Now that we are in 2026, the clarity of the past year is impossible to ignore. Trump’s second term has laid bare a stark divide between who benefits from his presidency and who pays the price. Billionaires and corporations are winning out while families face higher costs, communities endure federal abuses of power, public health and research are dismantled, and basic freedoms are put at risk. This op-ed reflects on what 2025 revealed about corruption, cruelty, and the erosion of democratic norms, while underscoring the growing importance of the courts and the choices ahead in Congress. It also makes the case that public opinion is shifting and that the window to shape a different future is still open, if people stay engaged and act with purpose in the year ahead.

The steady drumbeat of harmful rulings from Trump-nominated judges has not let up. Over the final weeks of 2025, a series of decisions affecting voting rights, workers, immigrants, environmental protections, and accountability for law enforcement continued a pattern that People For has been documenting for years. Taken together, these rulings show how lifetime judicial appointments are being used to entrench an extreme agenda, case by case, across the federal judiciary. The latest Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears update pulls these decisions into focus, making clear just how much damage is being done and why the fight over the courts remains so urgent.

A new campaign from the religious right makes clear that the fight over marriage equality is far from over. Dozens of anti-LGBTQ organizations have joined forces to pressure the Supreme Court to overturn its landmark ruling protecting the right of same-sex couples to marry, reviving familiar and deeply harmful smears that portray LGBTQ families as threats to children. Even as public support for marriage equality remains overwhelming and the Court recently declined to revisit the issue, movement leaders are openly signaling that they see this moment as an opportunity. The coordinated messaging, the groups involved, and the long game behind the campaign offer a revealing look at how hard-won rights remain under sustained attack.

Five years after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the danger it revealed has not faded – it has evolved. What began as a violent attempt to overturn a lawful election is now being followed by a deliberate effort to rewrite what happened, with the Trump administration promoting false and conspiratorial claims that erase violence, absolve perpetrators, and undermine the truth. This moment is not about differing interpretations of history, but about the use of government power to replace accountability with propaganda and to condition the public to distrust elections and democratic institutions. The anniversary serves as a stark reminder that the threat to democracy did not end on January 6, and that defending truth and the rule of law remains an urgent, ongoing responsibility.