Year-End Lament And A Call To Rebuild

The year left a mark, and not the kind that fades. We open the door on grief, anger, and fatigue—and then move past venting to ask the harder question: what would it take to actually fix a nation drifting toward crisis? From broken norms to captured institutions, we trace how power stayed protected while public trust crumbled, and why understanding the machinery of government is now a survival skill, not a hobby.

We don’t hedge on the risks ahead. Economic shocks, environmental disasters, and public health failures can stack when expertise is purged and agencies are gutted. If checks and balances become theater, rules must be rewritten so they can’t be gamed.

Media matters as much as ballots. We look at information monopolies, the erosion of local journalism, and how to rebuild a fact-based public square through antitrust, newsroom independence, and clear labeling of news versus opinion. Protests have a place, but results demand strategy—coalitions, legal action, smart nonviolent tactics, and digital hygiene that protects organizers. Through it all, we place a real bet on younger leaders with a moral compass and communities that practice mutual aid. Angry as we are, we still choose duty over despair.

Transcript

A Brutal Year In Review

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to this fucking country. I'm your host, Greg. Today I'm doing kind of a look back at 2025, which was just a fucking horrible fucking year for most people, especially if you lived in these United States of America under the guidance of our Lord God and Savior and King, Donald IF children Trump. I can honestly say that I haven't been this fucking depressed in a long time. I mean, my faith in humanity might be at an all-time low right now, and that's saying a lot because I don't really have a lot of faith in human beings. To say it's at an all-time low is saying something. I mean, I expect nothing from our government. There's usually a handful of people in there who are, I believe, good people doing the work and uh doing it for the right reasons, but I think the rest of them go from uh just people there who are greedy and want power and uh are looking to enrich themselves to the very worst of the worst, which is what we've got in the Republican Party. The politics alone are fucking uh nightmarish and horrible. But bigger picture is you have to look at the humanity behind this. I mean, how do we have an entire party in this country that has completely given up any kind of a moral code, who's just completely given up on doing anything right, anything good. They've just kowtoed uh and and ignored their power and their responsibility just to maintain their power and their wealth. It's just foul. Here is one thing I will say for Trump. I have never learned more about our political system in my life than I have under this piece of shit. It's sad to say, but you you needed somebody to fucking dismantle the system, find all the loopholes, find all the ways you could just work around things and fuck things up to really get people involved, to get people motivated to learn. And and that's what he's done. So for the last decade, as this piece of shit has been in our in our consciousness, I've been paying attention more than I ever have in the past. And while I'm glad I'm learning and understanding finally, it's also just it's just fucking gutting me, man. It is just fucking ripping my soul out and just you know, spitting on it. Just to watch this network of rich, fucking disgusting pedophiles, just so many rich, powerful men just abusing these children, and then this network of pieces of shit that are supporting them, that are protecting them. How do you deal with that? How do you just look into your soul and realize that so much of our humanity is fucking horrible? I don't know what to do with that. I mean, there are I know there's some great people in this world, in this country, uh, since Trump's been around. I've seen some fantastic people. There have been some amazing heroes over the last year. There's there's been the people who've stood up, uh made their voices heard. You know, God bless them, thank God for them. But overall, it's this tiny, tiny percentage of people who are willing to fight. And then you've got this vast majority of people who just don't want to know. They don't want to seek out any information, they want to believe it's all gonna be fine, or they just don't give a shit. A lot of people have not been inconvenienced enough yet to make them pay attention, and that's another horrible fucking thing about humanity. You know, it's not happening to me, so why the fuck do I care? It can't be that bad. And I personally believe that they're all gonna find out. I I think the 2026 will be a fucking shit show. I don't know about for the world, but I think for this country, I think on so many fronts uh things are gonna get very, very bad. I think our economy is gonna collapse. I think Trump is going to be so desperate to stay out of prison and to stay in power that he's gonna start doing crazier and crazier shit. And again, I don't know if any of these fucking morally bankrupt pieces of shit politicians will do anything to stop him, but I doubt it. They haven't done anything yet. Short of a miracle, which I don't see coming, I I think 2026 is gonna be just one of the worst years for this country since this country's began. And it's probably gonna happen on so many fronts because if anything bad happens, if we have any kind of a uh environmental uh catastrophe or event, we don't have people in place to take care of that. We don't have people who give a shit about taking care of it. You know, who they will not throw money at it unless it's people who are kissing their ass. I think they've probably fired most of the