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The domestic and foreign policies – from the attempted coup in the past to recent moves and threats – erode not only domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

They endanger the very concept of a civilized world.

A guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the more powerful from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we risk being locked in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest wins.

This concept is central 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 supremacy of law.

Yet, it is a delicate ideal, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their power. Maintaining it necessitates that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.

Unchecked strength does not make right. It makes for uncertainty, chaos, and hostilities.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the fabric of society unravels. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can descend into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.

Today, we live in a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This invites the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.

The resources of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers a vast portion of the world. AI is could consolidate resources and influence even more. The destructive power of the leading countries is unmatched in human history.

Supported by political allies and an accommodating judicial body, the executive office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of state power in the modern era.

Put it all together and you see the threat.

A direct line connects past transgressions to present-day threats. Each were premised on the arrogance of invincibility.

One observes parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

However, strength without restraint does not make right. It makes for fragility, revolution, and armed conflict.

History shows that laws and norms to check the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources in time bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for global conflict.

Such contempt for legal order will plague America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for a long time.