ArcaMax

As we move into the new year, let's look forward at where we're headed. But first, let's take one last look backward at where we've been.

What America needs most desperately is a deep cleanse. Apart from whatever joyous moments may have occurred over the last 12 months in the personal lives of everyday Americans -- i.e., promotions, weddings, retirements and such -- it's undeniable that 2025 was not a good year for our country or its institutions.

Blame it on politics. Americans' relationship to the process of choosing elective representatives has become totally unhealthy. Over the last decade, we've lost all perspective. Politics has become much too personal. Who we vote for now defines who we are. We used to complain about having to choose the lesser evil. Now we're quick to label as "evil" anyone who makes a different choice.

In 2025, a lot of our politics was toxic. On that, both liberals and conservatives should be able to agree. Neither camp enjoyed everything about the ride that President Donald Trump put them on.

On the left, you'll find people who spent much of the year being angry and worried about how Trump had neutralized three entities that he knew from experience would try to stop his radical attempt to reshape government and society: universities, media and law firms. Some of them were heartsick over cruel immigration raids that are being carried out without discretion, fairness or due process; as we end the year, it's out in the open that even U.S. citizens are not safe from detention or arrest by rogue U.S. immigration agencies. Others are concerned by a Republican-controlled Supreme Court that -- with a few exceptions having to do with things like Trump's deployment of National Guard troops in U.S. cities run by Democrats -- seems eager to rubber-stamp whatever abuse of power the administration comes up with next.

On the right, many are disappointed and frustrated by the fact that Trump hasn't just failed to keep several campaign promises, but that he won't acknowledge that he ever made those promises in the first place. Like the promise to release all documents and files having to do with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who appears to have once been a close friend of the president's. In November, three Republican women in the House supported a discharge petition to force a vote to require the Justice Department to release all unclassified material related to Epstein.

Or Trump's promise to end inflation, bring down the costs of things and shore up the U.S. economy. Or his promise to help Americans battle rising health care costs; last month, four Republican U.S. senators defied the administration and sided with Democrats to support a bill that would extend government subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

What's next in 2026 is anyone's guess.

The Democratic Party is lost. It's unsure of what it's all about and why it even exists. It can't decide whether it's the party of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani or New York Senator Chuck Schumer. It doesn't know whether its future is California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It has, for so long, marketed itself as the party that is against Trump that it doesn't seem to have a clue about what it is for.

But the GOP now seems equally divided over the rise of white nationalists who, in a rejection of the push by some Republicans for a bigger tent, don't seem to like anyone who isn't a photocopy of themselves. When they're not attacking Latinos or African Americans, they're lashing out against Jews and Indian Americans. They don't like immigrants, but they're also not very fond of the native-born.

One thing is certain about what lies ahead in the new year. It's still a dangerous world, and it is becoming more so all the time. All across the globe, there are hotspots erupting or continuing to burn. Trump spent much of 2025 trying to bring peace to the Middle East and end the war between Russia and Ukraine. He begins the new year poised to go to war with Venezuela over -- take your pick -- migrants, drugs, oil, political differences, etc. As the United States begins to shift its foreign policy focus away from Europe and toward Latin America, our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere have reason to be nervous about the possibility that Uncle Sam is returning to his imperialistic tendencies in the region.

Happy New Year to you -- and good luck to us.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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