competent people. If we have a pandemic, you've got that idiot fucking uh RFK Jr. uh in charge. He doesn't know what the fuck he's doing, and again, they've gotten rid of most of the people who know what the fuck they're doing. If anything happens like that, we really are fucked. The economy, the environment, any of these things can happen, or all of them can happen. And I'm afraid something will. I've been preparing for the last year, you know, I've been re-listening to economists, and I've been trying to do what I can do. I have very little savings or money, but I'm trying to be smart with what I do have, and I would strongly suggest that anyone else do the same. I I don't know. It's hard going into a new year to feel this depressed and this sad and this hopeless. I I usually like to start the new year with some kind of reinvention or uh a goals, something to get me uh motivated to do better. I don't know what to do for next year. I I honestly don't. I'm doing my best to safeguard myself from whatever catastrophes can come, but how how can you prevent or safeguard from you don't know what is what's what it's gonna be. All I know is this. When this fucking scourge of humanity, when this entire administration is finally gone, when they're hopefully dead or in prison or whatever the fuck they're gonna wind up being, we need to make some very serious changes. We need to do a complete reinvention of this fucking country. I don't know if we're gonna get people running for office who will do that, or if we're gonna have same if we're gonna have just the same old fucking white people who just want to stay wealthy. I really sincerely hope we get some young people in there who have motivation, who have integrity, who have a moral compass to get in there, undo first off, all the shit that this asshole's done, and then reinvent this fucking country. Make laws, pass the laws that will safeguard these things. We now know that the Supreme Court can be corrupted and is corrupt, and we need to safeguard against that. All of these things, the part the two-party system that's not working for us at all anymore. The electoral system is failing us. There's so many things that need to be changed. Our healthcare system needs to be changed. And you know what we've realized too during this Asshole's administration is that we've always had the money. We can get the money. We've got fucking people who are on the verge of becoming trillionaires now. All we need to do is fucking tax them. We don't have to steal their money, we just need to tax them at a reasonable rate. We could get everything done we want to get done. We could take care of people, there will be no poor, there will be no starving, everyone can have health care. We could fucking do this and we can afford this. And it's fucking disgusting that these assholes in our politics will not say that. We've always had Bernie speaking the truth, but that's it. You know, there's a handful of people who know what to fucking be done. And unfortunately, so many of the people in our country are so fucking uneducated and ignorant that they keep buying into the same shit. I believe the educated outnumber these people. And I'd like to think that after going through this, some of these fucking uneducated people have become educated and have seen the lies and seen the bullshit, they've seen the money being spent that does nobody good but the rich people. I mean, if you see that, you have to understand at one point that oh wait, if they've got the money for that, they do have the money for this. They can take care of their people. We have to reinvent this country. It was a good jumping off point. I used to think that the Constitution was this beautiful document, this thing of poetry. And now I've realized the flaws behind it. We need the amendments, we need to make more amendments, we need to fix all these flaws, permanently fix these things so that no fucking group of people can come in and do what they've been doing. And that's assuming that we can get these fuckers out. I mean, God only knows what the fuck's gonna happen. There is such a portion of our population who are so fucking stupid and gullible or horrible and are willing to go along with this that I don't know if we're getting out of this. I don't know if 2026 is the year that's gonna change it and help us start turning around, or if it's gonna be the year that cements us into a fucking government and lifestyle like we've never had before. 2026 could turn America into some kind of a fucking dictator state. Ten years ago, I would never would have guessed that this was possible, but not only is it possible, it's almost probable at this point. I am hoping there are young people out there because I really believe my generation of old white men have fucked this country for for fucking centuries now. And I believe the only chance we have is if we get the younger kids who've got uh some integrity. It's a kid like David Hogg, the uh the kid who was one of the shooting survivors, who's been into politics, who's finding young people to run for office and get rid of the old stagnant pieces of shit who sit there only for their own gain. We need more people like him. We need more of this generation doing what has to be done. My generation of old fucking racist white pieces of shit is gonna die offly hopefully soon. And I hope there's some youth, some vitality, some inspiration, some courage. I hope there is enough of that to replace these pieces of shit and fix the system. We have to fix the media empires, these monopolies of these fucking billionaires that own all the media, all the information that's getting out there has all been tainted. We're not actually getting facts anymore. We're not getting real journalism where they tell you this is what happened and why. We're