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His domestic and foreign strategies – from the attempted coup previously to current moves and threats – erode not only national and global law. The implications are broader.

They endanger the core idea of civilization itself.

A moral purpose of a functioning society is to forestall the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Failing that, we risk being permanently immersed in a brutish war where survival of the strongest prevails.

This principle is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the heart of the postwar international order supported by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.

However, it is a vulnerable principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us demand responsibility if they don't.

Absolute power is not right. It results in turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.

Each instance people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are not, the fabric of civilization unravels. Should such behavior are not contained, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a global community marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than ever before. This encourages the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The resources of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers a vast portion of the world. AI is could consolidate wealth and power further. The offensive capability of the major powers is unprecedented in recorded history.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic supreme court, the presidency has been made into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of the state in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you see the looming crisis.

An unbroken thread ties past breaches of norms to present-day provocations. These were founded upon the arrogance of invincibility.

One observes much the same in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

Yet, unfettered might does not create right. It makes for uncertainty, upheaval, and war.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to check the influential also shield them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

This blatant disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.