Trump's Actions Present a Risk to Civilized Society.

The internal and external strategies – including the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest actions and statements – weaken not only domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

They threaten the core idea of a civilized world.

A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to stop the dominant from preying upon and using the weaker. Otherwise, we risk being permanently immersed in a brutish war where survival of the strongest could survive.

This concept lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. This is also the foundation of the postwar international order advocated by the America, which stresses multilateralism, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

But, it is a delicate ideal, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their authority. Preserving it demands that the those in charge have enough integrity to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that society ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Absolute power is not right. It makes for instability, disruption, and conflict.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the framework of society weakens. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

Our current reality is a international landscape with deepening divides. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they feel omnipotent.

The resources of a small group of tycoons is difficult to fathom. The influence of global industrial giants spans a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is likely to centralize economic and political clout to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is unmatched in recorded history.

Supported by political allies and a sympathetic judicial body, the highest office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of government in history.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.

An unbroken thread ties previous breaches of norms to ongoing menaces. These were based on the hubris of omnipotence.

One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.

But, raw power does not establish right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.

History shows that laws and norms to check the powerful also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches ultimately bring them down – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for global conflict.

Such lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for years to come.