The Heartbreaking Change a Single Year Has Made in the US
One year ago, the landscape was entirely separate. Ahead of the national election, thoughtful Americans could admit the country's significant faults – its inequities and inequality – yet they still could see it as the United States. A democratic nation. A land where the rule of law meant something. A nation led by a respectable and upright leader, even with his older age and increasing frailty.
Nowadays, as October 2025 ends, many of us barely recognize the nation we reside in. Individuals alleged as undocumented migrants are rounded up and forced into vans, sometimes refused legal rights. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed for an obscene dance hall. Donald Trump is targeting his opponents or perceived antagonists and requesting federal prosecutors hand over an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The military command, relabeled the Department of War, has – in effect – liberated itself of routine media oversight during its expenditure of what could amount to close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Institutions, law firms, journalism organizations are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are handled as members of the royal family.
“The United States, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the globe's top democratic nation, has fallen over the brink into autocracy and totalitarianism,” a noted author, wrote this past summer. “Ultimately, more quickly than I believed likely, it did happen here.”
Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it is difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.
Nevertheless, it is known that Trump was legitimately chosen. Following his highly troubling initial presidency and following the warnings linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – despite the leader directly declared plainly he intended to act as an autocrat solely at the start – enough Americans elected him instead of Kamala Harris.
While alarming as the current reality are, it’s even scarier to understand that we’re only three-quarters of a year under this leadership. How will an additional three years of this decline leave us? And what if that period turns into something even longer, since there is no one to stop this ruler from determining that another term is necessary, maybe for defense purposes?
Certainly, there is still hope. There are legislative votes next year which might bring a different political equilibrium, should Democrats regain one or both houses of the legislature. We have government representatives who are striving to exert certain responsibility, like Democratic congressmen currently launching an investigation regarding the effort to money grab from the justice department.
And a presidential election three years from now could start us down the road to recovery exactly as last year’s election put us on this unfortunate course.
We see numerous residents demonstrating in urban areas across municipalities, similar to recent in the past days in the No Kings rallies.
An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the slumbering force of the nation is stirring”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or throughout the Vietnam war protests or in the seventies crisis.
During those times, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.
The author states he knows the signals of that awakening and observes it occurring at present. For proof, he points to the recent massive protests, the broad, cross-party resistance to a television host's removal and the almost universal rejection by reporters to agree to military mandates they only publish approved content.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays dormant till certain corruption becomes so noxious, some action so contemptuous toward public welfare, certain violence so disruptive, that it has no choice but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I value Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.
In the meantime, the big questions endure: can America ever recover? Can it retrieve its standing in the world and its adherence to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?
My pessimistic brain indicates that the second option is correct; that all may indeed be lost. My optimistic spirit, however, convinces me that we need to strive, by any means we can.
In my case, as a media critic, that means encouraging reporters to adhere, more fully, to their purpose of holding power to account. For different individuals, it might involve engaging with political races, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to defend ballot privileges.
Under twelve months back, we existed in a separate situation. In the future? Or three years from now? The fact is, we don’t know. The only option is to strive to not give up.
What Provides Me Optimism Currently
The contact I experience during teaching with young journalists, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always
