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His national and international strategies – from the attempted coup previously to current actions and threats – undermine both domestic and international jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

These actions threaten the core idea of civilization itself.

The ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we risk being locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.

This concept is central of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the foundation of the global system established after WWII championed by the America, which stresses international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the rule of law.

Yet, it is a vulnerable construct, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their power. Maintaining it demands that the influential have enough integrity to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.

Unfettered might is not right. It results in instability, chaos, and hostilities.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the fabric of civilization unravels. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a global community grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to leverage their position against the weaker because they feel omnipotent.

The wealth of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is could centralize economic and political clout to a greater degree. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in recorded history.

Supported by complicit legislators and a pliant high court, the executive office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked entity of state power in the modern era.

Put it all together and you see the danger.

An unbroken thread connects previous transgressions to present-day menaces. Each were premised on the overconfidence of absolute power.

You see parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

But, unfettered might does not establish right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.

History shows that rules and conventions to limit the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for increased control and resources eventually cause their collapse – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk international catastrophe.

This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.