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The internal and external initiatives – ranging from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to current moves and statements – erode both domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

They threaten the very concept of a civilized world.

A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the weaker. Failing that, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a state of nature where might makes right wins.

This concept is central of America’s founding documents. It is equally the heart of the modern framework of international relations championed by the America, built on collective action, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.

Yet, it is a delicate ideal, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their power. Maintaining it demands that the influential have enough integrity to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that society demand responsibility if they don't.

Unfettered might does not make right. It results in instability, upheaval, and hostilities.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of society unravels. Should such behavior are not contained, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can descend into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Today, we live in a global community with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This encourages the elite to take advantage of the weaker because they feel above the law.

The fortunes of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers numerous countries. AI is could consolidate wealth and power to a greater degree. The military might of the world's largest nations is without parallel in the annals of time.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a pliant judicial body, the highest office has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of the state in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the looming crisis.

A direct line links past lawless actions to current threats. Both were based on the arrogance of omnipotence.

One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

However, strength without restraint does not make right. It makes for fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.

History shows that laws and norms to limit the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their endless appetite for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk international catastrophe.

This blatant lawlessness will plague America and the global community – and indeed a rules-based order – for years to come.