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His national and international initiatives – from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to current actions and warnings – undermine not only national and global legal frameworks. But that’s not all.

They endanger the very concept of what we mean by.

A ethical foundation of civilized society is to forestall the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Without this, we risk being locked in a brutish war where survival of the strongest could survive.

This concept is central of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the foundation of the global system established after WWII supported by the US, built on international cooperation, democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law.

But, it is a vulnerable principle, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their influence. Maintaining it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Unfettered might is not right. It makes for instability, disruption, and hostilities.

Each instance entities that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are weaker, the framework of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the powerful to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of omnipotent.

The wealth of certain billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers much of the globe. AI is could consolidate wealth and power even more. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.

Empowered by political allies and a pliant high court, the executive office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in the modern era.

Put it all together and you see the danger.

A clear connection links past transgressions to present-day threats. These were based on the arrogance of absolute power.

There is much the same in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.

Yet, strength without restraint does not create right. It makes for uncertainty, revolution, and armed conflict.

History shows that rules and conventions to limit the influential also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources in time cause their collapse – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.

This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for the foreseeable future.