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His internal and external strategies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election previously to current moves and threats – erode both national and global law. But that’s not all.

These actions jeopardize the very concept of a civilized world.

A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to prevent the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Failing that, we would be locked in a brutish war where might makes right could survive.

This concept is embedded of America’s founding documents. This is also the foundation of the global system established after WWII championed by the America, built on multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the rule of law.

However, it is a fragile construct, often broken by those who choose to misuse their influence. Preserving it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.

Unfettered might does not make right. It results in uncertainty, upheaval, and hostilities.

Every time people or corporations or countries that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are not, the structure of society unravels. If such aggression are not contained, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than ever before. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the weaker because they feel omnipotent.

The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans numerous countries. Advanced technology is could further concentrate resources and influence even more. The offensive capability of the leading countries is unprecedented in recorded history.

Empowered by political allies and a pliant judicial body, the presidency has been made into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of government in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you see the threat.

A direct line connects past lawless actions to present-day menaces. These were based on the hubris of invincibility.

You see parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

Yet, strength without restraint does not make right. It makes for fragility, upheaval, and armed conflict.

History shows that laws and norms to check the influential also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth eventually bring them down – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten international catastrophe.

This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.