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The internal and external policies – from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to latest actions and statements – undermine not only domestic and international law. The implications are broader.

These actions jeopardize the very concept of a civilized world.

A moral purpose of a functioning society is to prevent the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Otherwise, we risk being locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.

This principle is embedded of America’s founding documents. It’s also the core of the global system established after WWII championed by the US, which stresses international cooperation, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

However, it is a fragile principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their authority. Maintaining it demands that the those in charge have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that society ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Absolute power is not right. It makes for instability, disruption, and war.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of civilization unravels. If these actions are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into instability and violence. It has happened before.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This invites the powerful to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over numerous countries. AI is poised to centralize wealth and power further. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.

Enabled by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the presidency has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of government in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you perceive the danger.

A clear connection ties previous lawless actions to current threats. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of invincibility.

You see much the same in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

Yet, strength without restraint does not create right. It fosters uncertainty, revolution, and armed conflict.

The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to constrain the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately bring them down – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.

This kind of disregard for rules will haunt international stability – and indeed civilized conduct – for years to come.