From Jan. 6th to Maduro Kidnapping, the Threat Trump Poses Is Existential
Robert Reich for Inequality Media
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| Trump sees the world as belonging to him, Putin and China. "Xi" refers to Xi Jinping, China's leader |
They threaten what we mean by civilization.
The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the
stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we’d be
permanently immersed in a brutish war in which only the fittest and most
powerful could survive.
This principle lies at the center of America’s founding
documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of
Rights. It’s also the core of the post- World War II international order
championed by the United States, including the UN Charter — emphasizing
multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and
the rule of law.
But it’s a fragile principle, easily violated by those who
would exploit their power. Maintaining the principle requires that the powerful
have enough integrity to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the
rest of us hold them accountable if they don’t.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are
richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of
civilization frays. If such aggression is not contained, the fabric unravels.
If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened
before.
We now inhabit a society and world grown vastly more
unequal. Political and economic power are more concentrated than ever before.
This invites the powerful to exploit the weaker because the powerful feel
omnipotent.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of civilization frays. If such aggression is not contained, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened before.
The wealth of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Charles Koch, and a handful of others is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of Big Tech, Big Oil, and the largest aerospace and defense corporations extends over much of the globe. AI is likely to centralize wealth and power even more. The destructive power of the United States, China, and Russia is unmatched in human history.
Trump — enabled by cowardly congressional Republicans and a
pliant majority on the Supreme Court —
has turned the U.S. presidency into the most powerful and unaccountable agent
of American government in history.
Put it all together and you see the threat.
A direct line connects Trump’s attempted coup five years ago
to his capture of Nicolas
Maduro last weekend. Both were lawless. Both were premised on the
hubris of omnipotence.
That same line extends to Trump’s current threats against
Cuba, Colombia, and Greenland.
You see much the same in Putin’s war on Ukraine. In Xi’s threats
against Taiwan. In global depredation and monopolization by Big Tech and
Big Oil. In Russian,
Chinese, and American oligarchs who have fused public power with their personal
wealth.
But unfettered might does not make right. It makes for
instability, upheaval, and war.
History shows that laws and norms designed to constrain the
powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands
for more power and wealth eventually bring them down — along with their
corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten world war.
Trump’s blatant lawlessness will haunt America and the world
— and civilization — for years to come.
© 2025 Robert Reich
Robert Reich is professor emeritus of public policy at Berkeley and former US secretary of labor. His latest book is the No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Coming Up Short."
