A Devastating Change a Single Year Has Made in the United States
One year ago, the situation was entirely separate. Before the national election, reflective Americans could acknowledge the country's serious imperfections – its unfairness and inequality – yet they could still see it as the US. A democracy. A land where the rule of law held significance. A nation headed by a respectable and ethical official, notwithstanding his elderly years and declining health.
These days, as October 2025 ends, many of us barely recognize the land we inhabit. Individuals believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and forced into vehicles, occasionally refused legal rights. The East Wing of the White House – is being destroyed to build a lavish event space. The president is targeting his opponents or alleged foes and demanding federal prosecutors hand over a huge total of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched to US urban areas on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, renamed the War Department, has – in effect – freed itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of possibly reaching nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Universities, attorney offices, journalism organizations are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are treated like nobility.
“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has tipped over the brink into autocracy and extremism,” an American historian, wrote this past summer. “Finally, faster than I imagined possible, it occurred in America.”
Every morning starts to new horrors. It is hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.
However, we know that Trump was properly voted in. Despite his profoundly alarming first term and even after the warnings that came with the knowledge of the conservative plan – following the president personally said publicly he would act as an autocrat just on day one – enough Americans selected him rather than Kamala Harris.
While alarming as today's circumstances is, it's more frightening to understand that we have only been several months into this presidential term. What will three more years of this downfall leave us? And what if the three years transforms into a more extended duration, since there is not anyone to restrain this leader from determining that additional tenure is necessary, maybe for defense purposes?
Admittedly, all is not lost. There will be congressional elections in 2026 which might establish an alternate balance of power, should Democrats recapture the Senate or House of parliament. We have public servants who are attempting to impose certain responsibility, like representatives currently launching an investigation into the attempted money grab from legal authorities.
And a leadership election in 2028 could begin us down the road to recovery precisely as the prior selection put us on this unfortunate course.
There exist millions of Americans protesting in public spaces across municipalities, similar to recent last weekend at democracy demonstrations.
An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is awakening”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or during the Vietnam war protests or in the seventies crisis.
During those times, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.
The author states he knows the indicators of that revival and sees it happening at present. As evidence, he cites the widespread marches, the broad, multi-faction opposition to a personality's dismissal and the largely united refusal by journalists to agree to military mandates they solely cover approved content.
“The sleeping giant always remains inactive till specific greed turns extremely harmful, an specific act so contemptuous of societal benefit, some brutality so loud, that he is compelled but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I respect his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may be validated.
In the meantime, the crucial issues persist: can America return to normalcy? Can it retrieve its status in the world and its devotion to the rule of law?
Or should we recognize that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?
My cynical mind tells me that the final scenario is true; that everything might be finished. My positive feelings, though, advises me that we need to strive, through all methods possible.
Personally, as an observer of the press, that’s about pushing media professionals to adhere, more thoroughly, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For others, it might involve working on election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to defend electoral access.
Less than a year ago, we lived in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The reality is, we don’t know. All we can do is to attempt to not give up.
What Offers Me Hope Now
The interaction I experience during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are both hopeful and realistic, {always
