A Tragic Change a Single Year Has Caused in America
Twelve months back, the landscape was utterly different. Ahead of the American presidential vote, reflective Americans could acknowledge the nation's significant faults – its unfairness and disparity – but they still could identify it as America. A democracy. A land where constitutional order carried weight. A nation headed by a honorable and ethical public servant, even with his advanced age and increasing frailty.
Nowadays, in late October 2025, numerous citizens scarcely know the land we inhabit. Persons suspected of being unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, occasionally refused legal rights. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is being destroyed for a grotesque event space. Donald Trump is persecuting his opponents or alleged foes and demanding federal prosecutors transfer an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are being sent into American cities with deceptive justifications. The defense headquarters, rebranded the Department of War, has – in effect – rid itself of routine media oversight while it uses possibly reaching close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Colleges, attorney offices, media outlets are buckling under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are treated like aristocracy.
“The United States, shortly prior to its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the edge toward dictatorship and extremism,” Garrett Graff, commented recently. “Ultimately, swifter than I believed likely, it occurred in America.”
Each day begins with fresh terrors. And it is hard to comprehend – and painful to realize – how deeply lost we have become, and how quickly it unfolded.
Yet, we understand that Trump was duly elected. Despite his profoundly alarming previous administration and even after the warnings that came with the awareness of Project 2025 – despite the president personally declared plainly he planned to be a dictator just on day one – a majority of citizens selected him rather than Kamala Harris.
Frightening as today's circumstances is, it’s even scarier to understand that we have only been nine months into this presidential term. Where will three more years of this downfall position us? And suppose that timeframe becomes a more extended duration, because there is not anyone to restrain this ruler from determining that a third term is essential, maybe for national security reasons?
Admittedly, all is not lost. We will have midterm elections in 2026 which might bring a different balance of power, in case Democrats recapture the Senate or House of parliament. There exist public servants who are striving to impose some accountability, such as representatives who are launching an investigation regarding the effort to cash appropriation from legal authorities.
And a presidential election three years from now could begin the path to healing precisely as the previous vote set us on this regrettable path.
There exist countless citizens marching in urban areas throughout communities, as they did last weekend in the No Kings rallies.
An ex-cabinet member, commented this week that “the slumbering force of the US is rising”, exactly as before following the Red Scare in the 1950s or during the sixties activism or during the Watergate scandal.
On those occasions, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.
Reich says he understands the indicators of that awakening and sees it happening now. As support, he cites the widespread marches, the extensive, bipartisan pushback to a television host's removal and the near-unanimous defiance by media to agree to the defense department’s demands they solely cover what is sanctioned.
“The slumbering entity perpetually exists dormant till certain corruption becomes so noxious, a particular deed so offensive of the common good, specific cruelty so noisy, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”
It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may turn out correct.
At the same time, the crucial issues endure: is the US able to return to normalcy? Can it retrieve its position internationally and its commitment to the rule of law?
Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My cynical mind tells me that the latter is correct; that everything might be gone. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, tells me that we need to strive, by any means available.
In my case, as a media critic, that’s about encouraging reporters to live up, more fully, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For others, it may be participating in congressional campaigns, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to protect electoral access.
Less than a year ago, we existed in a very different place. In the future? Or three years from now? The truth is, we don’t know. Our sole course is to strive to persevere.
What Provides Me Encouragement Today
The interaction I encounter during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are equally visionary and realistic, {always
