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The internal and external strategies – including the attempted coup previously to latest moves and statements – weaken not only national and global law. But that’s not all.

These actions threaten the core idea of civilization itself.

A guiding principle of a functioning society is to forestall the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Without this, we would be locked in a state of nature where survival of the strongest prevails.

This concept is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the modern framework of international relations supported by the America, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

However, it is a delicate ideal, easily violated by those who would exploit their authority. Preserving it demands that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.

Unfettered might does not make right. It leads to turmoil, upheaval, and hostilities.

Each instance people or corporations or countries that are advantaged prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of society unravels. Should such behavior are not contained, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into instability and violence. We have seen this pattern previously.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than ever before. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The fortunes of certain tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers numerous countries. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate resources and influence further. The military might of the world's largest nations is unmatched in human history.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a sympathetic judicial body, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of state power in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you perceive the danger.

An unbroken thread links earlier lawless actions to ongoing menaces. These were premised on the overconfidence of omnipotence.

You see much the same in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

But, strength without restraint does not create right. It makes for uncertainty, revolution, and armed conflict.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

This blatant lawlessness will haunt America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.