The Devastating Change a Single Year Has Caused in America
One year ago, the landscape was completely different. Ahead of the national election, reflective residents could acknowledge the country's deep flaws – its inequities and disparity – however they could still perceive it as the US. A democratic nation. A place where legal governance meant something. A state headed by a dignified and decent public servant, even with his elderly years and declining health.
These days, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens scarcely know the country we live in. People believed to be unauthorized foreigners are collected and pushed into vans, at times denied due process. The left side of the White House – is undergoing demolition for a grotesque event space. Donald Trump is targeting his opponents or supposed enemies and requesting federal prosecutors hand over a massive sum of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are dispatched across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The Pentagon, rebranded the Department of War, has – in effect – rid itself of regular press examination as it spends what could amount to close to a trillion USD in public funds. Institutions, law firms, media outlets are buckling from leader's menaces, and rich magnates are regarded as nobility.
“The United States, shortly prior to its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the brink toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” a noted author, commented this past summer. “Finally, more quickly than I believed likely, it transpired in America.”
Each day begins with fresh terrors. And it is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we have become, and the speed at which it has happened.
Nevertheless, we know that the leader was duly elected. Despite his deeply disturbing first term and despite the warnings associated with the understanding of the conservative plan – even after Trump himself declared plainly he would rule as a tyrant just on day one – enough Americans chose him rather than Kamala Harris.
As terrifying as today's circumstances may be, it's more daunting to realize that we are just nine months into this administration. Where will three more years of this deterioration find us? And suppose that period becomes an prolonged era, since there is nobody to limit this president from determining that additional tenure is essential, maybe for national security reasons?
Certainly, there is still hope. We will have congressional elections the coming year that may bring a different balance of power, in case Democrats retake one or both houses of the legislature. We have government representatives who are striving to exert certain responsibility, like lawmakers currently launching an investigation concerning the try to money grab from the justice department.
And a leadership election in 2028 could start us down the road to healing precisely as the previous vote put us on this unfortunate course.
There are millions of Americans demonstrating in public spaces of their cities, as they did last weekend in the No Kings rallies.
A former official, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the US is awakening”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era during the fifties or amid anti-war demonstrations or in the seventies crisis.
In those instances, the listing ship finally returned to balance.
The author states he understands the signs of that revival and sees it happening at present. As evidence, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the broad, multi-faction opposition regarding a personality's dismissal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to sign the defense department’s demands they solely cover what is sanctioned.
“The sleeping giant consistently stays dormant till certain corruption grows too toxic, some action so contemptuous of societal benefit, some brutality so disruptive, that it is forced except to rise.”
It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will be validated.
Meanwhile, the crucial issues remain: will the nation ever recover? Can it retrieve its position internationally and its devotion to constitutional order?
Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor succeeded temporarily, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My pessimistic brain suggests that the final scenario is correct; that everything could be finished. My optimistic spirit, nevertheless, advises me that we must try, by any means possible.
For me, working in journalism analysis, that’s about pushing media professionals to live up, more fully, to their mission of holding power to account. For some people, it might involve working on election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to defend ballot privileges.
Not even one year prior, we were in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or three years from now? The reality is, we are uncertain. Our sole course is to strive to continue fighting.
What Provides Me Hope Now
The engagement I experience during teaching with new media professionals, that are simultaneously idealistic and grounded, {always
