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His domestic and foreign initiatives – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to latest incursions and statements – undermine not only domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions endanger the very concept of what we mean by.

A guiding principle of civilized society is to prevent the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Otherwise, we would be locked in a state of nature where only the fittest prevails.

This concept is embedded of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the heart of the modern framework of international relations supported by the US, built on multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the rule of law.

But, it is a vulnerable ideal, often broken by those who choose to misuse their influence. Preserving it necessitates that the influential have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us hold them accountable should they falter.

Absolute power does not make right. It makes for uncertainty, disruption, and hostilities.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are not, the fabric of society unravels. If these actions are not contained, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

We now inhabit a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are more concentrated than ever before. This invites the powerful to exploit the less fortunate because they feel above the law.

The fortunes of a handful of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The reach of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is poised to further concentrate resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the major powers is unmatched in the annals of time.

Supported by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the executive office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of state power in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you see the threat.

A clear connection ties past transgressions to present-day provocations. Both were based on the arrogance of invincibility.

You see a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

Yet, strength without restraint does not make right. It fosters fragility, revolution, and bloodshed.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to constrain the influential also protect them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth eventually cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for world war.

This blatant lawlessness will plague the nation and the world – and indeed a rules-based order – for years to come.