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

Is there a dumpster somewhere to burn and bury this year of chaos, 2025?

We approach its end with as much relief as apprehension. Surely we can’t be expected to endure another such tumultuous ride around the sun?

It wasn’t until January that Donald Trump returned to the White House, apparently carrying tons of gilt for the walls. Within weeks, he had declared a state of emergency at the border; implement plans to dismantle government agencies; laid off masses of federal workers; and rates, rates, rates.

By spring, the administration was attacking Harvard as a test case for more muscular higher education. By June, Trump’s grotesque Big Beautiful Bill had become law, providing $1 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and funding a deportation effort (and armed force) that fundamentally reshaped U.S. immigration law and ended any pretense of targeting “the worst of the worst.”

The fall and winter were marked by questionable boat bombings in the Caribbean, another withdrawal from Ukraine, a crackdown on opposition to Trump as left-wing terrorism, and congressional inaction on health care that will leave many people struggling to stay insured.

That’s the short list.

It was a year when America tried something new, and while followers of the MAGA movement can largely celebrate that, our columnists Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak have a different perspective.

Here, they renew their annual tradition of looking back at the past year and offering some thoughts on what the new year might bring.

Chabria: Well, that was something. I can’t say that 2025 was a stellar year for the American experiment, but it will certainly go down in the history books.

Before diving into pure politics, I’ll start with something positive. I met a married couple at a No Kings rally in Sacramento who were dressed as dinosaurs, inspired by the Portland Frog, an activist who wears an inflatable amphibious suit.

When I asked why, the husband replied: “If you don’t do something soon, democracy will disappear.” »

Crowds take part in No Kings Day in downtown Los Angeles in October.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

I loved that so many Americans were doing something by coming out not only to protest policies that hurt them personally, but also to come together in support of democracy writ large. For many, it was the first time they had taken this kind of action, and they did so in a way that expressed optimism and possibility rather than giving in to anger or despair. Where there is humor, there is hope.

Barabak: As in, does it only hurt when I laugh?

In 2024, a plurality of Americans voted to put Trump back in the White House — warts, felony convictions and all — primarily in the hope that he would lower the cost of living and make eggs and gasoline affordable again.

Even though eggs and gasoline are no longer exorbitant, the cost of almost everything else continues to climb. Or, in the case of beef, utility and insurance bills skyrocket.

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts is another of the long-standing institutions Trump has plastered his name on.

(Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)

Meanwhile, the president seems less concerned with improving voters’ lives than with putting his name on every object he sees, one of the latest examples being the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

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

I ask myself: why stop there? Why not call this United States Trump-Erica, then brag that we live in the “hottest” country on the planet Trump?

Chabria: Stop giving him ideas!

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

It’s not the ugly antics of ego that worry me, but the devastating policies that will be difficult to undo – if we get the chance.

The race-based deportation witch hunt is obviously at the top of the list, but the demolition of primary and secondary education and higher education; the dismantling of federal agencies, thereby reducing our scientific power as a nation; the growing oligarchy of tech manufacturers; the discreet placement of election deniers in key electoral positions – these are all hammers aimed at our democracy.

Today we see overt anti-Semitism and racism within the MAGA right, with alarming acceptance from many. The far right has championed a stupid and frightening debate that “heritage” Americans are somehow a superior class of citizens to non-whites.

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

(Gérald Herbert / Associated Press)

Recently, Vice President JD Vance gave a speech in which he said, “In the United States of America, you no longer have to apologize for being white,” and Trump said he wanted to start stripping citizenship from legal immigrants. Both men assert that America is a Christian nation and reject diversity as a value.

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

Barabak: I’ll start with some differentiation.

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

Alienating our allies, terrorizing communities with its harmful anti-immigration policies – which go well beyond reasonable strengthening of border security – starving science and other research programs. The list is long and depressing, as you suggest.

But I believe – if the trumpets and cherubim are to be believed – that there is nothing beyond the power of voters to repair.

To quote, me, there is no organism on the planet more sensitive to heat and light than a politician. We’ve already seen an anti-Trump backlash in a series of elections this year, in both red and blue states. A strong rejection in the 2026 midterm elections will do more than all the editorial protests and protest marches combined. (That’s not a bad thing either.)

An apparently stressed poll worker at a polling station in Los Angeles’ Union Station.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

The best way to preserve our democracy and uphold American values ​​is for disgruntled citizens to express their disagreement through 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.

Installing lawmakers in Congress with a mandate to hold Trump accountable would be a good start to undo at least some of the damage he has done. And if this turns into a Republican rout, it will be quite a spectacle to watch the president’s former allies run for the hills as fast as their weak knees will carry them.

Chabria: OH MY GOD! It’s a holiday miracle. We agree!

I think the midterm elections will be complicated, but I don’t think it will be an election where Trump, or anyone, outright attempts to overturn the overall results.

Although I think the groundwork will be laid to sow more doubts about the integrity of our elections before 2028, and we will see false allegations of fraud and lawsuits.

So the midterm elections could very well be a reset if Democrats take control of something, anything. We probably wouldn’t see past damage repaired, but we might encounter enough opposition to slow the pace of what’s happening now and provide transparency and oversight.

But the 2026 election will only matter if people vote, which historically is not something many people do in the midterms. By now, there are few who haven’t heard about the November issues, but that still doesn’t translate into people – lazy, busy, distracted – taking action.

If proposed restrictions on mail voting or voter ID go into effect, even in some states, that will also change the results.

But there is hope, always hope.

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

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

The Dodgers won their second championship, and while this San Francisco Giants fan wasn’t happy, their seven-game thriller against the Toronto Blue Jays was a World Series for the ages.

And the strength and resilience shown by survivors of January’s SoCal firestorm is something to behold.

Are there any other people, besides your demonstrated dinosaurs, who deserve praise?

Pope Leo XIV salutes after delivering the Christmas Day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

(Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)

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

So I leave us with some of his advice for the future: “Be agents of communion, capable of breaking the logic of division and polarization, individualism and egocentrism.”

Many of us are tired and suffering from Trump fatigue. Either way, to put it in non-pontifical terms, it may be a dumpster – but we’re all in this together.

Barabak: I would like to end, as we do every year, with a thank you to our readers.

Anita and I wouldn’t be here — which would please some people greatly — without you. (And a special shout-out to paying subscribers. You’re helping keep the lights on.)

We wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

We will see each other again in 2026.