The Devastating Change a Single Year Has Brought in America
In late October 2024, the situation was completely different. Prior to the American presidential vote, considerate citizens could admit the country's deep flaws – its inequities and inequality – but they still could perceive it as the United States. A democracy. A place where the rule of law held significance. A country guided by a respectable and decent public servant, notwithstanding his advanced age and growing weakness.
These days, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans barely recognize the nation we inhabit. People alleged as unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and forced into vehicles, occasionally refused legal rights. The eastern section of the White House – is being torn down for a grotesque ballroom. The president is persecuting his political rivals or supposed enemies and demanding the justice department hand over an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are deployed across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, renamed the War Department, has – in effect – rid itself of regular press examination as it spends possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars in public funds. Universities, law firms, news companies are buckling from leader's menaces, and rich magnates are treated like nobility.
“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250th birthday as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the edge into authoritarianism and extremism,” Garrett Graff, commented in August. “Ultimately, swifter than I believed likely, it occurred here.”
Each day begins with fresh terrors. It is difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – just how far gone we are, and the rapid pace with which it occurred.
Nevertheless, we understand that Trump was properly voted in. Despite his highly troubling initial presidency and even after the cautions linked to the awareness of the conservative plan – following Trump himself said publicly he planned to rule as a tyrant just on day one – a majority of citizens chose him rather than his Democratic opponent.
While alarming as today's circumstances may be, it’s even scarier to understand that we are just several months into this presidential term. Where will three more years of this deterioration leave us? And what if the three years transforms into a more extended duration, since there is not anyone to restrain this ruler from determining that another term is necessary, maybe for national security reasons?
Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. There will be congressional elections the coming year which might bring a different political equilibrium, if Democrats regain either chamber of the legislature. There exist elected officials who are attempting to impose a degree of oversight, for example representatives who are starting a probe concerning the try to cash appropriation from legal authorities.
And a presidential election three years from now could start our journey to recovery precisely as the previous vote placed us on this regrettable path.
There exist countless citizens demonstrating in urban areas throughout communities, as they did last weekend in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the dormant powerhouse of America is rising”, similar to past following the Red Scare in that decade or during the sixties activism or during the Nixon controversy.
On those occasions, the listing ship finally returned to balance.
He claims he recognizes the indicators of that awakening and observes it occurring now. As support, he cites the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, bipartisan pushback regarding a broadcaster's firing and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to accept military mandates they only publish approved content.
“The sleeping giant consistently stays asleep till some venality grows too toxic, some action so contemptuous of the common good, specific cruelty so loud, that it is compelled but to awaken.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may be validated.
At the same time, the major inquiries endure: can America return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its status globally and its commitment to legal principles?
Or must we acknowledge that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My pessimistic brain tells me that the final scenario is accurate; that everything might be gone. My optimistic spirit, however, advises me that we have to attempt, in whatever ways we can.
Personally, working in journalism analysis, that means urging journalists to live up, more completely, to their duty of holding power to account. For others, it might involve participating in election efforts, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to safeguard ballot privileges.
Not even one year prior, we were in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we don’t know. All we can do is try to not give up.
What Provides Me Hope Now
The contact I experience during teaching with new media professionals, who are equally hopeful and realistic, {always
