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His internal and external initiatives – including the effort to overturn the election in the past to recent actions and threats – weaken both national and global jurisprudence. The implications are broader.

They jeopardize the very concept of civilization itself.

A ethical foundation of civilized society is to forestall the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Without this, we risk being trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.

This principle is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the heart of the postwar international order championed by the United States, emphasizing multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

Yet, it is a vulnerable ideal, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their influence. Maintaining it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public demand responsibility should they falter.

Unchecked strength does not make right. It results in turmoil, upheaval, and hostilities.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of society unravels. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

Our current reality is a global community with deepening divides. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This invites the powerful to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as untouchable.

The wealth of a small group of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers much of the globe. AI is likely to centralize wealth and power even more. The destructive power of the major powers is unprecedented in human history.

Empowered by political allies and an accommodating supreme court, the highest office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of government in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.

A direct line ties past lawless actions to current threats. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of invincibility.

You see much the same in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.

However, raw power does not establish right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and armed conflict.

The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their endless appetite for more power and wealth eventually bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.

This blatant contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.