A Tragic Change a Single Year Has Made in America
Twelve months back, the landscape was utterly distinct. Prior to the American presidential vote, considerate citizens could admit the nation's deep flaws – its unfairness and inequality – yet they could still see it as the United States. A democratic nation. A land where legal governance carried weight. A state guided by a dignified and upright public servant, even with his advanced age and increasing frailty.
Currently, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens scarcely know the nation we reside in. Persons suspected of being unauthorized foreigners are detained and forced into vehicles, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the presidential residence – is being destroyed for an obscene event space. The president is harassing his political rivals or supposed enemies and insisting federal prosecutors hand over a massive sum of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are deployed to US urban areas on false pretexts. The Pentagon, relabeled the Defense Ministry, has effectively liberated itself of regular press examination while it uses possibly reaching nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Colleges, law firms, journalism organizations are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are treated like members of the royal family.
“America, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the brink toward dictatorship and extremism,” Garrett Graff, wrote this past summer. “Finally, faster than I imagined possible, it transpired in America.”
Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it's hard to comprehend – and painful to realize – just how far gone we are, and how quickly it unfolded.
However, it is known that Trump was properly voted in. Even after his profoundly alarming first term and even after the alerts linked to the understanding of the conservative plan – even after Trump himself stated openly he planned to act as an autocrat just on day one – sufficient voters selected him rather than his Democratic opponent.
Frightening as today's circumstances may be, it's more daunting to recognize that we’re only several months under this leadership. Where will an additional three years of this downfall leave us? And what if that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, because there is no one to stop this leader from determining that a third term is required, maybe for security concerns?
Granted, not everything is hopeless. There will be midterm elections in 2026 that may establish an alternate political equilibrium, should Democrats regain the Senate or House of the legislature. There exist government representatives who are attempting to exert a degree of oversight, like lawmakers that are starting a probe into the attempted cash appropriation from the justice department.
And a leadership election in the next cycle could begin our journey to healing precisely as last year’s election placed us on this disappointing trajectory.
There are millions of Americans demonstrating in public spaces across municipalities, similar to recent last weekend in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, stated lately that “the great sleeping giant of America is rising”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or throughout anti-war demonstrations or throughout the seventies crisis.
In those instances, the listing ship finally returned to balance.
Reich says he recognizes the signs of that revival and observes it occurring currently. For proof, he references the large-scale demonstrations, the broad, multi-faction opposition to a television host's removal and the near-unanimous defiance by media to sign military mandates they solely cover authorized information.
“The sleeping giant perpetually exists asleep before specific greed turns extremely harmful, some action so offensive toward public welfare, some brutality so noisy, that it is forced but to awaken.”
It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Maybe he’ll turn out correct.
In the meantime, the major inquiries endure: can America return to normalcy? Is it possible to restore its status internationally and its commitment to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My cynical mind suggests that the second option is accurate; that all may indeed be finished. My optimistic spirit, nevertheless, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways possible.
Personally, as an observer of the press, that involves urging journalists to live up, more fully, to their mission of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it could mean working on congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or finding ways to safeguard voting rights.
Under twelve months back, we existed in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or in several years? The reality is, we cannot predict. The only option is to strive to not give up.
What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today
The contact I encounter with students with young journalists, that are simultaneously hopeful and realistic, {always
