A Devastating Change Just One Year Has Made in the United States
In late October 2024, the environment was completely distinct. Before the American presidential vote, reflective residents could admit the country's serious imperfections – its inequities and imbalance – yet they could still see it as the US. A democracy. A place where legal governance carried weight. A country guided by a dignified and upright official, notwithstanding his older age and growing weakness.
Currently, this autumn, countless Americans hardly identify the country we reside in. People believed to be illegal immigrants are detained and shoved into vehicles, occasionally denied due process. The East Wing of the White House – is being torn down for an obscene dance hall. Donald Trump is persecuting his opponents or alleged foes and requesting legal authorities surrender a massive sum of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched to US urban areas on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of routine media oversight as it spends what could amount to almost one trillion dollars from citizen taxes. Institutions, law firms, journalism organizations are yielding under the president’s threats, and wealthy elites are handled as nobility.
“America, just months before its 250th birthday as the globe's top democratic nation, has tipped over the limit into autocracy and fascism,” an American historian, commented recently. “In the end, more quickly than I believed likely, it occurred here.”
Each day begins to new horrors. It is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we have become, and the rapid pace with which it occurred.
Nevertheless, we understand that the president was duly elected. Despite his profoundly alarming first term and following the alerts associated with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – despite Trump himself said publicly he would be a dictator solely at the start – sufficient voters elected him over his Democratic opponent.
As terrifying as today's circumstances may be, it's more frightening to recognize that we’re only three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. What will an additional three years of this downfall leave us? And if that timeframe turns into a more extended duration, because there is no one to restrain this leader from determining that another term is essential, maybe for defense purposes?
Granted, all is not lost. There are legislative votes next year that could bring a different balance of power, should Democrats regain either chamber of parliament. There exist public servants who are trying to apply some accountability, like lawmakers who are launching an investigation concerning the try to fund seizure by federal prosecutors.
And a national vote in 2028 could start our journey to recovery precisely as last year’s election placed us on this regrettable path.
There are millions of Americans marching in urban areas throughout communities, as they did in the past days at democracy demonstrations.
A former official, commented this week that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is stirring”, just as it did following the Red Scare during the fifties or amid anti-war demonstrations or throughout the Nixon controversy.
On those occasions, the listing ship eventually was righted.
He claims he knows the signals of that resurgence and sees it happening now. As support, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, bipartisan pushback regarding a personality's dismissal and the almost universal defiance by media to accept military mandates they solely cover what is sanctioned.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays asleep till specific greed grows too toxic, some action so offensive of the common good, certain violence so noisy, that the giant is compelled but to awaken.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will prove to be right.
In the meantime, the crucial issues endure: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its status internationally and its adherence to constitutional order?
Or must we acknowledge that the historical project worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My negative thoughts indicates that the second option is true; that everything might be gone. My positive feelings, nevertheless, tells me that we need to strive, by any means we can.
Personally, as an observer of the press, that’s about pushing media professionals to adhere, more thoroughly, to their purpose of holding power to account. For some people, it could mean working on political races, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to defend ballot privileges.
Not even one year prior, we were in an alternate reality. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The fact is, we don’t know. The only option is try to not give up.
What Provides Me Hope Now
The interaction I experience with students with aspiring reporters, who are both hopeful and practical, {always
