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The internal and external initiatives – from the attempted coup five years ago to current actions and warnings – erode both national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

They jeopardize the core idea of a civilized world.

A ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to prevent the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Otherwise, we could find ourselves locked in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest could survive.

This ideal is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the global system established after WWII advocated by the United States, emphasizing collective action, democracy, human rights, and the legal authority.

But, it is a delicate principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their power. Upholding it demands that the those in charge have enough integrity to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Unfettered might does not make right. It leads to turmoil, chaos, and war.

Every time people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger target and use those that are not, the structure of civilization frays. If such aggression are not contained, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can plunge into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.

Our current reality is a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the privileged to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.

The wealth of a handful of tycoons is difficult to fathom. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans much of the globe. AI is likely to further concentrate wealth and power even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is without parallel in recorded history.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a sympathetic judicial body, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of the state in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you grasp the threat.

A direct line links earlier transgressions to current threats. Each were premised on the overconfidence of absolute power.

You see a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.

However, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for fragility, upheaval, and war.

Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to constrain the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources in time bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for world war.

Such disregard for rules will haunt America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.