A Tragic Transformation a Single Year Has Made in America
Twelve months back, the situation was entirely distinct. Prior to the US presidential election, considerate Americans could recognize the nation's serious imperfections – its inequities and imbalance – yet they still could perceive it as the US. A democracy. A country where the rule of law held significance. A state guided by a honorable and decent official, even with his advanced age and declining health.
Nowadays, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens hardly identify the country we reside in. People suspected of being unauthorized foreigners are detained and shoved into transport, occasionally refused legal rights. The eastern section of the White House – is being destroyed for a grotesque ballroom. Donald Trump is persecuting his political rivals or perceived antagonists and requesting federal prosecutors hand over a huge total of public funds. Armed military personnel are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The military command, renamed the Department of War, has practically liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of potentially totaling almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Colleges, attorney offices, news companies are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are regarded as members of the royal family.
“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the brink into authoritarianism and totalitarianism,” a noted author, wrote this past summer. “Finally, more quickly than I imagined possible, it did happen in this country.”
One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it is difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone our nation is, and the speed at which it occurred.
Yet, we understand that Trump was duly elected. Despite his highly troubling previous administration and following the alerts linked to the knowledge of the conservative plan – following Trump himself declared plainly he intended to act as an autocrat only on the first day – enough Americans selected him over the other candidate.
As terrifying as today's circumstances may be, it’s even scarier to understand that we have only been three-quarters of a year under this leadership. Where will three more years of this downfall leave us? And suppose the three years transforms into something even longer, as there is no one to restrain this president from opting that a third term is required, perhaps for defense purposes?
Certainly, there is still hope. There are legislative votes next year which might create a new governmental control, should Democrats retake either chamber of parliament. There exist elected officials who are attempting to apply some accountability, such as lawmakers who are initiating an inquiry into the attempted cash appropriation from the justice department.
And a national vote in the next cycle could start our journey to healing precisely as the prior selection put us on this disappointing trajectory.
There are numerous residents marching in urban areas throughout communities, similar to recent recently in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the dormant powerhouse of the US is rising”, exactly as before following the Red Scare in that decade or throughout the Vietnam war protests or throughout the Watergate scandal.
On those occasions, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.
He claims he knows the signals of that revival and notices it unfolding currently. As evidence, he references the recent massive protests, the widespread, multi-faction opposition to a personality's dismissal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to agree to the defense department’s demands they report only what is sanctioned.
“The dormant force consistently stays asleep before specific greed turns extremely harmful, a particular deed so disrespectful toward public welfare, some brutality so loud, that the giant is forced except to rise.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll be validated.
In the meantime, the crucial issues remain: can America ever recover? Can it retrieve its position in the world and its commitment to constitutional order?
Or must we acknowledge that the historical project succeeded temporarily, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My pessimistic brain suggests that the latter is true; that everything might be finished. My optimistic spirit, though, tells me that we must try, in whatever ways we can.
In my case, working in journalism analysis, that means pushing media professionals to commit, more thoroughly, to their duty of holding power to account. For some people, it may be participating in congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to defend ballot privileges.
Under twelve months back, we were in an alternate reality. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The reality is, we cannot predict. Our sole course is to attempt to continue fighting.
What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today
The contact I have with students with new media professionals, who are both visionary and realistic, {always
