The Tragic Shift Only 12 Months Has Brought in the US
One year ago, the situation was entirely separate. Ahead of the American presidential vote, thoughtful citizens could admit the country's serious imperfections – its inequities and inequality – yet they could still see it as the United States. A democratic nation. A place where the rule of law carried weight. A country led by a dignified and upright public servant, despite his elderly years and declining health.
Nowadays, in late October 2025, many of us hardly identify the nation we inhabit. Individuals believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and shoved into vans, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The eastern section of the “people’s house” – is undergoing demolition for a grotesque ballroom. The leader is persecuting his political rivals or perceived antagonists and requesting the justice department transfer an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Uniformed troops are deployed across metropolitan centers under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, rebranded the War Department, has – in effect – rid itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses what could amount to almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Colleges, attorney offices, media outlets are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are handled as aristocracy.
“The US, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the brink toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, wrote in August. “In the end, faster than I thought feasible, it occurred in America.”
Each day begins amid recent atrocities. And it is difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost we have become, and the speed at which it occurred.
Nevertheless, we know that the president was legitimately chosen. Even after his highly troubling initial presidency and even after the alerts associated with the awareness of the rightwing blueprint – even after the president personally said publicly he intended to act as an autocrat just on day one – sufficient voters elected him rather than the other candidate.
As terrifying as the current reality may be, it’s even scarier to realize that we have only been nine months under this leadership. How will three more years of this deterioration leave us? And if the three years turns into a more extended duration, since there is nobody to limit this ruler from determining that another term is required, possibly for national security reasons?
Certainly, there is still hope. We will have legislative votes next year which might bring a different governmental control, if Democrats retake one or both houses of parliament. There exist elected officials who are attempting to apply certain responsibility, for example representatives who are launching an investigation concerning the try to cash appropriation from legal authorities.
And a leadership election in 2028 could start the path to healing precisely as the previous vote placed us on this regrettable path.
There exist numerous residents marching in urban areas of their cities, similar to recent in the past days in the No Kings rallies.
An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the great sleeping giant of the US is stirring”, similar to past post-McCarthyism in that decade or throughout the Vietnam war protests or throughout the seventies crisis.
On those occasions, the listing ship ultimately corrected itself.
He claims he knows the indicators of that resurgence and observes it occurring at present. For proof, he references the widespread marches, the widespread, multi-faction opposition to a personality's dismissal and the almost universal defiance by media to sign military mandates they only publish authorized information.
“The slumbering entity always remains dormant before certain corruption becomes so noxious, some action so contemptuous of the common good, some brutality so disruptive, that it is forced but to awaken.”
It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Possibly he may prove to be right.
In the meantime, the major inquiries remain: is the US able to regain its footing? Is it possible to restore its status globally and its adherence to constitutional order?
Or do we need to admit that the historical project succeeded temporarily, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My cynical mind tells me that the second option is accurate; that everything might be lost. My positive feelings, nevertheless, advises me that we need to strive, through all methods possible.
For me, as a media critic, that’s about urging journalists to commit, more fully, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it may be engaging with congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to safeguard voting rights.
Less than a year ago, we were in an alternate reality. Twelve months later? Or after another term? The fact is, we are uncertain. Our sole course is to attempt to not give up.
What’s Giving Me Optimism Currently
The contact I experience with students with aspiring reporters, who are equally hopeful and practical, {always
