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His internal and external policies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election in the past to recent moves and threats – weaken not only national and global law. The implications are broader.

These actions endanger the very concept of civilization itself.

A moral purpose of civilized society is to forestall the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Failing that, we risk being trapped in a brutish war where only the fittest could survive.

This ideal lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the core of the postwar international order supported by the United States, built on multilateralism, democratic governance, human rights, and the legal authority.

But, it is a vulnerable construct, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their power. Preserving it requires that the those in charge have enough integrity to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the public demand responsibility if they don't.

Absolute power does not make right. It results in uncertainty, chaos, and war.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are weaker, the fabric of our shared norms unravels. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.

Today, we live in a global community with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This invites the powerful to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The resources of a handful of billionaires is staggering. The influence of global industrial giants covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is could further concentrate wealth and power even more. The destructive power of the leading countries is unmatched in recorded history.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the highest office has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of state power in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you see the danger.

A direct line ties previous transgressions to current threats. Each were premised on the arrogance of omnipotence.

You see much the same in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

Yet, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for fragility, upended order, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources eventually bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

This blatant contempt for legal order will plague the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.