Looking back at 2025, it’s hard not to feel like we’ve just lived through one of those years that historians will circle in red on the timeline. The kind where everything seems to accelerate—politics turning into theater, markets defying gravity, and cultural battles reaching what might finally be their boiling point. I’ve followed these kinds of shifts for decades, and this one feels different. More raw, more unpredictable.
The Year Everything Converged Around One Figure
No matter where you turned in 2025, one name dominated the conversation. The political landscape wasn’t just shaped by him—it was practically redefined. Like a force of nature, he inserted himself into global affairs, domestic policy, and even cultural debates with a boldness that left observers scrambling for historical parallels.
Some compared him to ancient Roman leaders, not the benevolent ones who stepped down after saving the republic, but the ambitious types who reshaped empires in their image. In my view, that’s not entirely unfair. The sheer volume of executive actions, the sweeping tariffs, the personal interventions in foreign conflicts—all of it carried an authoritarian flair that thrives in unstable times.
But here’s what struck me most: the chaos wasn’t accidental. It felt deliberate, a bulldozer approach to clearing out what he saw as decades of rot. Whether that clears the path for something better or just creates more debris remains to be seen.
Tariffs, Spending, and Echoes of Past Economic Experiments
Economically, the year took on shades of historical experiments we’d rather not repeat. Protectionist policies came roaring back, with tariffs positioned as both shield and revenue source. The idea of replacing income taxes with import duties sounds appealing on paper—after all, it worked when government was a fraction of its current size.
Reality, though, is messier. Federal spending shows no signs of shrinking; if anything, it’s accelerating. Promises of efficiency cuts fade into the background as new initiatives pile up. I’ve seen this pattern before in other countries—government “partnerships” with industry, heavy regulation disguised as protection, subsidies flowing to favored sectors. It rarely ends with prosperity for the average person.
The surrounding team doesn’t inspire much confidence either. When leadership attracts primarily loyalists rather than independent thinkers, policy becomes more about personality than prudence. That’s when markets start pricing in real risk.
The path from protectionism to full-blown economic intervention is shorter than most realize.
And let’s be honest—the currency implications are troubling. With monetary policy likely to remain accommodative (to put it mildly), the destruction of purchasing power could speed up dramatically.
Foreign Policy: Bluster Meets Reality
On the international stage, 2025 was a masterclass in hyperbole. Claims of ending long-standing conflicts circulated widely, but dig beneath the headlines and little had fundamentally changed. Ceasefires secured through threats or financial incentives tend to be fragile things.
Worse, constant intervention risks drawing the country deeper into regional quagmires. When a nation positions itself as the indispensable mediator—or enforcer—it often finds itself holding the bag when things inevitably flare up again.
- Border security rhetoric reached fever pitch, yet practical implementation lagged far behind the promises.
- Tourism faced new hurdles with invasive data requirements, potentially costing hundreds of billions in revenue.
- Pardons and personal financial ventures raised eyebrows about consistency and conflicts of interest.
The cumulative effect? Trust in statements from the highest levels eroded further, both domestically and abroad. When words lose their weight, diplomacy becomes infinitely harder.
Did We Finally Hit Peak Cultural Extremism?
Perhaps the most hopeful development of 2025 was cultural. After years of escalating ideological pressure, something shifted. The election results suggested that large swaths of the population had simply had enough.
Call it peak wokeism, or just common sense reasserting itself. Either way, the backlash felt palpable. People grew tired of institutions—educational, corporate, governmental—pushing agendas that seemed disconnected from everyday reality.
Yet optimism needs tempering. The underlying infrastructure remains: captured universities, compliant media, entrenched bureaucracies. Turning the tide permanently requires more than one election cycle. It demands rebuilding from the ground up.
In my experience, cultural shifts rarely move in straight lines. They pendulum swing, often overshooting in both directions. The question is whether this correction goes far enough to restore balance, or merely sets the stage for the next overreach.
Technology: Bright Spots Amid the Hype
Not everything in 2025 trended toward chaos. Some technological breakthroughs offered genuine reason for long-term optimism. Space exploration costs plummeted as reusable rockets became routine. Multiple players—private and state—pushed boundaries further than ever.
