Overview: The editorial reflects on the current political climate in the United States, comparing it to Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The author argues that the country has fallen down the rabbit hole of political ideologies and is struggling to separate fact from fiction. The Trump administration is accused of reinterpreting long-standing principles of governance and the Constitution itself to fit its backward perspective of greatness. The article warns against staring too long in the looking glass and urges citizens to stay tethered to reality.
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As we work to slam the door on 2025 and look expectantly to 2026, the truth is that what lies ahead of us politically, is stubbornly connected to our collective political past.
Whether you are Black or Brown or working class; whether you are a high school student or a senior citizen; whether you started 2025 fully employed and ended the year unemployed; whether you are an immigrant of color or an American of darker hue who can be misidentified; the United States of America has retreated far from its intended path previously directed toward a more perfect union.
It’s as if the entire nation–lock, stock and barrel–as they say, has fallen down the rabbit hole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as described by celebrated author, Lewis Carroll.
In the story when Alice fell down that long tunnel, she ended up in a land where the rules governing reality as she knew it, no longer applied.
According to some, the phrase “falling down the rabbit hole” has become a metaphor for distraction. This phrase certainly describes the America of 2025. Every day since Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. President for the second time, there are multiple breaking stories purposely intended to keep citizens anxious, on guard, apprehensive and often confused about what is actually happening. Americans constantly struggle to separate fact from fiction, often retreating further and further into their political ideologies and in the process widening the political divide that separates us from one another.
A few years ago, I read an article by writer John Spacey who offered an interpretation of the strange happenings in Alice’s Wonderland and its sequence, Through the Looking Glass. The author presented four categorical interpretations of the works’ key themes. They included the ideas of opposites, idealism, parallel universes, and the theory that reality is stranger than fiction.
I believe Alice’s experiences as interpreted through this lens has relevance today as we try to make sense of actions undertaken by the Trump administration and his cadre of Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters.
Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass (mirror)” offers an expanded surreal, illogical, and paradoxical perspective on Alice’s experiences in Wonderland similar to what is currently being experienced in modern day America. When Alice gazed through the looking glass or mirror, everything she saw, of course, was opposite of the way things were supposed to be. In other words, things she perceived through the “looking glass” were reversed from what they actually were.
We see this happening today where time, just like it did for Alice in Wonderland, where time seemed to be somewhat whimsical and unpredictable that is what is being presented by the federal government today. The Make America Great Again philosophy is rooted in a whimsical time for whites who believe things were better and when life for most people of color was certainly unpredictable. It was a time when white reigned supreme and people of color were a powerless presence in the ordering of America.
The best example of this is all of the hard fought Civil Rights era victories being reversed to help ensure white privilege out of misplaced concern over white fragility. In another example, social safety nets are being degraded to recoup/redirect funding in order to provide tax benefits for the most privileged. Other examples of this include the story that Americans were told about who pays the tariffs or that Venezuelan boats sailing in a direction away from the U.S. were carrying opioids intended for the U.S., even though experts tell us Venezuela doesn’t even traffic in opioids.
Throughout history, ideas have helped create the world we live in and not the other way around. But, Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass challenged the notion that reality is beyond reinterpretation. And we see the administration do this daily.
Under Trump’s leadership, long-standing principals of governance and even the Constitution itself are being reinterpreted to fit Trump’s backward perspective of greatness. For example the administration claims unemployment is not increasing, but rather Trump is creating more jobs than anyone in recent history. In another example the administration claims ICE is deporting the worst of the worst, while data proves otherwise. In other words, the administration outright lies.
Some literary experts view Alice’s experiences through the looking glass akin to living in parallel universes. This is certainly similar to the sentiments of many Americans today. There is a percentage of citizens in the country—somewhere between 30 and 40% of the population—who support a white supremacy ideology. Some of them are leveraging money, power and control to pull the nation backwards to a time in this country’s history where such racist ideology was openly acceptable and normalized.
Meanwhile, in the parallel universe where most other Americans reside, the country (previous to Trump) seemed imperfectly intent on moving toward a more perfect union where diversity is valued, if not celebrated, and the quest for equity was considered a goal worth fighting for.
Believe it or not, Alice in Wonderland is the third most quoted literary work after Shakespeare and the Bible. However, there is more to the story of Lewis Carroll [pen name] beyond his writing that I think is also reflective of the ball of confusion that circles the Trump administration.
Who was Carroll? Was he, as some have professed, a racist? Was he, as others have speculated, a pedophile? Was he, as some have contended, a liar? These are many of the same questions circulating about Trump. Those who have studied Carroll and his work even after more than 150 years, continue to disagree about who he really was despite what some have presented as solid evidence of his pedophilia (he allegedly had a penchant for young girls). Some have sought to mitigate these accusations by stating the age of consent during the Victorian era in which he lived, was 12 years old.
At least one university, St. John’s University of New York, however, included Carroll’s works among a collection of books the university placed in this category: “Within the 150 years of children’s writing which is represented in the collection, there is a widespread occurrence of colonialist narratives which centre white supremacy, and racist and orientalist methods of both fictional and historical storytelling. As such, it is possible, if not likely, that items consulted from the collection will include language and visual imagery which is racist, and many people may find their contents upsetting and offensive.”
I can only hope that when the history of Trump’s strangle hold on America is written there will be little doubt regarding the type of man he is and the social and economic destruction he wrought on the nation.
As we steel ourselves for what lies ahead in 2026, it is important that we not fall down the rabbit hole, that we do not gaze too long in the looking glass. Instead, we must stay tethered to reality. It is the only thing that will set us free. In this instance we must not listen to the metaphorical queen of Oz. We must not believe in Trump’s impossible things like… Yes, there was a budget bill but it was not “Big and Beautiful”: foreign countries do not pay the tariffs, American consumers do; Trump is not creating jobs–unemployment has risen to a 10 year high; ICE is not deporting dangerous criminals, the majority of those being arrested and deported are low level offenders, mothers, fathers, children, and American citizens, without due process; Trump and child rapist Jeffery Epstein were not just casual acquaintances, they were closely aligned associates with questionable affiliations.
2025 was a tumultuous year. Let us steel ourselves for what lies ahead. We know who holds the future. It is in our hands.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.
On behalf of Black Voice News, I “thank you” for your support throughout 2025, and wish you and yours a joyous new year.