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His national and international initiatives – ranging from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to current moves and threats – weaken not only national and global jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

They jeopardize the core idea of a civilized world.

The ethical foundation of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Otherwise, we would be trapped in a state of nature where only the fittest could survive.

This principle lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. This is also the heart of the global system established after WWII championed by the United States, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

But, it is a fragile construct, easily violated by those who would exploit their influence. Maintaining it necessitates that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Unfettered might is not right. It results in instability, disruption, and conflict.

Each instance people or corporations or countries that are advantaged prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms frays. If such aggression are not contained, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a global community with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the privileged to exploit the less fortunate because they feel above the law.

The wealth of certain tycoons is staggering. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is poised to consolidate economic and political clout further. The military might of the major powers is unmatched in the annals of time.

Supported by complicit legislators and a pliant supreme court, the presidency has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of government in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you see the threat.

A direct line ties previous transgressions to current menaces. Each were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.

One observes much the same in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.

However, raw power does not create right. It fosters fragility, upended order, and war.

History shows that laws and norms to limit the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth in time cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.

This blatant lawlessness will haunt international stability – and the very idea of civilization – for years to come.