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His internal and external policies – from the effort to overturn the election previously to latest actions and warnings – undermine both national and global jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

They threaten the core idea of a civilized world.

The moral purpose of any advanced culture is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we could find ourselves locked in a state of nature where might makes right could survive.

This concept lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the heart of the postwar international order supported by the US, emphasizing collective action, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the legal authority.

But, it is a fragile principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their authority. Upholding it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us demand responsibility if they don't.

Unfettered might is not right. It makes for turmoil, chaos, and war.

Whenever entities that are advantaged target and use those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms unravels. Should such behavior are not contained, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

Today, we live in a global community grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This invites the powerful to exploit the weaker because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The influence of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate economic and political clout further. The offensive capability of the leading countries is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Enabled by political allies and a sympathetic high court, the presidency has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the danger.

An unbroken thread connects previous lawless actions to current provocations. Each were founded upon the hubris of omnipotence.

There is parallel dynamics in international affairs: in military conflicts, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.

But, unfettered might does not create right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and war.

History shows that laws and norms to check the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources eventually cause their collapse – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for global conflict.

This blatant contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.