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His national and international policies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to latest actions and statements – undermine both national and global legal frameworks. The implications are broader.

These actions endanger the very concept of civilization itself.

A guiding principle of civilized society is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the weaker. Failing that, we risk being locked in a state of nature where survival of the strongest prevails.

This ideal is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the core of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the US, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the legal authority.

However, it is a vulnerable ideal, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their power. Upholding it necessitates that the influential have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that society demand responsibility when they fail.

Unchecked strength does not equal right. It results in uncertainty, disruption, and conflict.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are not, the structure of civilization unravels. If these actions are not contained, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This invites the elite to exploit the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The wealth of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over much of the globe. Advanced technology is poised to further concentrate wealth and power even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in recorded history.

Supported by complicit legislators and an accommodating high court, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of government in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the looming crisis.

A clear connection connects earlier lawless actions to present-day provocations. Both were founded upon the hubris of omnipotence.

One observes parallel dynamics in international affairs: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

But, strength without restraint does not create right. It fosters fragility, upended order, and bloodshed.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches in time cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.

Such lawlessness will haunt international stability – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.