Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen published a scathing essay criticizing U.S.President Donald Trump's administration for transforming immigration enforcement into a spectacle of cruelty.

The essay, released to mark the nation's 250th anniversary, argues that America's defining trait is not liberty or opportunity but systemic cruelty.

Nguyen links Trump's policies to historical patterns of displacement, slavery, and exploitation of immigrant labor, framing them as part of an imperial legacy.He condemns bipartisan U.S.support for Israel's actions in Gaza and the war on Iran as examples of imperial overreach.

The author calls for humility and repentance to save the country, warning that current leadership, described as 'led by its worst,' cannot fix systemic issues without rejecting American exceptionalism.Nguyen's critique extends to the U.S.'s founding violence, suggesting that internal contradictions and external pressures will drive necessary change.