Trump's Approach Present a Risk to Our Social Fabric.

His national and international policies – from the attempted coup five years ago to current incursions and statements – undermine both domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions threaten the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.

The moral purpose of any advanced culture is to stop the stronger from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Without this, we would be permanently immersed in a brutish war where only the fittest prevails.

This ideal is embedded of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the heart of the modern framework of international relations championed by the US, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.

However, it is a fragile principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us demand responsibility if they don't.

Unchecked strength does not equal right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and conflict.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger target and use those that are weaker, the fabric of civilization weakens. If these actions are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can fall into chaos and war. It has happened before.

We now inhabit a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The fortunes of a small group of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to further concentrate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.

Enabled by political allies and a sympathetic high court, the highest office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of government in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you see the danger.

An unbroken thread ties earlier transgressions to present-day menaces. Both were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.

There is parallel dynamics in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

However, strength without restraint does not create right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and war.

History shows that frameworks designed to limit the influential also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources eventually lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

This blatant contempt for legal order will plague international stability – and indeed civilized conduct – for a long time.