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The national and international initiatives – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to latest moves and warnings – erode both domestic and international law. But that’s not all.

They jeopardize the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.

A guiding principle of civilized society is to forestall the dominant from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Without this, we risk being locked in a brutish war where might makes right could survive.

This ideal lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the global system established after WWII advocated by the US, which stresses multilateralism, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

Yet, it is a fragile ideal, easily violated by those who would exploit their influence. Upholding it necessitates that the powerful have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.

Absolute power does not equal right. It results in instability, disruption, and war.

Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are not, the framework of civilization unravels. If these actions are allowed to continue, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in modern history. This invites the privileged to exploit the weaker because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The wealth of a small group of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The power of global industrial giants extends over much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate wealth and power further. The military might of the leading countries is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the highest office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of the state in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you see the looming crisis.

A direct line ties earlier lawless actions to ongoing threats. Both were founded upon the arrogance of invincibility.

One observes much the same in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.

Yet, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, upended order, and bloodshed.

The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to limit the influential also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth eventually lead to their downfall – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.

Such lawlessness will haunt the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.