Understanding This Moment Up Close
This week marks one year since Donald Trump returned to office. For many people—including myself—it’s been a hard year to process. Not just because of policy changes, but because long-standing assumptions about limits on power, stability, and rights have been shaken. The pace of change has been fast, and the tone of public life has often felt tense. For many, those changes have had direct and destabilizing consequences.
In this moment, tensions are particularly high. In the U.S., people are feeling pressure in different ways—some through the rising cost of living, others through the growing visibility of immigration enforcement in everyday life, and others through the Trump Administration’s upending of long-standing alliances and norms that have shaped global stability for decades.
It is a confusing and troubling period, and with the constant stream of breaking news, it is hard to tell what is actually happening—and what will have lasting ramifications. The questions this moment raises are not just partisan ones; they are about democratic systems, norms, and accountability.
This kind of deeper understanding rarely comes from reading news and commentary alone. It comes from firsthand experience and exchange—seeing how systems work in practice, talking with people inside the systems, and hearing first-hand accounts from some of the most significant moments of the last year.
That belief in expanding our perspectives is what has drawn us, through Democracy Journeys, to look at democracies under pressure around the world. This year, that same impulse brings the focus closer to home.
Our upcoming journey to Washington, DC focuses on gaining behind-the-scenes perspectives on the dynamics shaping this period of American democracy. It isn’t about fearmongering or reassurance. It is an opportunity to meet with our democracy’s leaders—both inside and outside of government—hear their perspectives and share ours about the state of our democracy.
We are at an important moment in the months ahead. We are seeing sustained pressure on institutional limits, civic space, and the norms that have traditionally constrained executive power, and we are on the precipice of the midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress. It is a period of great consequence – both for our country and our world.
On our DC journey, we will be meeting with a journalist fighting for freedom of the press, voices from both sides of the aisle in Congress, and a senior leader from a national civil liberties organization, among others. Through these meetings, we will explore the resilience of our democratic institutions and how people across the city are pushing back against the erosion of democratic norms and personal liberties.
Here are some of the questions I will pose to our speakers in Washington:
What developments are receiving less public attention than they deserve, despite their long-term significance?
Which choices made in this period are likely to have consequences beyond the current political cycle?
Where are decisions being made quietly rather than publicly, and why does that matter?
What signals should we be watching for in the midterms to understand where American democracy may be headed next?
What questions will you bring?