian infrastructure—intentionally committing war crimes from the very beginning.

He has kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children and abducted them into Russian territory, with the explicit intent of stripping their Ukrainian culture, identity, memory, and allegiance. He has sought to break Ukrainian cities and communities, through bombardment of civilians, snipers and torture, coopting of public authorities, and siege and starvation. All of this he has done in violation of international law, and to end Ukrainians’ right to self-government.

Throughout this time, Putin’s covert forces have attacked infrastructure in the United States and on the territory of American allies. They have waged information warfare against the U.S. and its allies with the aim of destabilizing democracy and incentivizing the rise of corrupt, mafia-style rule, wherever possible. They have spread propaganda aimed at converting anti-democracy voices in the U.S. and allied countries into defenders of Russia’s war crimes and its crimes against humanity.

Referring back to the Declaration of Independence, it is important to note that the document not only separates 13 colonies from the British Empire and sets a tone for the eventual U.S. Constitution; it uses language that draws boundaries aimed at limiting and negating tyrannical abuses, to avoid actual crimes against humanity. This is why “a decent respect” for humankind is foundational to the document.

Donald Trump is not a king; he is not a ruler. He is not free to do as he wishes with the powers of the Presidency. His authorities are strictly described by the Constitution and in federal statutes, and in treaties that are, under Article VI of the Constitution, binding constitutional law.

His mission in his meeting with Putin is defined not by his wishes, intuition, or personality; his mission is defined by the mandate for the office he holds. That mission is to ensure that Putin’s campaign of war crimes against the people of Ukraine ends, and that the ensuing peace honors and upholds the transcendent human rights of those subjected to years of terror.

The U.S. President has no lawful authority to aid, reward, participate in, or condone any enterprise, at any scale, that violates basic rights or commits war crimes. He has no lawful authority to “make a deal” with a war criminal dictator that would see a nation he attacked give up territory in exchange for its freedom and its people’s right to live in peace and security.

The skewed media environment of our moment seems to grant Mr. Trump tremendous leeway to just be who we know he is—amoral, self-serving, braggadocious, and bizarrely respectful of brutal dictators who revile human rights. Our skewed, overly permissive media environment will not determine the ultimate historical narrative.

Already, the eyes of history are watching. Actual historians, journalists, rights defenders, retired U.S. military leaders, and whole allied nations, are demanding better than a Trump-Putin deal that somehow rewards Putin for his crimes. The vast majority of the American people want Ukraine to be free and whole, and for Putin’s war crimes to end.

They want their government to demand, craft, and secure, unconditional surrender from Putin. This is the only legitimate outcome from any diplomatic effort to end the war.

Russia’s government must:

• order its forces back to Russia;
• return all abducted or imprisoned Ukrainians;
• return all land, including Crimea;
• cease all covert activity inside other nations, across all continents;
• end all payments to any mercenary network or other affiliated operatives outside its borders;
• surrender all who were involved in war crimes to face prosecution for those crimes.

History is watching. The values and opinions of all decent people require crimes cease, absolutely, and be punished. The great democracy that has led the creation of an international order of negotiated solutions and rule of law must uphold the human rights of the victims of war crimes, and defend the right to open, participatory self-government.

If the President is unable to articulate anything so values-based, ambitious, or forthright, that will be a sign of his own moral and practical weakness, and history will remember him for that failing. All Americans have an implicit right to live in a world governed by the rule of law and not by tyrants. Congress, the Cabinet, and the Courts should exert all possible Consitutional pressure to ensure that right is upheld.