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His domestic and foreign policies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to current moves and threats – erode both national and global law. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions jeopardize the very concept of civilization itself.

The moral purpose of civilized society is to stop the more powerful from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Otherwise, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest wins.

This ideal lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the heart of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the US, emphasizing international cooperation, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.

But, it is a vulnerable principle, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their influence. Maintaining it demands that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public hold them accountable when they fail.

Unfettered might does not make right. It leads to instability, disruption, and hostilities.

Whenever entities that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are not, the structure of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are not contained, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than ever before. This invites the powerful to exploit the weaker because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The wealth of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The reach of global industrial giants extends over a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is could centralize wealth and power even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Enabled by political allies and an accommodating high court, the executive office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of government in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.

An unbroken thread links past transgressions to current threats. Each were premised on the arrogance of omnipotence.

There is a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

But, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, upended order, and armed conflict.

History shows that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth in time bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.

This blatant contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.