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The internal and external strategies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to current incursions and statements – erode both national and global jurisprudence. The implications are broader.

These actions endanger the very concept of civilization itself.

A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to forestall the dominant from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Without this, we risk being locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.

This ideal lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the core of the postwar international order supported by the US, built on collective action, democratic governance, human rights, and the supremacy of law.

However, it is a fragile construct, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their influence. Upholding it requires that the influential have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us demand responsibility when they fail.

Unfettered might does not equal right. It results in turmoil, chaos, and war.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are less so, the structure of society weakens. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can descend into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a global community marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in recent memory. This invites the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The fortunes of a handful of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is likely to centralize resources and influence to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unmatched in the annals of time.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic supreme court, the highest office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of state power in history.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the looming crisis.

An unbroken thread ties earlier lawless actions to ongoing provocations. Each were based on the hubris of invincibility.

You see a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.

But, unfettered might does not create right. It produces instability, revolution, and bloodshed.

History shows that rules and conventions to check the powerful also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth eventually bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for global conflict.

This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for a long time.