Trump's Policies Present a Risk to Civilization.
His internal and external strategies – from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to recent incursions and threats – undermine both national and global law. But that’s not all.
They jeopardize the core idea of a civilized world.
The guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the stronger from preying upon and using the weaker. Failing that, we could find ourselves locked in a state of nature where survival of the strongest could survive.
This ideal lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the core of the modern framework of international relations supported by the United States, built on multilateralism, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the rule of law.
However, it is a delicate ideal, often broken by those who seek to abuse their influence. Maintaining it requires that the those in charge have enough integrity to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society hold them accountable should they falter.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It results in uncertainty, upheaval, and conflict.
Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are not, the fabric of society unravels. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a global community grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than ever before. This encourages the privileged to exploit the weaker because they feel untouchable.
The fortunes of a handful of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The reach of global industrial giants covers a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate resources and influence to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the major powers is unprecedented in human history.
Enabled by political allies and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of the state in recent memory.
Put it all together and you perceive the looming crisis.
A clear connection ties previous breaches of norms to current threats. Both were premised on the overconfidence of omnipotence.
You see a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.
However, strength without restraint does not establish right. It produces instability, upended order, and war.
History shows that laws and norms to limit the influential also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.
This blatant lawlessness will plague international stability – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.
