Donald Trump's Policies Constitute a Threat to Civilization.

The national and international strategies – including the challenge to the democratic process in the past to recent incursions and threats – undermine not only national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

These actions jeopardize the very concept of civilization itself.

The ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Failing that, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where only the fittest wins.

This ideal is embedded of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the core of the modern framework of international relations supported by the US, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.

However, it is a fragile principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their power. Upholding it requires that the influential have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that society hold them accountable should they falter.

Unchecked strength does not equal right. It leads to uncertainty, disruption, and war.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are less so, the framework of our shared norms unravels. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

Our current reality is a global community marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as untouchable.

The fortunes of a handful of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers numerous countries. Advanced technology is could consolidate resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.

Supported by political allies and an accommodating judicial body, the highest office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the danger.

A direct line ties earlier breaches of norms to ongoing provocations. These were based on the hubris of omnipotence.

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

However, strength without restraint does not create right. It fosters instability, revolution, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to limit the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for increased control and resources eventually bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.

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