A Tragic Transformation a Single Year Has Made in the United States
In late October 2024, the situation was entirely different. Prior to the American presidential vote, reflective Americans could recognize the nation's deep flaws – its unfairness and inequality – yet they could still see it as the US. A democracy. A country where constitutional order held significance. A state led by a honorable and upright leader, despite his advanced age and increasing frailty.
These days, in late October 2025, many of us scarcely know the land we live in. Persons believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The left side of the presidential residence – is being destroyed for an obscene dance hall. The leader is harassing his adversaries or supposed enemies and insisting federal prosecutors transfer a massive sum of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are deployed across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The military command, renamed the Department of War, has – in effect – rid itself of regular press examination while it uses possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars in public funds. Institutions, attorney offices, news companies are buckling from leader's menaces, and wealthy elites are regarded as aristocracy.
“America, just months before its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the brink into authoritarianism and extremism,” a noted author, stated recently. “Finally, more quickly than I thought feasible, it transpired in America.”
One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it is hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – how severely declined our nation is, and the speed at which it occurred.
However, we know that Trump was duly elected. Even after his deeply disturbing previous administration and even after the warnings that came with the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – even after the leader directly stated openly he would act as an autocrat only on the first day – a majority of citizens chose him instead of his Democratic opponent.
Frightening as today's circumstances may be, it’s even scarier to understand that we are just nine months into this presidential term. Where will an additional three years of this downfall leave us? And if the three years becomes a more extended duration, since there is no one to restrain this leader from deciding that a third term is necessary, maybe for national security reasons?
Certainly, not everything is hopeless. There are congressional elections in 2026 that may bring a different governmental control, if Democrats recapture either chamber of the legislature. There exist government representatives who are trying to apply a degree of oversight, such as Democratic congressmen who are initiating an inquiry concerning the try to money grab from legal authorities.
And a leadership election three years from now could initiate the path to recovery exactly as the prior selection placed us on this disappointing trajectory.
We see numerous residents marching in the streets throughout communities, similar to recent last weekend during anti-authority protests.
A former official, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the nation is stirring”, similar to past following the Red Scare in the 1950s or throughout the Vietnam war protests or during the seventies crisis.
On those occasions, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.
Reich says he understands the signs of that revival and observes it occurring now. For proof, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the widespread, multi-faction opposition regarding a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to agree to military mandates they only publish approved content.
“The sleeping giant perpetually exists asleep till specific greed turns extremely harmful, an specific act so offensive of the common good, specific cruelty so disruptive, that the giant is forced except to rise.”
It's a positive outlook, and I value Reich’s experienced view. Possibly he may prove to be right.
Meanwhile, the major inquiries persist: can America regain its footing? Can it reclaim its position globally and its devotion to constitutional order?
Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My negative thoughts tells me that the latter is accurate; that everything might be gone. My optimistic spirit, though, tells me that we need to strive, by any means possible.
For me, as a media critic, that’s about urging journalists to live up, more fully, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For others, it might involve participating in election efforts, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to safeguard voting rights.
Not even one year prior, we lived in a very different place. In the future? Or in several years? The reality is, we cannot predict. The only option is to attempt to continue fighting.
What Provides Me Encouragement Today
The engagement I have in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally hopeful and realistic, {always
