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The internal and external strategies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest incursions and warnings – weaken not only domestic and international law. But that’s not all.

They endanger the very concept of a civilized world.

A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we could find ourselves locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.

This principle lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It is equally the heart of the global system established after WWII championed by the United States, built on multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law.

But, it is a delicate ideal, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their power. Preserving it demands that the influential have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.

Unfettered might is not right. It results in instability, disruption, and conflict.

Each instance people or corporations or countries that are advantaged prey upon those that are not, the framework of civilization weakens. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the powerful to exploit the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The resources of certain tycoons is staggering. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers much of the globe. Advanced technology is poised to further concentrate wealth and power further. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in recorded history.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a sympathetic supreme court, the presidency has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of state power in history.

Put it all together and you perceive the looming crisis.

An unbroken thread connects past transgressions to ongoing menaces. These were based on the arrogance of omnipotence.

There is parallel dynamics in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

But, raw power does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, upended order, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the influential also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches in time bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

Such contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over international stability – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.