A Tragic Change a Single Year Has Made in America
One year ago, the situation was entirely separate. Ahead of the American presidential vote, reflective residents could acknowledge America's significant faults – its injustices and imbalance – however they continued to identify it as the United States. A democratic nation. A place where constitutional order held significance. A nation led by a dignified and upright official, despite his advanced age and declining health.
These days, in late October 2025, numerous citizens hardly identify the nation we reside in. Persons suspected of being unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and shoved into transport, at times refused legal rights. The East Wing of the White House – is being torn down to build a lavish ballroom. The leader is harassing his political rivals or perceived antagonists and requesting legal authorities hand over a huge total of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched to US urban areas on false pretexts. The Pentagon, renamed the Defense Ministry, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses what could amount to almost one trillion dollars from citizen taxes. Institutions, law firms, journalism organizations are submitting from leader's menaces, and wealthy elites are treated like aristocracy.
“The US, shortly prior to its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the brink into authoritarianism and extremism,” Garrett Graff, stated recently. “In the end, swifter than I thought feasible, it occurred here.”
Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it's difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – how severely declined we have become, and the speed at which it unfolded.
However, we know that the leader was legitimately chosen. Following his profoundly alarming first term and even after the warnings associated with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – following the president personally stated openly he planned to be a dictator solely at the start – enough Americans chose him instead of Kamala Harris.
Frightening as the present situation is, it's more frightening to realize that we are just several months into this presidential term. What will an additional three years of this decline find us? And suppose the three years becomes a more extended duration, since there is no one to restrain this leader from opting that a third term is required, perhaps for national security reasons?
Granted, there is still hope. There will be midterm elections in 2026 that could create a new political equilibrium, should Democrats retake one or both houses of Congress. There are government representatives who are trying to apply a degree of oversight, such as Democratic congressmen who are initiating an inquiry into the attempted fund seizure from legal authorities.
And a leadership election three years from now could start us down the road to healing precisely as the prior selection placed us on this disappointing trajectory.
There are countless citizens protesting in the streets across municipalities, similar to recent in the past days in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the nation is rising”, just as it did post-McCarthyism during the fifties or amid anti-war demonstrations or during the Watergate scandal.
On those occasions, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.
He claims he knows the signals of that awakening and notices it unfolding now. For proof, he references the widespread marches, the widespread, bipartisan pushback regarding a television host's removal and the near-unanimous defiance by media to accept military mandates they only publish authorized information.
“The sleeping giant perpetually exists inactive till specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so disrespectful of societal benefit, some brutality so noisy, that it is forced other than to stir.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will be validated.
In the meantime, the crucial issues remain: can America regain its footing? Is it possible to restore its status in the world and its adherence to constitutional order?
Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor succeeded temporarily, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?
My negative thoughts indicates that the second option is true; that everything might be finished. My hopeful heart, however, tells me that we must try, through all methods possible.
Personally, working in journalism analysis, that involves urging journalists to adhere, more thoroughly, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For others, it could mean participating in political races, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to safeguard voting rights.
Under twelve months back, we were in an alternate reality. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The fact is, we don’t know. The only option is to strive to persevere.
What Offers Me Encouragement Today
The interaction I experience with students with young journalists, who are equally visionary and practical, {always
