Donald Trump's Actions Pose a Danger to Civilized Society.

The national and international policies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent incursions and statements – undermine both domestic and international legal frameworks. But that’s not all.

These actions jeopardize the core idea of a civilized world.

A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the less powerful. Failing that, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where survival of the strongest prevails.

This concept is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the global system established after WWII supported by the America, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.

However, it is a vulnerable principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the those in charge have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society hold them accountable when they fail.

Absolute power does not make right. It leads to uncertainty, chaos, and war.

Every time entities that are advantaged target and use those that are weaker, the framework of civilization weakens. If such aggression are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. It has happened before.

Today, we live in a society and world with deepening divides. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in modern history. This invites the elite to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The resources of a handful of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The power of global industrial giants extends over numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate resources and influence even more. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is without parallel in recorded history.

Supported by political allies and a pliant judicial body, the highest office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of state power in history.

Consider this confluence and you see the looming crisis.

A direct line links past breaches of norms to present-day threats. These were premised on the hubris of invincibility.

There is parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.

But, strength without restraint does not establish right. It fosters uncertainty, upended order, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for increased control and resources ultimately cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

Such lawlessness will plague the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for a long time.