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The internal and external policies – from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to current actions and threats – undermine not only domestic and international jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

These actions threaten the very concept of a civilized world.

A moral purpose of a functioning society is to stop the stronger from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we could find ourselves trapped in a state of nature where only the fittest prevails.

This principle is central of America’s founding documents. This is also the heart of the global system established after WWII championed by the United States, which stresses international cooperation, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

But, it is a delicate principle, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their authority. Maintaining it necessitates that the those in charge have enough integrity to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.

Absolute power does not make right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and war.

Each instance entities that are advantaged prey upon those that are less so, the structure of our shared norms frays. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This encourages the powerful to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they feel untouchable.

The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The reach of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate resources and influence further. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.

Enabled by complicit legislators and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you grasp the danger.

A direct line connects earlier lawless actions to present-day menaces. Each were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.

One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

However, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.

Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to constrain the influential also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

This kind of lawlessness will haunt the nation and the world – and indeed a rules-based order – for a long time.