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His national and international policies – from the attempted coup five years ago to latest actions and statements – undermine both domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

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

A ethical foundation of civilized society is to forestall the stronger from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Without this, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest wins.

This ideal is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the postwar international order advocated by the US, which stresses multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the legal authority.

Yet, it is a delicate principle, easily violated by those who would exploit their influence. Maintaining it requires that the those in charge have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable should they falter.

Absolute power does not make right. It makes for instability, disruption, and hostilities.

Whenever entities that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are not, the structure of civilization weakens. If these actions are not contained, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.

We now inhabit a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of above the law.

The fortunes of certain billionaires is difficult to fathom. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is poised to centralize economic and political clout to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unmatched in the annals of time.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic judicial body, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of government in history.

Combine these factors and you grasp the threat.

A direct line links earlier lawless actions to present-day provocations. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of invincibility.

There is parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

However, unfettered might does not establish right. It produces fragility, upended order, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to limit the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches ultimately cause their collapse – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.

Such lawlessness will plague the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for years to come.