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His domestic and foreign strategies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to current actions and statements – weaken both domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions endanger the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.

The moral purpose of a functioning society is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where might makes right wins.

This concept lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the core of the postwar international order championed by the US, emphasizing multilateralism, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

However, it is a delicate principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that society ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.

Absolute power does not make right. It results in uncertainty, upheaval, and conflict.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are not, the framework of civilization unravels. If these actions are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.

Our current reality is a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in modern history. This invites the privileged to exploit the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as untouchable.

The wealth of certain tycoons is difficult to fathom. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is poised to centralize economic and political clout even more. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic high court, the presidency has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of state power in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.

A clear connection links earlier breaches of norms to present-day threats. Both were founded upon the hubris of absolute power.

There is much the same in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

However, raw power does not create right. It makes for uncertainty, upended order, and war.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches ultimately lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for global conflict.

This kind of disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.