The Year the Government Went Bankrupt
The first signs of trouble emerged just before Inauguration Day. The previous year, Congress had overwhelmingly passed legislation to ban TikTok unless it severed ties with its Chinese parent company. The Supreme Court upheld this decision unanimously, setting the stage for the next move: the president could either grant TikTok an additional 90 days to finalize a deal or enforce an immediate ban.
However, neither option materialized. Outgoing President Joe Biden deferred the decision to incoming President Donald Trump. After a tense few hours during which TikTok temporarily went offline in the U.S., it reemerged with a triumphant message thanking Trump for its reprieve.
Fast forward nearly a year and several extensions later, TikTok is still operating in the U.S., still owned by the same Chinese company that lawmakers warned posed a significant threat to national security. Recently, it announced a finalized deal to sell its U.S. operations, with a closing date set for January 22, 2026—over a year past the initial ban deadline. The entire situation has played out like a farcical drama, leaving many to wonder if the forthcoming deal will even meet the original legal requirements.
The inaction against TikTok amid concerns over national security is just one of many cracks in the federal government’s foundation this year. In March, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shared military plans over Signal, an encrypted messaging app not designed for such sensitive communications, which came to light when Trump’s then-national security adviser accidentally included the editor-in-chief of an outlet in that chat.
There was also the unprecedented 43-day government shutdown that jeopardized food access for millions of low-income Americans, disrupted air travel, halted space launches, and delayed consumer products awaiting regulatory approval. Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr issued a blatant threat to revoke broadcast licenses over a late-night comedian’s joke he found offensive. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramped up workplace raids, diverting law enforcement resources from critical areas like child exploitation investigations. And then there was the most significant disruption in 2025: Elon Musk’s initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DOGE’s impact on the federal government was nothing short of catastrophic. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees lost their jobs or were pushed out by the Trump administration. The initiative dismantled a key agency that provided food and medicine to impoverished nations, accessed sensitive financial data of millions of Americans while effectively gutting a consumer protection watchdog, and drove tech talent away from various agencies. It promised taxpayers savings that never materialized while erasing institutional knowledge and cutting funding for medical research perceived as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. After all this, Musk deemed the project only “somewhat successful” and expressed reluctance to repeat it.
Ultimately, the resilience of a democracy is tested when its checks and balances are put to the test. The TikTok saga illustrates a situation where, at least for now, those checks have faltered. Congress has issued mild criticisms regarding the executive branch’s failure to enforce the law, but there’s no momentum for impeachment, and the judicial branch has been largely ineffective in compelling action. Yet, there have been numerous instances where democracy’s safeguards have shown resilience and even courage.
Judges nationwide have actively challenged and overturned policies from the Trump administration that clearly violate the law or the Constitution. Several rulings blocked Trump’s attempts to end birthright citizenship, rejected justifications for mass cuts, and initiated contempt proceedings against administration officials for allegedly violating orders related to deportations. The judge overseeing those contempt proceedings has faced personal backlash from Trump, and some Republicans have even attempted to impeach him over unrelated rulings, but he has continued his work.
Even Congress, often seen as a mere rubber stamp, has occasionally found its voice. Lawmakers from Trump’s own party, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), stood firm alongside Democrats in demanding the release of information related to the Epstein files—an issue that continues to haunt the president. While some Republicans called for punitive actions against those who criticized conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a few, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), pushed back against Carr’s aggressive threats to broadcasters. Recently, the House Armed Services Committee has taken steps to fulfill its oversight role by questioning the events leading to military strikes on a vessel Trump officials claimed was illegally transporting drugs from Venezuela.
Moreover, millions of Americans have pushed back against these developments, attending “No Kings” rallies, protesting at Tesla showrooms during Musk’s peak influence at DOGE, and documenting ICE raids and arrests amid a mass deportation campaign. Efforts to support food banks during the shutdown and initiatives by former federal workers to retain technologists in government during the pay freeze have also emerged.
As 2026 approaches, political maneuvering for the midterms is likely to overshadow genuine policymaking efforts. This will bring a wave of promises from politicians vowing to fix what has been broken this year while also pledging to dismantle what has long been ineffective. Voters will ultimately decide who they believe can best restore order. Only then will the true extent of the cracks be revealed.
