Donald Trump's Policies Present a Risk to Our Social Fabric.

His internal and external initiatives – ranging from the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest incursions and statements – erode both national and global legal frameworks. But that’s not all.

They threaten the core idea of what we mean by.

The guiding principle of civilized society is to forestall the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we risk being permanently immersed in a brutish war where might makes right wins.

This concept lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the modern framework of international relations supported by the US, built on multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.

Yet, it is a fragile construct, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their authority. Preserving it necessitates that the powerful have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us demand responsibility if they don't.

Absolute power does not equal right. It results in uncertainty, upheaval, and conflict.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the framework of our shared norms frays. If such aggression are not contained, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.

Today, we live in a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in recent memory. This encourages the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel untouchable.

The wealth of a small group of billionaires is staggering. The power of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate resources and influence even more. The destructive power of the major powers is unmatched in the annals of time.

Supported by complicit legislators and a sympathetic supreme court, the presidency has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of the state in the modern era.

Put it all together and you grasp the looming crisis.

A direct line connects earlier breaches of norms to current menaces. These were based on the arrogance of absolute power.

You see parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

However, raw power does not make right. It fosters fragility, revolution, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to check the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches in time bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.

This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over international stability – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.