The Devastating Change a Single Year Has Caused in the US
Twelve months back, the situation was completely different. Before the US presidential election, considerate Americans could recognize the country's deep flaws – its inequities and imbalance – however they continued to identify it as the US. A democratic nation. A land where legal governance meant something. A nation led by a dignified and ethical leader, notwithstanding his older age and declining health.
Currently, as October 2025 ends, many of us scarcely know the nation we inhabit. People believed to be undocumented migrants are collected and forced into vehicles, occasionally denied due process. The left side of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition for an obscene dance hall. Donald Trump is persecuting his opponents or alleged foes and demanding legal authorities transfer a massive sum of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are being sent across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, rebranded the War Department, has effectively liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses possibly reaching nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Institutions, legal practices, news companies are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are regarded as aristocracy.
“The US, shortly prior to its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the brink into authoritarianism and extremism,” an American historian, wrote recently. “Ultimately, swifter than I imagined possible, it transpired in America.”
One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we have become, and the rapid pace with which it has happened.
Nevertheless, we know that the leader was properly voted in. Despite his profoundly alarming initial presidency and following the alerts associated with the awareness of the conservative plan – even after Trump himself said publicly he planned to rule as a tyrant just on day one – a majority of citizens elected him rather than his Democratic opponent.
As terrifying as today's circumstances are, it's more frightening to realize that we are just three-quarters of a year into this administration. What will another 36 months of this decline leave us? And if that timeframe turns into an prolonged era, as there is no one to stop this ruler from deciding that additional tenure is essential, maybe for defense purposes?
Granted, all is not lost. There are congressional elections next year that could bring a different political equilibrium, if Democrats retake either chamber of Congress. There are government representatives who are attempting to apply certain responsibility, like representatives that are initiating an inquiry into the attempted fund seizure from the justice department.
And a presidential election in 2028 could initiate the path to healing precisely as the prior selection set us on this unfortunate course.
There exist millions of Americans protesting in public spaces throughout communities, similar to recent recently during anti-authority protests.
An ex-cabinet member, commented this week that “the dormant powerhouse of America is stirring”, similar to past following the Red Scare in the 1950s or during the Vietnam war protests or throughout the seventies crisis.
In those instances, the unstable nation eventually was righted.
He claims he knows the signs of that revival and sees it happening currently. As evidence, he references the widespread marches, the extensive, multi-faction opposition to a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous rejection by reporters to accept military mandates they only publish approved content.
“The slumbering entity always remains inactive till specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so disrespectful of societal benefit, certain violence so noisy, that it is forced except to rise.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will be validated.
In the meantime, the big questions persist: can America ever recover? Is it possible to restore its standing globally and its adherence to legal principles?
Or should we recognize that the 250-year-old experiment succeeded temporarily, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My pessimistic brain indicates that the final scenario is correct; that all may indeed be finished. My optimistic spirit, though, tells me that we must try, in whatever ways we can.
Personally, as a media critic, that’s about urging journalists to live up, more thoroughly, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For others, it might involve engaging with congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to defend ballot privileges.
Less than a year ago, we were in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we are uncertain. All we can do is try to not give up.
What’s Giving Me Optimism Currently
The interaction I experience with students with new media professionals, that are simultaneously visionary and grounded, {always
