The Heartbreaking Change Just One Year Has Caused in the US
In late October 2024, the landscape was completely different. Ahead of the American presidential vote, reflective citizens could recognize America's deep flaws – its inequities and disparity – but they continued to see it as the United States. A free society. A land where legal governance held significance. A nation guided by a honorable and decent official, notwithstanding his older age and declining health.
Nowadays, in late October 2025, countless Americans scarcely know the country we inhabit. People believed to be illegal immigrants are collected and shoved into vans, occasionally denied due process. The left side of the White House – is being torn down to build a lavish event space. The leader is harassing his adversaries or alleged foes and requesting federal prosecutors transfer a huge total of public funds. Armed military personnel are being sent into American cities under fabricated reasons. The defense headquarters, rebranded the War Department, has effectively rid itself of routine media oversight as it spends what could amount to nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Institutions, attorney offices, media outlets are yielding under the president’s threats, and billionaires are treated like nobility.
“The US, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the edge into autocracy and extremism,” a noted author, commented in August. “Ultimately, more quickly than I thought feasible, it transpired in this country.”
One awakes amid recent atrocities. It is difficult to grasp – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we are, and how quickly it unfolded.
However, we know that the leader was duly elected. Following his highly troubling first term and following the alerts linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – despite the leader directly said publicly he would act as an autocrat solely at the start – sufficient voters selected him rather than Kamala Harris.
Frightening as the present situation is, it’s even scarier to understand that we are just several months under this leadership. What will an additional three years of this downfall leave us? And if that period transforms into an prolonged era, since there is nobody to restrain this leader from determining that another term is essential, possibly for national security reasons?
Admittedly, all is not lost. We will have midterm elections the coming year that may bring a different political equilibrium, if Democrats retake the Senate or House of parliament. There are elected officials who are attempting to impose certain responsibility, such as Democratic congressmen currently starting a probe into the attempted money grab by federal prosecutors.
And a national vote in the next cycle could initiate us down the road to healing just as last year’s election set us on this disappointing trajectory.
We see millions of Americans demonstrating in public spaces of their cities, as they did last weekend in the No Kings rallies.
Robert Reich, commented this week that “the slumbering force of the nation is stirring”, exactly as before after the Communist witch-hunt era during the fifties or amid the sixties activism or throughout the Watergate scandal.
During those times, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.
The author states he recognizes the signals of that resurgence and observes it occurring now. For proof, he points to the recent massive protests, the broad, cross-party resistance regarding a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous defiance by media to agree to government requirements they solely cover what is sanctioned.
“The dormant force consistently stays inactive until some venality becomes so noxious, a particular deed so offensive toward public welfare, some brutality so noisy, that he has no choice other than to stir.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will turn out correct.
Meanwhile, the big questions persist: can America regain its footing? Can it retrieve its status internationally and its commitment to the rule of law?
Or must we acknowledge that the historical project succeeded temporarily, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My cynical mind tells me that the final scenario is accurate; that all may indeed be lost. My positive feelings, though, tells me that we have to attempt, by any means possible.
In my case, as an observer of the press, that means encouraging reporters to live up, more thoroughly, to their mission of holding power to account. For different individuals, it might involve engaging with congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to safeguard electoral access.
Less than a year ago, we were in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The reality is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to strive to persevere.
What Offers Me Optimism Currently
The contact I encounter during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always
