Trump's Actions Constitute a Threat to Civilized Society.
His internal and external strategies – from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to latest moves and statements – weaken not only national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
These actions threaten the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.
The ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest could survive.
This concept is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the heart of the postwar international order championed by the United States, built on international cooperation, democracy, human rights, and the legal authority.
But, it is a fragile principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the influential have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It leads to uncertainty, chaos, and conflict.
Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged target and use those that are weaker, the fabric of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.
Our current reality is a global community grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This invites the powerful to leverage their position against the weaker because they feel omnipotent.
The resources of a small group of tycoons is difficult to fathom. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over a vast portion of the world. AI is poised to consolidate resources and influence to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by complicit legislators and a pliant supreme court, the highest office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of government in recent memory.
Put it all together and you grasp the looming crisis.
A clear connection links past lawless actions to present-day threats. These were premised on the arrogance of invincibility.
There is parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.
But, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, revolution, and armed conflict.
History shows that rules and conventions to limit the influential also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten world war.
This blatant contempt for legal order will haunt international stability – and indeed civilization – for a long time.
