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His domestic and foreign initiatives – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to recent incursions and statements – undermine both domestic and international jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

They endanger the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.

A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Without this, we would be trapped in a state of nature where survival of the strongest could survive.

This principle is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the foundation of the global system established after WWII championed by the America, emphasizing multilateralism, democracy, individual liberties, and the legal authority.

But, it is a delicate principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it demands that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that society demand responsibility if they don't.

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

Each instance people or corporations or countries that are advantaged target and use those that are less so, the framework of our shared norms unravels. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Today, we live in a international landscape with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the powerful to exploit the weaker because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The resources of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers numerous countries. AI is likely to further concentrate resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the leading countries is unprecedented in human history.

Supported by complicit legislators and a pliant high court, the executive office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of state power in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you see the danger.

A clear connection links previous transgressions to present-day menaces. These were founded upon the hubris of omnipotence.

You see a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

But, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters instability, upheaval, and bloodshed.

History shows that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth eventually cause their collapse – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

This kind of contempt for legal order will haunt America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.