Horrifying and exhausting.
Those two words sum up how so many of us feel about the state of our country in 2025.
How could they not?
For 12 months, we’ve watched a political cult dismantle our country, just as it also took backhoes to the White House.
As historian and analyst Heather Cox Richardson wrote in her brilliant year-end roundup: “It’s not simply that they have broken the laws. They have acted as if the laws, and the Constitution that underpins them, don’t exist.”
That lawlessness has led to the creation of a police state, with masked thugs recruited from gun shows nabbing our neighbors and national guard agents deployed to cities to ramp up the fear of having brown skin in America.
The man who falsely claims to have ended eight wars has declared war on his own country as well as Venezuela, parts of Nigeria and fishing boats in the Caribbean.
Donald Trump is a mob boss, plain and simple. He rules through intimidation, uses threats to stifle his detractors and keep his supporters in line.
This has been a rough year for those of us who believe in the foundational beliefs of America and the rule of law.
Trump has strutted around his properties and the crumbling People’s House, openly grifting – selling pardons, working out trade deals that involve his own golf courses, investing in currencies he and his friends can manipulate.
But much of Trump’s power is built on illusion:
- The idea that he won such a decisive electoral victory that he has a mandate to do whatever he wants.
- The belief that we’re helpless to stop him.
- The absurd concept that he’s immune from scandal.
As his attempts to distract and redact have shown, Trump may easily dodge political and financial scandals, but the Epstein Files is different. Day by day, as even his ardent supporters (MTG, for instance) flee from the stench of child sex trafficking, as it becomes more and more clear that at the very least, Trump knew all about it and did nothing to stop it.
Trump rose to power on his ability to grab attention, negative or positive. The media fed us Trump news non-stop. Doomscrolling became a bankable industry, even for Trump’s greatest critics.
Ratings, and the mass attention they quantify, has always been Trump’s greatest obsession and strength, even when he was a reality-show host. But as we head into 2026 and Trump’s “ratings” crater (with a 39 percent approval rating from the latest Economist poll), that strength is proving to be a weakness.
His cultish following is crumbling, like the White House, demolished by a man who now finds himself isolated.
The New Year promises change. We can’t know exactly what changes 2026 will usher in. A weak, desperate Trump could prove to be more dangerous than a popular Trump.
But the changes will not entirely be in the hands of the cult leader or his followers. It will also be in our hands. We are not, and never have been, helpless.
Courts (even the stacked Supreme one) are starting to follow the law. Protestors have taken to the streets, and we must continue to do so.
Here some other New Year’s Resolutions that could help:
Use our power of the purse.
As we proved in reviving Jimmy Kimmell, our shopping habits matter. We can send a message to Bezos and his support of Trump by shopping local or looking for online alternatives to Amazon.
Fox News built an empire by weaponizing the Conservative movement that put Trump in power. Think twice before supporting their regular sponsors, including Nestle, Subaru, Toyota, Liberty Mutual, GEICO, State Farm, Procter & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson.
Support companies that are still committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
They Include Apple, Disney, Costco, JPMorgan Chase, Delta Air Lines, Nike, Sephora and many local companies.
Support companies and organizations being defunded.
Locally, that means nonprofits that receive state and/or federal funding, including Silver Key, Homeward Pikes Peak, Care and Share, KRCC, KCME, Rocky Mountain PBS, and various arts organizations.
Support this news outlet.
The Pikes Peak Bulletin is a crucial source of local independent news, and as the media becomes stifled by merger, threats, and lawsuits, that independent voice becomes more essential than ever.
The Epstein Files is a regular Bulletin column featuring Warren Epstein’s take on politics, food, the arts and whatever else is on his mind. There will always be one mention of President Donald Trump as a confirmation that yes, Trump is in The Epstein Files. As Bulletin board chair, Epstein does not accept pay for his writing here.
