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His internal and external strategies – ranging from the attempted coup previously to latest incursions and statements – erode not only domestic and international jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

These actions jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.

The moral purpose of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the weaker. Otherwise, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.

This ideal is embedded of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the core of the global system established after WWII supported by the America, built on multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law.

Yet, it is a vulnerable principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their power. Maintaining it necessitates that the influential have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the public demand responsibility if they don't.

Absolute power does not make right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and war.

Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are less so, the fabric of society frays. If such aggression are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to exploit the weaker because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The fortunes of a handful of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The power of global industrial giants covers a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate wealth and power further. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in human history.

Enabled by political allies and an accommodating high court, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in history.

Combine these factors and you perceive the threat.

An unbroken thread connects earlier lawless actions to ongoing threats. Both were based on the arrogance of absolute power.

One observes a similar pattern in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.

But, strength without restraint does not make right. It fosters instability, upended order, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to limit the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for more power and wealth in time lead to their downfall – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk international catastrophe.

This blatant disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for the foreseeable future.