The Tragic Change Just One Year Has Brought in America
Twelve months back, the environment was utterly separate. Ahead of the US presidential election, thoughtful citizens could admit America's deep flaws – its injustices and inequality – yet they still could see it as the US. A democratic nation. A country where constitutional order held significance. A nation guided by a dignified and decent leader, notwithstanding his elderly years and growing weakness.
Currently, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans barely recognize the land we reside in. Persons believed to be illegal immigrants are collected and pushed into transport, at times refused legal rights. The left side of the White House – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish ballroom. The leader is harassing his political rivals or perceived antagonists and demanding the justice department transfer an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Uniformed troops are being sent to US urban areas with deceptive justifications. The military command, relabeled the Defense Ministry, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Institutions, legal practices, journalism organizations are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are regarded as members of the royal family.
“America, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the world’s leading democracy, has fallen over the edge toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, wrote recently. “Ultimately, swifter than I believed likely, it transpired in America.”
One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it is difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – just how far gone our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.
However, we understand that the leader was legitimately chosen. Despite his highly troubling previous administration and even after the warnings linked to the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – even after Trump himself stated openly he intended to act as an autocrat only on the first day – enough Americans chose him over his Democratic opponent.
Frightening as the current reality are, it’s even scarier to realize that we have only been nine months under this leadership. How will another 36 months of this decline leave us? And what if that period becomes a more extended duration, since there is no one to restrain this president from deciding that additional tenure is necessary, possibly for defense purposes?
Certainly, not everything is hopeless. We will have congressional elections the coming year that may bring a different governmental control, if Democrats retake either chamber of the legislature. There exist government representatives who are attempting to exert certain responsibility, for example lawmakers who are starting a probe into the attempted fund seizure from the justice department.
And a leadership election in the next cycle could begin our journey to recovery just as the previous vote set us on this disappointing trajectory.
There exist countless citizens protesting in the streets across municipalities, as they did last weekend in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is awakening”, just as it did following the Red Scare in the 1950s or amid the sixties activism or in the Nixon controversy.
On those occasions, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.
Reich says he understands the signals of that awakening and sees it happening now. For proof, he references the recent massive protests, the extensive, cross-party resistance regarding a personality's dismissal and the almost universal rejection by reporters to sign military mandates they only publish authorized information.
“The sleeping giant perpetually exists asleep before certain corruption turns extremely harmful, an specific act so offensive of the common good, specific cruelty so loud, that the giant has no choice but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will turn out correct.
Meanwhile, the crucial issues persist: will the nation regain its footing? Can it retrieve its standing internationally and its devotion to legal principles?
Or should we recognize that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?
My negative thoughts indicates that the final scenario is true; that everything could be finished. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, tells me that we must try, by any means available.
In my case, as a media critic, that involves urging journalists to adhere, more fully, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For others, it could mean working on congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to protect ballot privileges.
Less than a year ago, we existed in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or after another term? The truth is, we are uncertain. Our sole course is try to persevere.
What Provides Me Encouragement Today
The contact I experience during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are equally hopeful and realistic, {always
