Columnists Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak look back on 2025

Is there a trash container set it on fire and bury it somewhere this year of bedlam2025?

We approach its end with equal parts relief and trepidation. Can we really not expect that we will experience another such turbulent rotation around the Sun?

Only in January Donald Trump returns to the White Houseapparently with you gold plated chests for walls. A few weeks later he declared an emergency at the border; put plans into action liquidate government institutions; fired a ton of federal workers; And tariffs, tariffs, tariffs.

By spring administration attacked Harvard as a test case for strong higher education. By June Trump the grotesquely misnamed Big Handsome Bill became law, generating $1 trillion in tax cuts for billionaires And funding deportation efforts (and the armed forces), which is fundamental changed American immigration laws And put an end to all pretense about targeting the “worst of the worst.”

Autumn and winter have brought questionable boat bombings in the Caribbean, more retreating from Ukraine, suppression of opposition Trump via classifying it as leftist terrorism and congressional inaction on health care, which leaving many struggling to stay insured.

This is a short list.

This was the year America tried something new, and although… adherents of the MAGA movement maybe we'll celebrate a lot of this, our columnists Anita Chhabria And Mark Z. Barabak have a different point of view.

Here they are renew your annual tradition to look back on the past year and offer some thoughts on what the new year might bring.

Chhabria: Oops, that was something. I can't say that 2025 was a stellar year for the American experiment, but it will definitely go down in the history books.

Before we get into pure politics, I'll start with something positive. At the No King rally in Sacramento, I met a couple who were dressed like dinosaurs inspired Portland frogactivist wearing an inflatable amphibian suit.

When I asked why, my husband told me, “If you don't do something soon, democracy will die out.”

I liked that so many Americans were doing something It turns out it’s not easy to protest policies that hit personally but aim to rally behind democracy as a whole. For many, this was the first time they had taken such action, and they did it in a way that conveyed optimism and possibility rather than giving in to anger or despair. Where there is humor, there is hope.

Barabak: So it only hurts when I laugh?

In 2024 a lot of Americans voted to reinstall Trump in the White House – warts, criminal record and all that — mostly in the hope that it would lower the cost of living and make eggs and gas affordable again.

While eggs and gas are no longer exorbitant, the cost of just about everything else continues to rise. Or, in case beef, utility bills And insurancetakeoff.

Meanwhile, the president seems less concerned with improving the lives of voters than with smearing his name on every thing he sets his sights on. One recent example is John F. Kennedy Center for the performing arts.

(The only place where Trump doesn't I want to see his name in those voluminous Epstein files.)

I ask myself: why stop there? Why not brand them the United States of Trump-Erics, and then brag that we live in the “hottest” country on Planet Trump?

Chhabria: Stop giving him ideas!

You and I agree that this has been a difficult year full of absurdities, but we disagree about how seriously to take Trump as a threat to democracy. As I approach the end of the year, I am more worried than ever.

This is not disgusting ego tricks These are alarming to me, but destructive policies that will be difficult to reverse—if we have the power to reverse them.

Witch hunts involving racially motivated deportations are obviously at the top of that list, but the destruction both K-12 and higher education; That dissolution of federal agenciesthereby reducing our scientific power as a nation; increase oligarchy of technology industrialists; the quiet placement of election deniers in key electoral positions are all hammers pounding on our democracy.

Now we see obvious anti-Semitism and racism to the right of MAGA, which caused alarm among many. The far right has developed a debate that is as stupid as it is scary about “Heritage” of Americans being somehow a higher class of citizen than non-whites.

Recently Vice President J.D. Vance made a speech in which he stated, “In the United States of America, you will no longer have to apologize for being white,” and Trump said he wanted to start deprivation of citizenship from legal immigrants. Both claim that America is a Christian nation and eschew diversity as a value.

Do you still think that American democracy is safe and that this political moment will pass without lasting damage to our democratic norms?

Barabak: I'll start with some differentiation.

I agree that Trump is sowing seeds, or more accurately, enacting policies and programs that will germinate and cause damage for years to come.

Alienating our allies, terrorizing communities Science and other research programs are starved by its harmful anti-immigrant policies that go far beyond reasonable border security. As you might imagine, the list is long and depressing.

But I believe—cue trumpets and cherubs—that voters can't fix anything.

To quote me: there is no organism on the planet more sensitive to heat and light than a politician. We've already seen Reaction against Trump in a series of elections held this year in both red and blue states. A decisive refusal to participate in the 2026 midterm elections will do more good than all the editorials and protest marches combined. (Not that that's a bad thing either.)

The best way to preserve our democracy and uphold American values ​​is to allow dissatisfied citizens to register their dissent at the ballot box. And to address at least one of your concerns, I'm not too worried about Trump somehow overturning the results, given the legal checks and decentralization of our election system.

Appointing lawmakers in Congress with a mandate to hold Trump accountable would be a good start to undoing at least some of the damage he has caused. And if this turns into a Republican rout, it will be interesting to watch the president's former allies run for the hills as fast as their weak knees will allow.

Chhabria: MY GOD! This is a holiday miracle. We agree!

I think the midterm elections will be tough, but I don't think this is an election where Trump or anyone else will try to directly undermine the overall results.

Although I think that in the run up to 2028 the groundwork will be laid to sow further doubt about the integrity of our elections and we will see false claims of fraud and lawsuits.

So the midterm elections could very well be a reset if Democrats take control of something, anything. We likely won't see a reversal of past damage, but we may see enough resistance to slow down the pace of what's happening now and allow for transparency and oversight.

But the 2026 election only matters if people vote, which historically is not something that large numbers of people do in midterm elections. At this point, few people haven't heard of betting in November, but that still doesn't mean people—lazy, busy, distracted—are taking part.

If proposed restrictions on mail-in ballots or voter identification take effect, even in some states, that would also change the results.

But there is hope, there is always hope.

Barabak: On that note, let's celebrate some of the many good things that happened in 2025.

MacKenzie Scott has donated $700 million to more than a dozen historically black colleges and universities, showing that not all tech billionaires are selfish and corrupt.

Dodgers won his second championship and while San Francisco Giants fans were unhappy, their seven-game thriller against the Toronto Blue Jays became a World Series for the ages.

AND the strength and resilience shown by the survivors January's SoCal firestorm was something to behold.

Is there anyone else other than the dinosaur exhibitors who deserves praise?

Chhabria: Although I am not Catholic, I was surprisingly inspired Pope Leo XIV.

So I'll leave us with some of his advice for the future: “Be agents of communication capable of breaking the logic of division and polarization, individualism and self-centeredness.”

Many of us are tired and suffering from Trump fatigue. Anyway, to put it in non-Popish terms, it may be a trash can, but we're all in it together.

Barabak: I would like to end, as I do every year, with words of gratitude to our readers.

Anita and I wouldn't be here – which would make some people very happy – if it weren't for you. (And a special bow paid subscribers there. You help keep the lights on.)

We wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

See you again in 2026.