Donald Trump's Actions Present a Risk to Civilization.
His internal and external strategies – ranging from the attempted coup five years ago to latest moves and statements – weaken not only domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions threaten the very concept of a civilized world.
A guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the more powerful from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we risk being locked in a brutish war where only the fittest prevails.
This concept is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the heart of the modern framework of international relations championed by the United States, which stresses international cooperation, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a vulnerable ideal, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the powerful have a sense of duty to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that society demand responsibility should they falter.
Unfettered might does not make right. It results in turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are weaker, the fabric of society weakens. If these actions are not contained, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than ever before. This creates conditions for the powerful to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The wealth of a small group of tycoons is staggering. The reach of global industrial giants extends over a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is poised to centralize resources and influence even more. The offensive capability of the leading countries is unprecedented in recorded history.
Supported by complicit legislators and a sympathetic judicial body, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of government in history.
Put it all together and you grasp the danger.
A clear connection connects earlier breaches of norms to current menaces. Each were based on the arrogance of invincibility.
You see a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
But, strength without restraint does not make right. It produces instability, revolution, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for more power and wealth ultimately cause their collapse – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for global conflict.
This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