Artificial intelligence dominated headlines and investment flows. Hundreds of billions poured into the sector amid predictions of transformative change. But bubbles have a way of forming around revolutionary technologies.
I’ve watched similar cycles before. The internet boom, biotech frenzy, crypto mania—each brought real innovation alongside staggering waste. When capital allocation goes haywire, corrections follow. The sheer scale of AI investment raises the stakes considerably.
Technology remains the one force that consistently lifts humanity higher, but only when properly capitalized and directed.
If economic conditions deteriorate sharply, even promising fields could face funding droughts. That’s the real risk—not that AI fails to deliver, but that broader instability starves it of necessary resources.
The Great Institutional Trust Collapse
One of 2025’s quieter but most significant trends was the continued erosion of faith in major institutions. Media credibility hit new lows as independent voices gained audience share. Universities faced growing skepticism about their value proposition.
Government agencies, once granted wide deference, now operate under intense scrutiny. Even central banking—long treated as arcane priesthood—came under fire as people connected money creation to everyday price increases.
This delegitimization isn’t entirely negative. Old structures becoming irrelevant often clears space for better alternatives. The danger lies in the vacuum created. When trust evaporates too completely, social cohesion suffers.
Mass demographic changes complicate matters further. Large-scale immigration of populations with differing values and time horizons strains already weakened social contracts. Traditional high-trust societies don’t transition easily to low-trust models without friction.
Markets vs. Reality: The Growing Disconnect
Financial markets spent 2025 touching new highs while many households struggled with stagnant real wages and mounting debt. This divergence has become almost routine, but the gap feels wider than ever.
Excess liquidity has to go somewhere, and for years it’s flowed primarily into financial assets. Stocks, bonds, real estate—all inflated beyond what underlying economics justify. The average person experiences this as higher costs and diminished purchasing power.
Such disconnects rarely persist indefinitely. When they correct, the adjustment tends to be sharp and painful. The longer the imbalance builds, the more severe the eventual reckoning.
Are We Entering a Historic Fourth Turning?
Some theorists argue we’re living through a generational crisis period—a “fourth turning” where institutions get stress-tested to destruction or renewal. The timing aligns uncomfortably well with current events.
Political polarization at extremes. Economic inequality at generational highs. Cultural foundations shifting. International order fraying. Each element feeds the others, creating feedback loops that accelerate change.
History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. Past crisis periods birthed both disasters and rebirths. The outcome depends largely on choices made during the turmoil.
Whatever label we apply, one thing feels certain: the country that emerges from this decade will look substantially different from the one we entered with. Whether that difference proves positive or negative remains very much in play.
Reasons for Cautious Optimism
Amid all the turbulence, some bright threads emerge. Technological progress continues its exponential march. Independent media flourishes. More people question official narratives and seek understanding of complex systems like money and power.
- Space becoming routinely accessible opens entirely new frontiers.
- Growing awareness of monetary mechanics could force better policy eventually.
- Cultural pushback against extremism suggests self-correction mechanisms still work.
- Entrepreneurial energy finding new outlets outside traditional gatekeepers.
These developments won’t necessarily prevent near-term pain, but they provide building blocks for whatever comes next. Civilizations have survived far worse periods by leveraging human ingenuity and adaptability.
The key, as always, lies in positioning. Those who recognize the nature of these shifts early can protect wealth, preserve freedom, and even find opportunities amid the chaos.
Looking ahead, 2026 promises more of the same volatility with higher stakes. The trends set in motion during 2025 aren’t reversing anytime soon. But volatility cuts both ways—it destroys the unprepared while rewarding those who stay clear-eyed and flexible.
In the end, perhaps that’s the real lesson of this pivotal year: nothing stays static forever. Empires rise and fall, ideologies wax and wane, technologies disrupt and create. The constant is change itself, and our ability to navigate it determines outcomes more than any single event or leader ever could.
Whatever 2026 brings, one suspects it will make 2025 look almost calm by comparison. Buckle up.
