The Smell of Decay Comes Before the Collapse
I have spent a lot of time thinking about how this country has responded to tragedy. Not just reading about it, but living long enough to see it happen more than once. When America has been at its best, it was never because a president told us who to hate. It was because a president reminded us who we were.
During the Great Depression, people lost everything. Jobs, homes, dignity. Franklin Roosevelt did not point fingers at neighbors or political enemies. He spoke to the entire country like adults who were scared but capable. He calmed people. He told them the truth. He reminded them that we would get through it together. People disagreed with him, loudly, but they trusted each other, and they trusted the system.
After Pearl Harbor, America was wounded and furious. Roosevelt did not turn that rage inward. He defined the enemy clearly and honestly. Congress stood together. Americans stood together. We rationed. We served. We sacrificed. We did not tear each other apart.
When Abraham Lincoln stood at his second inauguration, the country was soaked in blood. Brother had already fought brother. And still, Lincoln spoke of healing. With malice toward none. With charity for all. He did not gloat. He did not humiliate. He tried to stitch the country back together, even knowing it might cost him his life.
After September 11, I remember the quiet. I remember the fear. I remember watching President Bush stand on the rubble and say just enough. No politics. No rage turned inward. Even then, he warned us not to turn on Muslim Americans who had nothing to do with the attacks. For a moment, we remembered that we were one people.
I am a veteran. I served this country during the Cold War. I stood watch against the Soviet Union, a real enemy with real consequences. We did not do that for a man or a party. We did it for the Constitution. For the idea that no one person stands above the law. For the belief that democracy is fragile and must be protected even when it is inconvenient.
That is why what I see today breaks my heart.
Donald Trump has not tried to unite this country in moments of stress. He has done the opposite. He continues to use racist language. He insults people openly. He attacks families even after unimaginable tragedy, including going after the Reiner family after their son murdered his parents. That is not leadership. That is cruelty used as a political tool.
He teaches Americans to fear one another. He calls fellow citizens vermin and enemies within. He attacks judges, elections, the press, and anyone who does not swear loyalty to him personally. He does not ask Americans to sacrifice for each other. He asks them to pledge allegiance to him.
And I keep asking myself a question that honestly hurts to even form. What kind of human being supports this?
What kind of person watches masked men pull people off the streets of American cities and calls it strength? What kind of person is comfortable with the military being used against civilians? What kind of person shrugs as food aid is cut to the poorest people in the world by shutting down USAID? What kind of person is fine with threatening to take SNAP benefits away from hungry children?
The hardest part is realizing that this is not some foreign enemy cheering this on. It is Americans. Our neighbors. People who fly the flag and talk about God and patriotism while supporting policies that dehumanize, starve, and terrorize others.
America was once a shining star to the rest of the world. Not because we were perfect, but because we tried. Because we believed human dignity mattered. Because when people looked to us, they saw possibility, not fear.
History shows us where this road leads. After World War II, Germans were forced to walk through the concentration camps and clean them up. Many claimed they knew nothing. I never believed that.
I know this because I was there in Jonestown. I helped with the cleanup. And I can tell you something that never leaves you. You can smell rotting flesh from miles away. It gets into your clothes. Into your lungs. Into your memory. Decades later, it still makes me sick to think about that cult and how ordinary people were pulled into something evil while telling themselves it was fine.
Cults do not begin with mass death. They begin with language. With dehumanization. With loyalty tests. With the belief that cruelty is justified because the people on the receiving end somehow deserve it.
We have seen this playbook before. In Germany. In Italy. In Venezuela. In Russia. Leaders who rise by dividing people always claim they alone can fix things. They always blame internal enemies. They always undermine institutions. And they always leave their countries weaker, poorer, and broken.
I did not serve this country to watch it be ripped apart from the inside. I served because I believed in something bigger than myself. I believed in the Constitution. I believed that power was limited. I believed that Americans could argue fiercely and still recognize each other as human beings. I built a business, employed people, and put my life savings on the line because I believed this country was still worth investing in.
Leadership is not rage. It is not cruelty. It is not humiliating the weak or cheering when families are destroyed. Leadership is steady hands in dangerous times. It is lowering the temperature when people are scared. It reminds us that we belong to each other, whether we agree or not.
So when this hell is finally over, and it will be over, supporters of this administration should not say they did not know. Do not say you could not see it. Do not say you could not smell it.
You always smell rotting flesh long before history writes the obituary, and history will remember who stood silent while the country decayed.
Paul Mrocka
Veteran of the Cold War
Builder, employer, citizen who refuses to stay silent!
Those wondering, I’m in that picture.
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