Troubling times are coming. It feels safe to say that.

In just a few days, the United States may never be the same again. Trump is not the root of all of the negativity transpiring in America (although he has certainly contributed immensely), but rather the Trojan Horse, ready to unleash the true evil that resides within its majestic exterior.

Although many Americans still support Trump, and a significant number voted for him in the election, there is a growing feeling that people are beginning to ‘wake up’ to the reality of the United States in 2025.

The freedoms and advantages that they once considered privileges of American citizenship have been called into question, as they have begun to look outside of our borders, and understand that ‘American exceptionalism’ is a fabricated falsehood meant to impair discernment, to prevent a citizen from becoming discontent with their station in life. Without a fair means of comparison, there is truly no measurable way of ascertaining how well quality of life in the US stacks up against the rest of the world.

The truth is that, for the average American, life is not good in 2025.

What is even more troubling is what is to come. Trump and his team have handed the keys to the country to the wealthiest individuals on the planet who have, through their own actions, imparted a simple truth - they hold no aspirations to better the United States beyond raiding its coffers to ensure that their self-interests are protected.

So, what happens when a nation’s citizens recognize the corruption, deceit, and harm of its ruling class? History has the answer, and it seems that America will soon live through it once again.

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech is often one of the first rights that Americans identify as a pillar of a shining democracy, one that is held dear due to its perceived scarcity around the world. However, the truth has come to light - you do have freedom of speech in America, so long as the people in charge say so.

With the proposed TikTok Ban merely 2 days from taking effect, many Americans received the first strong indication of their lifetime that the government was actively conspiring to infringe on their First Amendment Rights. Naturally, the politicians, lobbyists, tech magnates, and journalists insisted that this suppression of media was actually in the interest of national security, that TikTok was no more than an attempt by the CCP to skim biometrics, habits, opinions, and other pertinent data from the American public for nefarious purposes. Despite the fact that TikTok is operated by a ByteDance subsidiary based in the United States and hosts its US user data with American tech giant Oracle, the law was not only passed, but upheld by the Supreme Court just days before coming to fruition.

This, unsurprisingly, caused an uproar in the sphere of social media, with users of TikTok taking to the platform to air their grievances with US policymakers, who appeared to align swiftly on banning their favorite app, but consistently fail to make inroads on issues vital to the future of the American citizenry, including affordable healthcare, student loan forgiveness, inflation, gun control, and many more.

These disgruntled TikTokers are right to be disappointed in their representatives. After all, those same representatives failed to protect their constituents from homegrown threats, like Google, which has, for years, repeatedly leaked intimate user data, and has yet to be under the threat of a ban. Those same representatives have yet to stop Facebook, the largest social media app in the United States, from allowing foreign actors to infiltrate, spread misinformation, and radicalize Americans on its platform. Those representatives likewise proved ineffectual in curtailing the harm done by Twitter (now X), which has been accused of allowing disinformation campaigns to ravage and endanger its users, like COVID conspiracy theories, or even the recent election of Trump at the hands of future federal employee, Elon Musk. Americans watched on for years as these companies were pardoned of their transgressions by representatives who insisted that they held the interests of their constituents in mind.

So, why was TikTok the organization that was ultimately banned? There are many theories, but one statement must remain - US-based social media companies are just as dangerous.

Then, within the ashes of their beloved TikTok, Americans found a phoenix to restore their faith in humanity - Chinese-based app RedNote (小红书). Within hours, RedNote (translated directly from Mandarin, it would be ‘little red book’), became the #1 most-downloaded app in the United States, and American users were flooding the platform with their woes, and their own hashtag, #tiktokrefugee. What awaited them on the inside they could have never expected, but it wasn’t long before Americans recognized RedNote for what it is - a window into a previously unknown world.

By watching ‘day in the life’ or ‘tour my apartment’ videos of RedNote users in China, many Americans were, for the first time, getting a glimpse into daily life in China in 2025. Once the users from both countries began to interact via comments and videos, the revelations began to emerge - China is a lot more free and a lot less restrictive than our government and leaders in the United States would like us to believe.

Americans stared in awe as they watched their newfound Chinese friends talk about their comparatively reasonable living expenses, or their free healthcare. They also were forced to stop and listen to outsiders’ perspectives of life in the United States, and the glaringly obvious failures in our systems, like education and infrastructure. This is not to say that China is the shining example of a modern society, but, for many Americans, this was the first time that they were confronted with this false narrative, namely that China, its institutions, and the shared plight of its citizens are somehow bleak in comparison to the United States.

It wasn’t long before the message was clear - America is no longer the mecca of opportunity that it once was for millions of people looking for a better life. Likewise, the assumption that the quality of life in the United States would not only be preserved, but improved, was revealed as a false promise, because Americans of today are sicker, poorer, and less-free than previous generations.

It seems that, each day, we are growing closer to what many refer to as ‘class consciousness,’ the Marxist theory that proposes that a certain awareness is necessary amongst the common people in order to incite a true revolution against the ruling class. As the borders open, and Americans begin to connect with the world around them, the veil that has been draped over American society by means of ceaseless propaganda will quickly dissolve, leaving the harsh reality that life exists differently, and other nations and peoples are excelling and outpacing us.

This rush to ban TikTok may be ironically fateful for the lawmakers who conceived of it, as well. Now that TikTok is out of the picture, Americans will continue to seek out other platforms, like 小红书, and the pitfalls and outright faults in our system will become ever more-visible and unavoidable. Your move, Congress.

Oligarchy in the Hen House

It is interesting that oligarchies are so common in society. However, over the past decades, the United States has become one of the purest forms of a functional oligarchy, in which two of the social media titans, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Elon Musk of X, have a combined net worth of $600+ billion, and are both glad-handing President-elect Trump. In fact, Musk, the single richest man in the world, will be in charge of government expenditure, even as his companies, chiefly SpaceX and Tesla, receive billions in government contracts, grants, and subsidies. If you think that someone the likes of Zuckerberg or Musk can empathize with someone who can’t afford health insurance, or doesn’t know how they will be able to pay off hundreds of thousands in student loans, then you are fooling yourself. Imagine the damage that these masters of the universe can do when enabled by a billionaire President, a billionaire-infested cabinet, a conservative judiciary, and a band of far-right sycophants willing to risk anything to get their way.

This situation has grown so out of control that in his formal farewell address, President Joe Biden warned of the dangers of an unchecked oligarchy, and the consequences of excessive wealth concentrated amongst a literal handful of people. Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been making this clear for years, but was consistently ignored and vilified as a ‘radical socialist.’ This is the result of decades of decreased regulations on industry, the failure to impose proper taxes on the wealthiest individuals, and the perpetuation of a legal system designed to protect the rich, and suppress the poor.

So, at a time of record-breaking debts, rollbacks on human rights, difficult economic conditions, the looming threat of Artificial Intelligence, and more, the fate of Americans rests in the hands of the wealthiest class to ever exist in the nation’s history.

It’s time to wake up, America. There is a world outside of these borders, and the people inside them have been lying to you. The rich aren’t your friends. They don’t have your interests at heart. They are here to make money, secure power, and ensure that you never lay claim to either of them.

If there was hope, it lay in the proles.