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His internal and external initiatives – from the attempted coup previously to latest moves and warnings – undermine both domestic and international law. But that’s not all.

These actions endanger the very concept of a civilized world.

A ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we could find ourselves locked in a state of nature where only the fittest prevails.

This ideal lies at the center of America’s founding documents. This is also the core of the modern framework of international relations championed by the America, which stresses international cooperation, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the rule of law.

However, it is a fragile ideal, often broken by those who would exploit their authority. Maintaining it necessitates that the influential have a sense of duty to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that society ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.

Unchecked strength is not right. It makes for instability, chaos, and conflict.

Every time people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the framework of civilization frays. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

Our current reality is a society and world with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than ever before. This creates conditions for the privileged to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of above the law.

The resources of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of global industrial giants covers a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is likely to further concentrate wealth and power to a greater degree. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is without parallel in the annals of time.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a pliant supreme court, the presidency has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in history.

Put it all together and you see the threat.

A clear connection ties previous breaches of norms to current threats. Each were premised on the overconfidence of invincibility.

One observes much the same in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.

Yet, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for fragility, upended order, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches in time cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for world war.

Such contempt for legal order will plague the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.