It is the Fourth of July in the United States, and I do not feel like celebrating.

The US has become a pustulant place, the home of ugly prejudices and uglier dispositions. The White House flies huge flags as its latest jingoism while it tramples the rights of people and secures tax cuts for the richest. Traitors are pardoned while legal citizens are threatened with deportation.

We were never great for many of the people in the world: those we enslaved, those we colonized, those of color or of different sexual orientations. I know this; but the cruelty was decried as an exception. Now it is highlighted.

I always wondered whether the US would collapse eventually. It feels like it’s collapsing now. Our international reputation is in tatters; other countries are rooting for our demise. I don’t blame them — we have claimed to be the world’s leader but now we’re the world bully.

I do not celebrate today.