🔗 Share this article Trump's Actions Pose a Threat to Our Social Fabric. His national and international strategies – including the attempted coup five years ago to current actions and warnings – undermine both domestic and international legal frameworks. But that’s not all. They jeopardize the very concept of civilization itself. The guiding principle of a functioning society is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Without this, we would be trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive. This ideal is central of America’s founding documents. This is also the core of the modern framework of international relations championed by the United States, emphasizing multilateralism, democracy, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law. But, it is a delicate construct, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it necessitates that the those in charge have enough integrity to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the public hold them accountable when they fail. Absolute power is not right. It leads to instability, disruption, and war. Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are less so, the fabric of civilization frays. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before. We now inhabit a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than ever before. This creates conditions for the powerful to exploit the disadvantaged because they feel above the law. The resources of a handful of billionaires is staggering. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers much of the globe. AI is poised to centralize wealth and power even more. The offensive capability of the leading countries is without parallel in human history. Empowered by complicit legislators and an accommodating high court, the presidency has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of state power in the modern era. Put it all together and you perceive the looming crisis. A direct line links past lawless actions to present-day provocations. Each were based on the overconfidence of invincibility. There is much the same in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities. Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed. The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to check the influential also protect them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources in time bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk international catastrophe. Such lawlessness will plague America and the global community – and indeed civilized conduct – for years to come.