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His domestic and foreign policies – including the challenge to the democratic process previously to recent incursions and warnings – undermine not only national and global legal frameworks. But that’s not all.

These actions endanger the very concept of civilization itself.

The ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Without this, we would be permanently immersed in a brutish war where survival of the strongest wins.

This ideal lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. This is also the foundation of the global system established after WWII championed by the United States, emphasizing collective action, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

But, it is a vulnerable principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their authority. Upholding it requires that the powerful have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us hold them accountable when they fail.

Unchecked strength does not equal right. It leads to turmoil, chaos, and hostilities.

Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of society unravels. Should such behavior are not contained, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Today, we live in a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to leverage their position against the weaker because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The wealth of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. AI is poised to further concentrate wealth and power to a greater degree. The military might of the leading countries is without parallel in human history.

Empowered by political allies and a pliant high court, the presidency has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of the state in history.

Put it all together and you grasp the danger.

A clear connection ties earlier transgressions to current provocations. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of omnipotence.

You see much the same in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.

But, unfettered might does not create right. It makes for instability, revolution, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their endless appetite for more power and wealth in time lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for global conflict.

Such disregard for rules will haunt the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for a long time.