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His domestic and foreign policies – from the attempted coup in the past to recent moves and warnings – weaken not only domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

They jeopardize the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.

A moral purpose of a functioning society is to stop the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a state of nature where might makes right could survive.

This ideal lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the core of the global system established after WWII advocated by the US, emphasizing collective action, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.

However, it is a vulnerable principle, easily violated by those who would exploit their authority. Maintaining it requires that the influential have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that society demand responsibility if they don't.

Unfettered might does not make right. It results in uncertainty, disruption, and war.

Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are weaker, the structure of civilization weakens. If such aggression are not contained, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This encourages the powerful to exploit the less fortunate because they act with a sense of above the law.

The resources of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is could centralize wealth and power even more. The offensive capability of the major powers is without parallel in human history.

Enabled by complicit legislators and a pliant high court, the highest office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of the state in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you grasp the danger.

A clear connection links earlier breaches of norms to current threats. Both were premised on the overconfidence of absolute power.

One observes much the same in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.

However, raw power does not establish right. It makes for fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to constrain the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for increased control and resources eventually bring them down – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten world war.

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