A Heartbreaking Change Just One Year Has Brought in the US
One year ago, the environment was utterly distinct. Prior to the US presidential election, considerate citizens could recognize the country's significant faults – its injustices and imbalance – but they continued to identify it as the US. A democracy. A place where constitutional order meant something. A nation headed by a dignified and upright official, even with his older age and declining health.
Currently, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens hardly identify the country we live in. Individuals alleged as illegal immigrants are rounded up and forced into transport, occasionally blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish dance hall. The leader is persecuting his political rivals or supposed enemies and requesting the justice department hand over a massive sum of public funds. Soldiers with weapons are deployed across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, relabeled the War Department, has practically rid itself of regular press examination as it spends what could amount to nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Universities, law firms, journalism organizations are submitting under the president’s threats, and wealthy elites are handled as nobility.
“The US, shortly prior to its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the limit into authoritarianism and fascism,” an American historian, commented this past summer. “Ultimately, faster than I thought feasible, it occurred here.”
One awakes with fresh terrors. It is hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – how severely declined our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it has happened.
However, we know that the leader was duly elected. Even after his deeply disturbing previous administration and despite the warnings associated with the knowledge of the conservative plan – following the leader directly declared plainly he planned to rule as a tyrant just on day one – enough Americans chose him instead of Kamala Harris.
Frightening as today's circumstances are, it’s even scarier to realize that we are just three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. What will three more years of this deterioration position us? And what if that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, as there is not anyone to stop this ruler from opting that a third term is necessary, maybe for security concerns?
Admittedly, all is not lost. There will be legislative votes in 2026 that may bring a different political equilibrium, in case Democrats regain either chamber of the legislature. We have government representatives who are trying to apply some accountability, for example Democratic congressmen who are launching an investigation regarding the effort to fund seizure from legal authorities.
And a national vote in the next cycle could begin the path toward restoration just as last year’s election set us on this disappointing trajectory.
There exist millions of Americans demonstrating in the streets across municipalities, as they did recently in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the dormant powerhouse of the nation is stirring”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism during the fifties or during the sixties activism or during the Watergate scandal.
On those occasions, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.
The author states he recognizes the indicators of that awakening and notices it unfolding at present. As evidence, he points to the recent massive protests, the broad, bipartisan pushback against a broadcaster's firing and the almost universal refusal by journalists to sign the defense department’s demands they only publish authorized information.
“The sleeping giant consistently stays dormant before specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so contemptuous of societal benefit, certain violence so noisy, that the giant has no choice but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will turn out correct.
In the meantime, the major inquiries remain: will the nation ever recover? Can it retrieve its position in the world and its adherence to the rule of law?
Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My pessimistic brain indicates that the latter is correct; that everything might be finished. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, tells me that we must try, in whatever ways possible.
Personally, as a media critic, that’s about encouraging reporters to live up, more fully, to their purpose of holding power to account. For some people, it might involve engaging with political races, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to safeguard electoral access.
Less than a year ago, we were in a very different place. In the future? Or three years from now? The reality is, we cannot predict. The only option is to strive to continue fighting.
What Provides Me Hope Now
The interaction I encounter with students with new media professionals, who are equally visionary and realistic, {always
