The Devastating Change Just One Year Has Brought in America
Twelve months back, the situation was entirely distinct. Before the American presidential vote, reflective Americans could admit the country's serious imperfections – its injustices and disparity – but they could still identify it as America. A democratic nation. A land where constitutional order carried weight. A state headed by a dignified and decent leader, notwithstanding his older age and declining health.
Currently, in late October 2025, numerous citizens scarcely know the nation we live in. Persons alleged as unauthorized foreigners are collected and shoved into vans, at times refused legal rights. The East Wing of the White House – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish ballroom. The president is harassing his political rivals or perceived antagonists and requesting federal prosecutors surrender a huge total of public funds. Soldiers with weapons are deployed across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has practically rid itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of what could amount to nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Institutions, legal practices, news companies are submitting under the president’s threats, and billionaires are handled as nobility.
“America, just months before its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the limit into autocracy and extremism,” Garrett Graff, commented this past summer. “Ultimately, faster than I believed likely, it occurred in America.”
Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it is difficult to grasp – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.
Nevertheless, it is known that Trump was legitimately chosen. Despite his profoundly alarming initial presidency and even after the cautions linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – even after Trump himself said publicly he intended to rule as a tyrant just on day one – sufficient voters chose him over the other candidate.
Frightening as the current reality is, it's more frightening to understand that we are just three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. What will an additional three years of this decline leave us? And what if that period turns into something even longer, because there is nobody to stop this leader from determining that additional tenure is necessary, perhaps for national security reasons?
Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. We will have congressional elections the coming year that may create a new balance of power, in case Democrats retake the Senate or House of Congress. There exist public servants who are attempting to exert certain responsibility, for example representatives that are starting a probe concerning the try to money grab by federal prosecutors.
And a presidential election three years from now could start our journey toward restoration just as the prior selection placed us on this regrettable path.
There are numerous residents demonstrating in the streets throughout communities, like they performed recently at democracy demonstrations.
Robert Reich, stated lately that “the dormant powerhouse of the nation is awakening”, exactly as before after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or during the sixties activism or throughout the Watergate scandal.
In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.
Reich says he recognizes the signs of that revival and notices it unfolding currently. For proof, he cites the recent massive protests, the broad, bipartisan pushback regarding a television host's removal and the largely united defiance by media to agree to military mandates they report only approved content.
“The dormant force always remains dormant until certain corruption turns extremely harmful, a particular deed so offensive of the common good, certain violence so loud, that it is forced except to rise.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.
In the meantime, the big questions endure: can America regain its footing? Can it retrieve its position internationally and its commitment to the rule of law?
Or do we need to admit that the national endeavor functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My pessimistic brain indicates that the final scenario is true; that everything might be finished. My optimistic spirit, however, advises me that we must try, through all methods we can.
Personally, working in journalism analysis, that’s about urging journalists to adhere, more thoroughly, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For others, it might involve working on election efforts, or coordinating protests, or finding ways to safeguard electoral access.
Not even one year prior, we lived in a very different place. A year from now? Or in several years? The truth is, we cannot predict. Our sole course is try to continue fighting.
What’s Giving Me Optimism Currently
The contact I experience during teaching with young journalists, who are both idealistic and realistic, {always
