The Heartbreaking Transformation Just One Year Has Caused in the US
Twelve months back, the landscape was completely different. Before the national election, reflective Americans could acknowledge the nation's deep flaws – its injustices and imbalance – however they continued to perceive it as America. A democracy. A place where legal governance carried weight. A country guided by a respectable and upright official, notwithstanding his older age and declining health.
Nowadays, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans hardly identify the land we inhabit. Persons alleged as undocumented migrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, at times refused legal rights. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is being torn down to build a lavish ballroom. The president is harassing his adversaries or alleged foes and requesting federal prosecutors transfer a huge total of public funds. Soldiers with weapons are being sent into American cities with deceptive justifications. The military command, renamed the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses potentially totaling close to a trillion USD in public funds. Colleges, law firms, media outlets are buckling under the president’s threats, and wealthy elites are handled as nobility.
“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the edge into autocracy and extremism,” a noted author, commented recently. “In the end, swifter than I thought feasible, it occurred here.”
One awakes with fresh terrors. It is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we are, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.
Yet, we know that the leader was legitimately chosen. Despite his profoundly alarming initial presidency and even after the alerts associated with the awareness of Project 2025 – despite the president personally said publicly he planned to act as an autocrat only on the first day – a majority of citizens selected him instead of Kamala Harris.
As terrifying as the present situation may be, it's more frightening to realize that we are just nine months into this administration. How will three more years of this downfall find us? And suppose that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, since there is nobody to restrain this leader from opting that another term is essential, possibly for security concerns?
Granted, all is not lost. We will have congressional elections in 2026 that may bring a different balance of power, should Democrats regain the Senate or House of parliament. There are government representatives who are trying to exert certain responsibility, like Democratic congressmen that are launching an investigation concerning the try to cash appropriation from legal authorities.
And a leadership election in the next cycle could start the path toward restoration exactly as last year’s election placed us on this regrettable path.
There exist countless citizens protesting in public spaces throughout communities, similar to recent in the past days in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the nation is awakening”, similar to past after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or throughout the sixties activism or during the Nixon controversy.
During those times, the listing ship finally returned to balance.
He claims he knows the signals of that resurgence and notices it unfolding now. For proof, he cites the widespread marches, the broad, multi-faction opposition to a television host's removal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to agree to the defense department’s demands they only publish what is sanctioned.
“The sleeping giant always remains dormant till certain corruption turns extremely harmful, an specific act so contemptuous of the common good, certain violence so disruptive, that he is compelled but to awaken.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Possibly he may prove to be right.
Meanwhile, the major inquiries remain: can America regain its footing? Can it retrieve its status internationally and its adherence to legal principles?
Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor succeeded temporarily, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?
My cynical mind suggests that the latter is correct; that all may indeed be lost. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, convinces me that we have to attempt, through all methods possible.
In my case, working in journalism analysis, that’s about encouraging reporters to commit, more completely, to their purpose of holding power to account. For some people, it could mean working on election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to defend ballot privileges.
Not even one year prior, we lived in a separate situation. In the future? Or after another term? The fact is, we cannot predict. The only option is to attempt to continue fighting.
What Offers Me Hope Now
The contact I experience with students with new media professionals, that are simultaneously idealistic and realistic, {always
