On the Media – “Is It Over Yet? 2025 in Review”

Date: December 26, 2025
Hosts: Brooke Gladstone, Michael Loewinger

Overview

This special year-end episode of “On the Media” examines the seismic events of 2025 through the lens of media analysis, political narrative, and the erosion of democratic norms in the United States. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Michael Loewinger revisit some of the year's most impactful stories—from sweeping executive actions and unprecedented pardons, to Silicon Valley interventions in government, press freedom assaults, and societal responses to rapid institutional change. The tone is skeptical, urgent, and at times incredulous, offering both sharp critique and moments of dark humor about the tumultuous state of politics and media in 2025.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The “Preposterous Year” & Its Media Narratives

• Opening Reflection (00:01–02:35)

  • Brooke Gladstone introduces 2025 as a year overflowing with both “shiny objects launched from the White House” and grim realities.
  • Sets the stage for a critical look at the interplay between government power, media coverage, and public reaction.

• Words, Colors, and Rage (02:40–03:28)

  • Pantone’s color of the year: “soft Mocha Brown.” 2026: “natural white”—both treated as symbolic of current political and cultural struggles.
  • Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year: “rage bait.”
  • Merriam Webster’s: a term describing AI-generated “slop.”
  • “These political analysis, cultural analysis, linguistic and even color analysis are ultimately media analysis. So you’re welcome, I guess.” – Brooke Gladstone (03:19)

Trump’s Second Term: Executive Orders, Pardons, and Press Retaliation

• Day One Blitzkrieg (03:57–05:54)

  • Trump signs 26 executive orders on his first day (220 through the year): border clampdowns, climate rollbacks, ending DEI mandates, redefining the Gulf of Mexico, blanket pardon for most January 6th offenders, including violent felons.
  • Many orders are “pockmarked with weird typos and unnatural language that legal experts said bore the marks of AI.” —Brooke Gladstone (05:44)

• Pardons as Political Capital (06:28–07:15)

  • High-profile, controversial pardons: Ross Ulbricht, Rod Blagojevich, George Santos, Juan Orlando Hernandez. Many justified as vengeance against prosecutors “who’d persecuted him.”
    • “Pardons have served as a kind of capital for this president.” —Brooke Gladstone (06:28)

• Reshaping the Media Landscape (07:15–10:19)

  • Trump resumes antagonizing the press; pushes networks toward “neutrality” that, as guest Oliver Darcy explains, often enables misinformation.
  • The Washington Post loses top talent (09:44).
    • “It also feels like a moment of opportunity. That is, if the owners and management know what they're doing.” —Columbia Journalism Review’s John Allsop (10:07, paraphrased)

Immigration Clampdown and “Deportation Industrial Complex”

• Deportation Blitz (10:19–11:30)
  • $170 billion allocated to detain and deport 1 million people/year; ICE engages in highly visible raids across US cities.
  • Tear gas, chemical agents used on citizen protestors.
    • “Headlines blazed with reports of masked men snatching up grandmothers and landscapers, kindergarten at schools, Home Depots and immigration courts…” —Brooke Gladstone (10:40)

Silicon Valley’s Takeover: Elon Musk and the Administrative State

• DOGE Task Force & USAID (12:26–16:59)
  • Elon Musk is granted sweeping access to federal systems (Treasury, USAID, CDC, etc.), described as a “rampage through government agencies with a diamond encrusted chainsaw” (12:26).
  • Musk’s “DOGE” task force works to disrupt bureaucracy, often skirting or breaking laws.
    • “They are indeed moving fast, and we are concerned they may break things.” —Victoria Elliott, Wired (13:22)
  • Estimated 14 million could die globally by 2030 due to USAID’s dismantling (Lancet report), 300,000 federal workers laid off.

Politicization of Justice & New Right-Wing Power Brokers

• Department of Justice Overhaul (16:59–22:12)

  • New Attorney General Pam Bondi issues memos for death penalty expansion, anti-DEI investigations, “anti-Christian targeting” task force.
  • January 6th investigations erased from DOJ and FBI records; mass firings.
    • “For a lot of the assistant U.S. attorneys...that was really tough for them to do.” —Ryan Reilly, NBC (18:43)

• Cash Patel & Dan Bongino at FBI (20:02–22:58)

  • Conspiracy theorists installed as Bureau leadership.
    • “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media...” —Cash Patel (20:14)
    • “Bananas. Absolutely bananas. I can’t believe it.” —Brandy Zadrozny on Bongino’s role (22:24)

Press Freedom Under Assault

• White House Press Pool Rewired (23:10–24:19)

  • Credentials opened to “independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers”—legacy press sidelined.
    • “The White House Correspondents’ association would no longer be the body choosing who gets to fill those precious 49 seats...” —Brooke Gladstone (24:01)

• AP Barred for “Gulf of America” Name Row (25:23–25:56)

  • AP loses access for not using White House’s new terminology.

Re-Creation of McCarthy-Era Repression

• Targeting Activists & Immigrants (25:56–28:57)
  • Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil detained by ICE under the McCarran-Walter Act after protesting the Gaza war; comparison to Red Scare.
    • “Once again, we are seeing the systemic use of the state and all of these instruments to both suppress heterodox belief and push the culture further to the right.” —Corey Robin (27:27)

Institutional Capture & Market Volatility

• “Signal Gate” and Deregulation (29:30–31:56)

  • Leaks expose operational secrets, erode military and diplomatic trust.

