"Something is deeply broken in America today, and I feel it in my gut every single day. I watch what is happening to immigrants, to families, to people who came here the same way my own ancestors did, looking for a chance at a better life, and I cannot recognize my country anymore. We now parade cruelty like it is strength, we celebrate abuse as if it proves we are tough, we send human beings to countries where they will be beaten, exploited, or sexually assaulted, and then stand at a podium bragging about it like it is a badge of honor.

When I watch the head of Homeland Security boast about treating desperate people like criminals, it sends a chill down my spine. It feels like a dark echo of the 1930s and 1940s, when another government proudly justified the abuse of “undesirables,” packed people into trains, and told the world this was necessary to preserve their nation. I am not saying we are living in the exact same moment, but I am saying the rhetoric is the same, the logic is the same, the moral collapse is the same.

And today we call it the Trump administration.

We have reached a point where moral behavior is not even part of the equation, we have leaders who openly mock suffering, who cheer deportations like they are halftime entertainment, who rip families apart and call it policy. The great American dream, the dream that built this country, has become a political pawn used to stoke fear and win elections by someone who has no moral compass at all. None. He does not care about the people he hurts, he does not care about the institutions he breaks, he does not care about the country he claims to love.

Look around. When the government was shut down, and it only ended a little over a week ago, people were losing food stamps, families were going hungry, veterans and federal workers were unable to pay their bills, and the most vulnerable were left twisting in the wind. And while all of this was happening, he was throwing parties and golfing in Florida. He pressured the Supreme Court to block emergency SNAP benefits, guaranteeing that families would continue to go without food. This is the image of America today, a president who smiles while children go hungry.

And if you want a perfect snapshot of the moral sickness at the top, look no further than Kristi Noem standing in front of prisoners, wearing a Rolex watch, while those prisoners were shirtless and forced to stand at attention. Think about that image for a second. A leader flaunting wealth and power in front of suffering human beings, as if their humiliation somehow elevates her. That is not leadership, that is not America, that is the rot that happens when cruelty becomes a virtue.

I said a long time ago that the cruelty of this administration, the reckless cutting of USAID, the elimination of food support, and the deliberate starving of vulnerable people around the world could lead to more death than any modern leader. I stand by that. What is happening is not politics, it is moral collapse.

And yet people cheer, they post memes, they laugh, they say anyone who opposes this insanity has “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” If caring about starving children and abused immigrants means I have it, then I am proud to have it. Somebody has to stand up to this.

This is not the America I know, this is not the America that millions of us served and fought for, this is not the America that welcomed our ancestors or gave working families a chance to rise. This is an America that is being bent, twisted, and poisoned by one man who does not care about anything but himself.

And now I am going to speak directly to the cabinet members, the administrators, the appointed officials, and the masked men who enforce these policies with cold obedience. For you who continue to break the law, who defy federal judges, who believe you are sheltered because you serve under the banner of Trump, hear this clearly, you are not immune. You think you are protected, but the only one who claims immunity is Donald Trump himself. The rest of you will be held accountable.

This year marked the eighty year anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials. We do not celebrate them, we honor them as a warning. They were not about revenge, they were about moral responsibility, they were about human beings who stood in front of a judge and said, “I was just following orders,” only to learn that this excuse means nothing when you participate in the destruction of human dignity. And maybe, just maybe, some of you should take a lesson from Senator Kelly, who knew that you do not follow illegal orders. Perhaps this cabinet should pick up a copy of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Constitution, because both make it clear, obeying an unlawful order is not a defense, it is an indictment.

Some of you will sit in a courtroom one day, looking up and wondering why you followed this man, why you surrendered your conscience, why you traded your moral character for political power. And the answer will be simple. You followed him because you had none at all.

Remember that. None. You are pawns in his game, he will walk away from the wreckage he creates, but you will be left behind to face the consequences. Mark my words.

I am struggling with what this country has become, I am struggling with what it means when morality becomes optional and cruelty becomes entertainment. And I am calling it out, loudly, because silence is complicity. This is not the America I swore to defend, but it is the America we are living in today, and it is up to us to fix it before we lose who we are forever."

Paul Mrocka, Veteran, Business Owner, Defender of the Constitution