One year ago, the environment was utterly distinct. Ahead of the US presidential election, reflective citizens could admit the country's significant faults – its inequities and inequality – yet they continued to perceive it as the US. A democracy. A place where legal governance carried weight. A nation guided by a dignified and decent public servant, despite his advanced age and increasing frailty.
Nowadays, as October 2025 ends, many of us barely recognize the country we inhabit. People alleged as undocumented migrants are detained and shoved into vans, occasionally refused legal rights. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed to build a lavish ballroom. Donald Trump is targeting his political rivals or supposed enemies and insisting the justice department transfer an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Uniformed troops are dispatched into American cities with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, renamed the War Department, has effectively rid itself of routine media oversight as it spends potentially totaling close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Colleges, attorney offices, news companies are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are handled as members of the royal family.
“The United States, only a few months ahead of its quarter-millennium anniversary as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the edge into authoritarianism and fascism,” an American historian, stated this past summer. “Finally, swifter than I believed likely, it transpired in America.”
Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it's hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone we are, and the rapid pace with which it has happened.
Yet, we know that Trump was duly elected. Even after his highly troubling previous administration and following the warnings that came with the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – following the president personally declared plainly he planned to rule as a tyrant just on day one – enough Americans chose him over his Democratic opponent.
Frightening as the present situation is, it's more frightening to recognize that we have only been nine months into this administration. What will three more years of this downfall leave us? And what if that timeframe turns into something even longer, as there is no one to restrain this president from deciding that another term is necessary, possibly for security concerns?
Admittedly, there is still hope. There will be midterm elections next year which might create a new political equilibrium, should Democrats recapture one or both houses of the legislature. We have public servants who are trying to apply some accountability, for example lawmakers who are starting a probe into the attempted money grab by federal prosecutors.
And a national vote three years from now could begin our journey to healing precisely as the previous vote placed us on this unfortunate course.
We see numerous residents marching in urban areas of their cities, as they did in the past days at democracy demonstrations.
An ex-cabinet member, commented this week that “the slumbering force of America is awakening”, exactly as before after the Communist witch-hunt era during the fifties or during anti-war demonstrations or throughout the seventies crisis.
On those occasions, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.
He claims he recognizes the signals of that awakening and observes it occurring currently. For proof, he cites the widespread marches, the widespread, cross-party resistance regarding a television host's removal and the almost universal defiance by media to accept government requirements they only publish what is sanctioned.
“The sleeping giant perpetually exists asleep till specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so disrespectful of societal benefit, some brutality so disruptive, that it has no choice other than to stir.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will be validated.
Meanwhile, the major inquiries endure: is the US able to return to normalcy? Can it retrieve its status in the world and its adherence to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the historical project worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My pessimistic brain tells me that the final scenario is accurate; that everything could be gone. My positive feelings, nevertheless, advises me that we must try, in whatever ways we can.
For me, as a media critic, that means encouraging reporters to adhere, more completely, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it may be working on congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to safeguard voting rights.
Not even one year prior, we lived in a separate situation. A year from now? Or after another term? The fact is, we cannot predict. Our sole course is to strive to not give up.
The contact I have during teaching with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously hopeful and practical, {always
Elara is a seasoned gaming journalist with a passion for slot mechanics and player strategies.