not learning anything, and we need to. We really need to understand what the fuck's going on. I I haven't been doing many of the podcasts because I'm honestly so full of despair that I'm I'm so often at a loss for words. I just scratch my head and I look around, I'm thinking, how are there not more people as angry as I am? Why isn't everybody fucking pissed off? When Trump got elected back into office and we started to see the things that were happening with ICE, I had asked on social media if people in my community wanted to get together and talk about what was going on. And we had a few get-togethers. I respect everyone who came out because they were worried, they wanted to do something. And a lot of the people who came out to those meetings did did do things. They protested, they they gave money to great causes, the ACLU, different places. Okay, some of the people said, Well, I can't do that, but I'm gonna do this. Some people took it upon themselves just to become more um independent, starting gardens and things like that, because if the shit hits the fan, they'll know how to grow food so that they can eat and they will share with their community. So we've got some people who are making a change, who are trying to do something for the better. It was not a big group. During the meeting, I personally asked, I said, is anyone willing? I said the protests are great, although I don't think they're gonna do too much, but it's good to get out there and show the world, you know, we're not all these fucking morons. I asked if anybody would be willing to go to the next step. Maybe perhaps do something illegal if that's what became necessary at a certain point. Because we can all see the writing on the wall. We all knew what ICE was doing, and we all knew what Trump and his administration was like. So there was no doubt everything was gonna get worse. They were gonna break more laws, they were gonna steal who they wanted and kidnap and whatever they wanted to do. Out of all the people that were there during all the meetings, one other person said they would be willing to do what had to be done if the time came. I was glad for that one person, but I'm also sad that we have such a small percentage of people who understand the threat that we face right now and are willing to do what must be done. I think most of the people have already decided what they're comfortable doing. Okay, I think some people like to protest, some people don't want to do anything they don't think they have any effect. That's a lot of Americans. It's like, what could I do? You're one person. Which I really hate that mentality, but I believe that's what a big part of our country is. But a very, very small percentage, I think, are willing to do what's gotta be done next. I'm really hoping in 26 that a couple organizations expand their horizons to include alternate methods to fight back against this regime. I I don't think simple protests and doing those type of things are gonna are gonna do it anymore. My hope for 26 is that there becomes a resistance, a true resistance, smart, powerful, well backed, well funded, that can make some changes. But we'll see. I am not going into 26 hopeful, but there is a piece of me that still has hope. I don't know why. I I wish that what I'm thinking is coming does not come. I I want everyone to have happiness and peace. I would love for this country to come back together again and realize that we all want the same thing, or I should say we all. We most want the same thing. Some people are full of hate and fear and they want this disgusting shit that's going on, but I believe a vast percentage of us all want safety, security, happiness, just a chance to live and be be content with our families and our friends. And God, I hope somebody comes forward and shares this message and everybody gets on board. So here's my hope for 26. I hope somehow the Epstein files are released, all of them unredacted, and I hope every fucking piece of shit who's in there and part of the network who's been a part of these poor fucking children being used and abused, every one of them goes to fucking jail, and I hope they spend the rest of their fucking lives there. I hope this administration is all removed and put on trial for their crimes, their treason, and I hope to go to they go to jail, and I hope they spend the rest of their lives there. I hope Trump and his criminal family are all removed from power. I hope that they are all put on trial, and I hope they spend the rest of their lives in jail, and I hope that their wealth is taken from them. And I hope that everybody that voted for him has a moment of clarity and understands that they made a mistake, that they were misinformed, and that they learn from their mistakes and they do better next time they vote. I hope that every fucking person at Fox fucking news, all those fucking assholes who lie through their teeth every day, they do their best to misinform a huge portion of this country. I hope that they're brought to court, I hope they're sent to jail, and I hope they spend the rest of their lives there. I don't know what could possibly fucking happen to make any of these things come true. But uh that's what I would like. And it worst case scenario, I'll take Donald Trump having a fucking stroke and dying uh of natural causes. Uh I'll take that as a win too. I hope you're all safe next year. I hope you could still find happiness and love, and I hope we all have more compassion for each other, for the underprivileged, for the people who are being abused right now. I I hope and pray for all these things in 2026. I expect nothing but catastrophe, but I'm hoping for those. So with that being said, hopefully I will talk to you all again after the first of the year. Best wishes to everybody. Thanks for listening.