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His national and international strategies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election previously to latest moves and statements – erode both domestic and international legal frameworks. But that’s not all.

These actions threaten the core idea of what we mean by.

The ethical foundation of civilized society is to forestall the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we could find ourselves locked in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest 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 advocated by the United States, built on international cooperation, democracy, individual liberties, and the legal authority.

However, it is a fragile construct, easily violated by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it demands that the influential have a sense of duty to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.

Unchecked strength is not right. It makes for instability, chaos, and conflict.

Every time entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are less so, the fabric of civilization frays. If these actions are not contained, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.

Our current reality is a global community with deepening divides. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel untouchable.

The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over numerous countries. Advanced technology is could consolidate economic and political clout even more. The offensive capability of the leading countries is without parallel in human history.

Enabled by a compliant faction and a sympathetic judicial body, the executive office has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked agent of state power in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you perceive the danger.

A clear connection connects previous breaches of norms to present-day threats. These were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.

You see a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

However, unfettered might does not create right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.

The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to check the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their endless appetite for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for global conflict.

Such lawlessness will haunt the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.