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His internal and external initiatives – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to recent moves and warnings – weaken both domestic and international jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

They jeopardize the core idea of civilization itself.

A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where might makes right wins.

This concept is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the foundation of the global system established after WWII supported by the US, which stresses international cooperation, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the rule of law.

However, it is a delicate construct, often broken by those who seek to abuse their power. Maintaining it demands that the those in charge have enough integrity to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society demand responsibility if they don't.

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

Each instance entities that are advantaged target and use those that are less so, the structure of society frays. If these actions are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This invites the elite to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The fortunes of certain tycoons is difficult to fathom. The influence of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. AI is could further concentrate wealth and power further. The military might of the leading countries is without parallel in the annals of time.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the executive office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of state power in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you grasp the threat.

A direct line ties earlier lawless actions to current threats. These were based on the hubris of absolute power.

One observes parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

Yet, raw power does not make right. It produces fragility, upheaval, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to check the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources in time bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.

Such disregard for rules will plague international stability – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.