A Devastating Change Just One Year Has Caused in the US
One year ago, the environment was utterly distinct. Before the US presidential election, considerate Americans could recognize America's serious imperfections – its injustices and inequality – however they still could perceive it as the United States. A free society. A country where constitutional order held significance. A nation guided by a dignified and decent official, notwithstanding his elderly years and increasing frailty.
Nowadays, in late October 2025, many of us scarcely know the country we inhabit. People believed to be undocumented migrants are detained and shoved into transport, at times blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed for a grotesque ballroom. Donald Trump is harassing his adversaries or alleged foes and insisting federal prosecutors surrender an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are being sent to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has effectively rid itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of potentially totaling almost one trillion dollars from citizen taxes. Colleges, attorney offices, media outlets are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are handled as members of the royal family.
“The United States, shortly prior to its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the limit into authoritarianism and extremism,” a noted author, commented in August. “Ultimately, swifter than I imagined possible, it occurred here.”
Each day begins to new horrors. And it's difficult to grasp – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we have become, and how quickly it unfolded.
Nevertheless, it is known that the president was duly elected. Following his profoundly alarming initial presidency and following the cautions associated with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – even after Trump himself stated openly he would rule as a tyrant only on the first day – sufficient voters selected him over Kamala Harris.
As terrifying as the present situation are, it’s even scarier to understand that we’re only three-quarters of a year into this administration. Where will three more years of this deterioration find us? And what if that period becomes an prolonged era, as there is nobody to restrain this leader from opting that another term is essential, perhaps for defense purposes?
Certainly, there is still hope. There are legislative votes in 2026 which might create a new balance of power, if Democrats recapture the Senate or House of Congress. There exist elected officials who are attempting to impose certain responsibility, for example lawmakers currently launching an investigation concerning the try to fund seizure from legal authorities.
And a presidential election in 2028 could begin us down the road toward restoration just as the prior selection placed us on this disappointing trajectory.
There exist countless citizens protesting in urban areas throughout communities, similar to recent in the past days in the No Kings rallies.
A former official, stated lately that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is rising”, similar to past post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or amid the Vietnam war protests or in the Watergate scandal.
On those occasions, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.
He claims he knows the signals of that revival and notices it unfolding currently. As evidence, he references the recent massive protests, the extensive, bipartisan pushback regarding a television host's removal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to sign the defense department’s demands they report only what is sanctioned.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays inactive before certain corruption becomes so noxious, some action so offensive of the common good, some brutality so noisy, that the giant is compelled other than to stir.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I value the author's seasoned opinion. Maybe he’ll be validated.
Meanwhile, the big questions persist: will the nation regain its footing? Can it retrieve its position in the world and its devotion to legal principles?
Or should we recognize that the national endeavor succeeded temporarily, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My pessimistic brain suggests that the second option is accurate; that everything might be lost. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, advises me that we have to attempt, through all methods we can.
In my case, as an observer of the press, that’s about urging journalists to commit, more completely, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For others, it could mean participating in political races, or organizing rallies, or developing approaches to protect electoral access.
Under twelve months back, we existed in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or three years from now? The reality is, we cannot predict. All we can do is try to continue fighting.
What Provides Me Hope Now
The engagement I experience in the classroom with young journalists, that are simultaneously hopeful and grounded, {always
