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His national and international initiatives – from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to latest incursions and threats – erode both domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.

A guiding principle of a functioning society is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Otherwise, we risk being trapped in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest could survive.

This concept lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It is equally the heart of the global system established after WWII advocated by the US, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.

But, it is a vulnerable principle, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their power. Upholding it necessitates that the powerful have a sense of duty to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Unfettered might does not make right. It results in instability, chaos, and war.

Whenever entities that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of civilization frays. Should such behavior are not contained, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

Today, we live in a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This invites the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they act with a sense of above the law.

The resources of certain tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans much of the globe. AI is could further concentrate economic and political clout even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is unmatched in the annals of time.

Empowered by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the executive office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of state power in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you see the danger.

A clear connection connects past transgressions to current provocations. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of omnipotence.

There is a similar pattern in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.

Yet, unfettered might does not create right. It fosters uncertainty, upended order, and war.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to check the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for more power and wealth ultimately bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk international catastrophe.

This blatant lawlessness will plague the nation and the world – and indeed civilized conduct – for years to come.