The year the government broke

The first crack showed right before Inauguration Day. The year before, Congress had overwhelmingly passed a bill banning TikTok unless it broke ties with its Chinese parent company. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld it, and it was clear what needed to happen next: either the president could give TikTok another 90 days to complete a deal or it would be banned immediately.

But neither of those things happened. Outgoing President Joe Biden punted the decision to incoming President Donald Trump, and after a dramatic few hours where TikTok took itself offline in the US, it returned with a triumphant message thanking Trump for saving it.

Nearly a year and four extra-legal extensions later, TikTok remains in the States, owned by the same Chinese company lawmakers warned would gravely endanger US national security. It only recently announced it had finalized a deal to sell its US-based business, with a targeted closing date of January 22nd, 2026 — more than a year after it was first supposed to be banned. The whole ordeal felt like a comedy of errors, where ultimately everyone threw up their hands. The few details known about a supposedly coming deal raise questions about whether it will even comply with the law’s original requirements.

The failure to take any action at all against TikTok following the panic around its alleged national security risks is just one of many cracks to the federal government’s foundation this year. In March, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth communicated war plans over Signal — an encrypted messaging platform but not one meant for such a use case due to potential security risks on users’ devices — which we only found out about because Trump’s then-national security adviser apparently accidentally added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to that chat.

There was the record 43-day government shutdown that threatened food access for millions of low-income Americans, threw air travel into chaos, halted space launches, and delayed consumer products that needed regulatory approval. There was Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s naked threat to pull broadcast licenses over airing late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel after he made a joke he found distasteful. There were the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on workplaces like Home Depot and the amped up deportation efforts that pulled law enforcement resources from areas like child exploitation investigations. And then there was the biggest full-on rupture to the government in 2025: Elon Musk’s pet project, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Shall we list the ways DOGE took a sledgehammer to the federal government? Hundreds of thousands of federal workers had their jobs cut or left as the Trump administration eagerly pushed them out; it shuttered the group once considered to be the country’s greatest source of soft power, which delivered food and medicine to impoverished countries; it accessed a system containing millions of Americans’ most sensitive financial information, while all but dismantling a financial consumer protection watchdog; it pushed out tech talent across several agencies; saved taxpayers far less money than promised while decimating institutional knowledge; and cut medical research funding perceived as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. After all that, Musk has deemed the project only “somewhat successful” and said he probably wouldn’t do it again.

Of course, the only true test of a democracy’s durability is to see how its checks fare when things break. The TikTok saga shows one example where — at least so far — they have weathered poorly. Congress has issued tepid statements about the executive branch’s unwillingness to enforce the law, but there’s no appetite to impeach Trump over it, and the judicial branch can’t or won’t force action, either. But there have been many other instances where democracy’s counterweights have shown signs of life, and at times, even bravery.

Judges across the country have forcefully struck down and pushed back on policies from the Trump administration that clearly violate the law or Constitution. Several judges ruled to block Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship, ruled against rhetorical gymnastics justifying mass cuts, and moved forward with proceedings to hold administration officials in contempt for allegedly violating an order to stop transporting deportees to El Salvador. The judge in charge of those contempt proceedings has faced personal backlash from Trump and some Republicans filed articles of impeachment against him over separate rulings, but so far, he’s forged ahead.

Even Congress, which has mostly proven to be a rubber stamp, or meek critic at best, has occasionally found its voice. Lawmakers from Trump’s own party, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), stood their ground alongside Democrats on forcing a release of information related to the Epstein files — the one issue that continues to dog the president. Though several Republicans called for firing or deplatforming Americans who criticized conservative activist Charlie Kirk after his killing, a few like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pushed back on efforts like Carr’s Goodfellas-style threats to broadcasters. And recently, the House Armed Services Committee is stepping up to fill its oversight role in questioning the series of events leading to military strikes on a boat Trump officials claim was illegally carrying drugs from Venezuela.

Then there’s the pushback from millions of Americans across the country, who have showed up in large numbers at “No Kings” rallies, protested Tesla showrooms at the height of CEO Musk’s power at DOGE, and documented raids and arrests by an emboldened ICE as the administration has waged a mass deportation effort. There have been efforts to fill the food banks when SNAP benefits were at risk during the shutdown, while former federal workers pitched in to help keep technologists in the government during the extensive pay pause.

As 2026 approaches, political posturing for the midterms is likely to overshadow any real efforts at policymaking. With that will come a slew of messages from politicians promising to fix what was broken this year and also promising to break what hasn’t worked in far too long. Voters will choose who they think can best put it all back together. Only then will we find out how deep the cracks actually go.