Trump's Policies Constitute a Risk to Civilization.
His internal and external strategies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election in the past to current actions and warnings – weaken both domestic and international law. But that’s not all.
They threaten the very concept of civilization itself.
A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to prevent the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Failing that, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a state of nature where survival of the strongest wins.
This concept is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the foundation of the global system established after WWII advocated by the United States, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a vulnerable principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their power. Upholding it requires that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society hold them accountable should they falter.
Absolute power does not equal right. It makes for turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.
Each instance entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms weakens. If these actions are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
Our current reality is a global community grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than ever before. This encourages the privileged to leverage their position against the weaker because they perceive themselves as untouchable.
The fortunes of a small group of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of global industrial giants covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate economic and political clout further. The destructive power of the leading countries is without parallel in the annals of time.
Supported by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the highest office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in history.
Combine these factors and you see the threat.
An unbroken thread links previous lawless actions to current threats. These were founded upon the overconfidence of absolute power.
One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.
But, unfettered might does not make right. It produces fragility, upended order, and armed conflict.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to limit the influential also protect them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches in time lead to their downfall – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.
This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for a long time.