• Market Chaos as Presidential Tool (31:15–33:16)

  • Tariff announcements used strategically, leading to profiteering among Trump allies.
    • “Some people made off like bandits just before the market resumed tumbling…” —Michael Loewinger (32:44)

• Presidential Power & National Emergencies (33:16–34:16)

  • Trump uses emergency declarations to bypass Congress, escalating the “national emergency” as a tool of executive overreach.

Crackdown & Surveillance

• Senator Padilla’s Arrest (34:16–36:23)

  • CA Senator Alex Padilla is handcuffed and removed by Secret Service when questioning DHS.
    • “If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers…” —Padilla (35:33)

• Media Retaliations (36:41–37:44)

  • ABC’s Terry Moran is fired after publicly criticizing Trump advisor Stephen Miller.
  • Reference to “Network”’s iconic “mad as hell” speech:
    • “In 1976, that film was a satire and the main character a loon. But it doesn’t seem so loony anymore.” —Brooke Gladstone (37:44)

Defunding Public Media & Erasing Data

• Funding Cuts & Fact Suppression (38:42–41:14)
  • Congress guts public media. Stephen Colbert’s show canceled; speculated connection to jokes about networks paying off the White House.
  • BLS commissioner fired after reporting job losses.
    • “When President Trump doesn’t get the beautiful numbers he seeks, he offers alternatives, even if they defy the immutable laws of mathematics.” —Brooke Gladstone (40:27)
    • “You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1200–1500%. I don’t mean 50%. I mean 14, 1500%.” —Donald Trump (40:50)

Occupation, Violence, and Political Shifts

• National Guard in DC/Press Complicity (41:20–42:22)

  • Troops deployed in DC under the guise of crime fighting—media sometimes complicit in messaging.
    • “By manufacturing consent, I mean the public does not currently agree with Donald Trump...But the media...is increasing support for it by suggesting he's trying to fight crime.” —Jamison Fozer (42:09)

• Assassination of Charlie Kirk (42:22–44:17)

  • Right-wing icon Kirk is killed; left blamed; government crackdowns escalate.
    • “One article of MAGA faith is that the left is responsible for the lion's share of political violence. Demonstrably untrue.” —Brooke Gladstone (43:29)

Resistance, Small Rebounds & Hope

• Pushbacks in Politics and Courts (49:07–50:46)

  • Democrats take key races. Some Trump policies stalling in courts; several ICE victims returned home after legal battles.
  • Bipartisan resistance emerges in Congress on some measures.
    • “...the president’s dike is starting to spring leaks.” —Brooke Gladstone (50:46)

• Encouragement Against Fatalism (51:02–52:19)

  • NYT’s Jamelle Bouie urges listeners not to fall into panicked fatalism:
    • “The reason why I urge people not to fall into panic and fear is because panic and fear will overwhelm your critical faculties… Danger is still something that could happen. This is the word I want you to remember. It's contingent. …it is within the capacity to change it.” —Jamelle Bouie (51:19–51:49)

Notable Quotes

• “This year, the news was delivered as an unceasing geyser. And while making our job here at the media analysis factory weirdly easier, the constant battering took a toll on our collective mental health.”
  —Michael Loewinger (03:28)

• “Many of dubious legality and some pockmarked with weird typos and unnatural language that legal experts said bore the marks of AI.”
  —Brooke Gladstone (05:44)

• “If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day labor...”
  —Sen. Alex Padilla (35:33)

• “One article of MAGA faith is that the left is responsible for the lion's share of political violence. Demonstrably untrue.”
  —Brooke Gladstone (43:29)

• “The reason why I urge people not to fall into panic and fear is because panic and fear will overwhelm your critical faculties. …it is within the capacity to change it.”
  —Jamelle Bouie (51:19)

Important Segment Timestamps

• Year-in-Review Introduction: (00:01–03:28)
• Trump’s Day One Executive Orders: (03:57–05:54)
• Blanket Pardons Issued: (05:54–07:15)
• Media Industry Shifts: (08:02–10:19)
• Immigration Policy Crackdown: (10:19–11:30)
• Musk’s “DOGE” Federal Disruption: (12:26–16:59)
• Justice Department Purge: (17:53–22:12)
• White House Press Pool Restructured: (23:10–24:19)
• Mahmoud Khalil/ICE Red Scare Parallel: (25:56–28:57)
• Market Manipulation & Emergency Declarations: (31:15–34:16)
• Sen. Padilla’s Arrest by DHS: (34:16–36:23)
• Public Media Defunded, Facts Challenged: (38:42–41:14)
• National Guard in DC, “Manufactured Consent”: (41:20–42:22)
• Charlie Kirk Assassination Fallout: (42:22–44:17)
• Political Resistance & Hints of Hope: (49:07–52:19)

Memorable Moments

• “Drill, baby, drill...We were renamed the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of America. Sounds so beautiful.” —Donald Trump (04:16–04:39)
• “Bananas. Absolutely bananas. I can’t believe it.” —Brandy Zadrozny on Dan Bongino’s rise (22:24)
• Sen. Alex Padilla arrested, exemplifying the normalization of political repression (34:45–35:33)
• Charlie Kirk’s assassination and ensuing crackdowns (42:22–46:15)
• Jamelle Bouie’s TikTok address encouraging pragmatic resistance, not paralyzing fear (51:08–52:19)

Conclusion

“Is It Over Yet? 2025 in Review” is a sobering, sometimes surreal chronicle of unchecked executive power, the corrosion of fact-based journalism, institutional capture, and the countercurrents of resistance and hope that persist. The episode balances incisive analysis, accounts from insiders, and illustrative audio moments to deliver not just a summary of the year’s events, but a meditation on the importance of both vigilance and clear-eyed optimism in the face of overwhelming change.