Trump's Approach Constitute a Threat to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign policies – including the challenge to the democratic process in the past to recent moves and statements – undermine both domestic and international jurisprudence. The implications are broader.
These actions jeopardize the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.
A guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the dominant from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest prevails.
This principle lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It’s also the foundation of the postwar international order championed by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
However, it is a fragile principle, easily violated by those who would exploit their power. Preserving it necessitates that the those in charge have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us hold them accountable when they fail.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It makes for turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.
Whenever people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are weaker, the framework of civilization unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.
Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This encourages the powerful to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate wealth and power further. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unmatched in the annals of time.
Enabled by political allies and an accommodating supreme court, the presidency has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in history.
Put it all together and you perceive the danger.
A clear connection ties past breaches of norms to current provocations. Each were based on the overconfidence of absolute power.
You see much the same in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.
However, raw power does not create right. It produces fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
History shows that laws and norms to constrain the influential also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches in time bring them down – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for global conflict.
Such contempt for legal order will plague the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.
