Students of Fordham University, citizens of New York City and beyond, President Donald Trump and his administration, our nation has hit a terrifying point: more divided, more violent and more hopeless than ever before. This is not the “golden age of America,” but one of our darkest eras, in which people fear for their neighbors, their children and themselves. Only 17% of the country has trust in the government, with Democrat trust at an all time low of 9%. This is not an era to be proud of, but an age that must spark significant change.
We live in a time when our government is attacking its own people, sending immigration officers into our cities and towns to kidnap our neighbors regardless of citizenship status, tearing apart families and instilling a deep fear in all of us. When people have exercised their constitutional right to protest these injustices, they have been attacked, arrested or even killed. This is not peace nor progress, this is facism and fearmongering.
How can a man claim to be the “President of Peace” when he changed our Department of Defense to the Department of War? Language is powerful, and this name sets the narrative that we prioritize aggression over protection. Trump has proposed a $1.5 trillion increase to the military budget to build his “Dream Military” while simultaneously making cuts to community-focused programs like Preschool Development Grants and Community Services Block Grants. These actions are not for the benefit of the American people, they are intending to take advantage of our tax dollars and use them to harm us.
We are not a celebrated international power, but an international villain. Trump has isolated us from the vast majority of the world, and we are entirely unrespected as a nation and a people. He claims to have ended multiple wars but has simultaneously escalated international tensions in Venezuela, Iran, Palestine and beyond.
The ceasefire he claims so proudly to have brokered between Israel and Hamas has been broken countless times by Israel, the country we spend billions of dollars supporting every year. Claims of self-defense are entirely invalid when the nation of Palestine’s population has been obliterated by the Israeli military. For years they have been living off of tiny amounts of food, not enough to sustain anyone, and living amongst the rubble of their former homes in constant fear of where the next attack will hit. This is not peace, this is genocide. Taking pride in being a part of that is disgusting, and as one of the wealthiest nations in the world we have the duty to help those less fortunate than ourselves, not hurt them more.
Additionally, the invasion of Iran has been reckless and illegal, and though the nation was not in a good place before, sending missiles across the Middle East is certainly not for the country’s benefit. Civilian deaths from U.S.-Israeli bombs have already passed 700, including 176 children. What does bombing a school do to save the Iranian people? Trump’s motivations are selfish, and we will never help other countries while going in with poor intentions.
In our own country, Trump has stripped our land’s protections by erasing any power the government had to fight climate change, one of — if not the most — paramount issues of our time. By rejecting the facts backed up by the vast majority of scientists worldwide, this erasure allows greenhouse gas emissions to be far less regulated in our country, though we are one of the greatest polluting nations in the world. This comes at a time when we are already facing increased environmental stressors from AI data centers, disproportionately affecting Black and brown communities and creating both environmental and health problems.
The economic transformation Trump claims to have initiated has not been one for the better. Housing, groceries, electricity and natural gas have all gotten more expensive in the last year, making the cost of living excruciating for millions of Americans. Job growth has sharply declined from 1.4 million jobs added in 2024 under former President Joe Biden to just 181,000 jobs added in 2025. Praises for “the largest tax cuts in American history” are also false; benefits for this sixth largest tax cut in history mainly go to the wealthy who do not need it. Any small savings for lower class families will be outshined by their loss of benefits, creating a harsher burden as opposed to advantages.
On top of this, Trump has failed to address his own involvement with convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein amongst other governmental figures mentioned in the recently released Epstein files. How are Americans supposed to trust their own government when they know the atrocities their leaders have committed against young women and children?
The state of the union is far from “strong.” This utopia Trump claims we live in is not real, if anything it is the opposite. The government cannot propagandize the facts of our everyday lives.
“The revolution that began in 1776 has not ended.” Our fight against oppressive regimes is not over, and we will not give in to authoritarianism now just as we did not give in back then. Hopelessness is the privileged person’s excuse for choosing not to act, so we will find hope in this dark time and eventually come out victorious.