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The internal and external strategies – from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to current moves and warnings – undermine not only national and global law. However, the issue goes deeper.

They jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.

A guiding principle of a functioning society is to forestall the dominant from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Otherwise, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.

This ideal lies at the center of America’s founding documents. This is also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the United States, emphasizing multilateralism, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.

However, it is a vulnerable principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their authority. Maintaining it requires that the influential have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable if they don't.

Absolute power is not right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and conflict.

Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms frays. If these actions are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can descend into instability and violence. We have seen this pattern previously.

Our current reality is a global community with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than ever before. This creates conditions for the privileged to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The wealth of a handful of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate resources and influence to a greater degree. The military might of the major powers is unprecedented in human history.

Empowered by political allies and an accommodating supreme court, the executive office has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of government in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.

A clear connection links earlier lawless actions to present-day menaces. These were based on the overconfidence of absolute power.

You see much the same in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

However, unfettered might does not create right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches in time cause their collapse – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

This kind of lawlessness will haunt the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.