A Heartbreaking Shift a Single Year Has Made in the US
One year ago, the situation was completely different. Prior to the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could recognize the nation's serious imperfections – its injustices and inequality – however they continued to see it as the United States. A democratic nation. A place where constitutional order carried weight. A nation led by a dignified and upright official, notwithstanding his elderly years and increasing frailty.
Currently, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens barely recognize the nation we live in. Persons suspected of being illegal immigrants are rounded up and shoved into vehicles, sometimes denied due process. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is being torn down for an obscene ballroom. The president is harassing his adversaries or supposed enemies and demanding the justice department transfer an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are dispatched across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The military command, renamed the Department of War, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of potentially totaling close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Colleges, law firms, news companies are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are handled as members of the royal family.
“America, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the edge into authoritarianism and extremism,” a noted author, commented in August. “Ultimately, more quickly than I thought feasible, it occurred in America.”
Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it is challenging to understand – and painful to realize – just how far gone we are, and the speed at which it has happened.
However, we understand that the president was properly voted in. Even after his profoundly alarming previous administration and even after the alerts associated with the knowledge of Project 2025 – despite Trump himself declared plainly he planned to act as an autocrat solely at the start – enough Americans elected him rather than Kamala Harris.
While alarming as the present situation is, it’s even scarier to understand that we are just nine months under this leadership. What will an additional three years of this deterioration position us? And what if that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, since there is no one to stop this ruler from opting that additional tenure is essential, maybe for national security reasons?
Admittedly, there is still hope. There will be midterm elections the coming year which might bring a different political equilibrium, in case Democrats recapture one or both houses of Congress. We have government representatives who are trying to exert certain responsibility, like lawmakers that are initiating an inquiry concerning the try to money grab by federal prosecutors.
And a leadership election in 2028 could begin the path to recovery just as the prior selection set us on this unfortunate course.
There are numerous residents protesting in public spaces across municipalities, like they performed recently in the No Kings rallies.
An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the great sleeping giant of the US is rising”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism in that decade or amid the Vietnam war protests or throughout the seventies crisis.
In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.
He claims he recognizes the signs of that awakening and observes it occurring now. For proof, he references the recent massive protests, the widespread, cross-party resistance to a broadcaster's firing and the largely united rejection by reporters to agree to government requirements they report only authorized information.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays dormant till some venality grows too toxic, an specific act so disrespectful toward public welfare, certain violence so loud, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will be validated.
At the same time, the major inquiries remain: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its position in the world and its adherence to the rule of law?
Or should we recognize that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My cynical mind suggests that the latter is true; that everything could be lost. My hopeful heart, though, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways possible.
For me, working in journalism analysis, that involves urging journalists to adhere, more thoroughly, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For some people, it might involve engaging with congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to protect ballot privileges.
Less than a year ago, we were in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The reality is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to strive to not give up.
What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today
The contact I experience in the classroom with new media professionals, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always
