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His national and international policies – including the effort to overturn the election in the past to recent incursions and threats – undermine both national and global jurisprudence. The implications are broader.

These actions threaten the core idea of civilization itself.

A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Failing that, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where survival of the strongest wins.

This principle is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the core of the modern framework of international relations supported by the America, which stresses multilateralism, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

Yet, it is a delicate ideal, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it requires that the powerful have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that society hold them accountable should they falter.

Unfettered might does not equal right. It results in turmoil, upheaval, and war.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are not, the fabric of society unravels. If such aggression are not contained, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can plunge into chaos and war. It has happened before.

We now inhabit a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This invites the privileged to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they act with a sense of above the law.

The fortunes of a small group of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to consolidate resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Enabled by complicit legislators and a pliant supreme court, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of the state in recent memory.

Put it all together and you grasp the danger.

A direct line ties past transgressions to current provocations. Both were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.

You see parallel dynamics in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.

But, strength without restraint does not create right. It produces instability, upended order, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the influential also shield them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for increased control and resources eventually lead to their downfall – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

This blatant contempt for legal order will haunt America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for years to come.