- 2 months ago
The last decade has transformed America in powerful and unexpected ways — from politics and technology to culture and daily life. This video highlights the 10 biggest shifts that changed the country forever.
🇺🇸 Political & social transformations
📱 Tech revolutions & cultural shifts
⚡ Moments that defined a generation
Watch now to see how America has evolved in just 10 years.
🇺🇸 Political & social transformations
📱 Tech revolutions & cultural shifts
⚡ Moments that defined a generation
Watch now to see how America has evolved in just 10 years.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Our discourse has been so poisoned by the internet that our elected officials
00:05are now using the power and resources of the federal government to carry out social media
00:10style justice. No matter what your politics are today, one thing seems certain, you're probably
00:15angry. Welcome to WatchMojo. Today we go to the root of this phenomenon and look at 10 ways American
00:21perspectives have changed in the past decade. We also saw a big backlash with political figures
00:26on the right. Rise of youth and minority representation in politics. Over the past
00:32decade, American politics has started to look more like the country it represents. I do think
00:36voting matters. I think it's a really important part of our democracy and I think that everyone
00:41should take part in it because that's our duty as American citizens. The share of women, people of
00:46color, and younger lawmakers in Congress has steadily increased. The 119th Congress marked a record for
00:52racial and ethnic diversity. Gen Z and millennials are not only voting in greater numbers but running
00:56for office themselves. We decided to build an entire campaign around making the most expensive city in
01:02America affordable because that's what New Yorkers were telling us. Younger politicians bring different
01:06priorities on issues like climate, equity, and digital rights. Their influence isn't uniform. As a
01:11whole, young voters are less partisan and more fragmented than stereotypes suggest. Women are trending
01:16more liberal while young men are becoming more conservative. A generation once seen as disengaged is now
01:21demanding power and increasingly getting it. Overturning Roe v. Wade
01:36When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it ended close to 50 years of federal
01:41protection for abortion rights. Today's decision had been much anticipated since early May when
01:46Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion was leaked. The court's ruling ends the constitutional right to
01:54an abortion, a right that had been the law of the land for nearly 50 years. In the ruling's aftermath,
02:00reproductive rights and often health in America became a matter of geography. Some states had trigger
02:05laws banning abortion outright the moment of the decision. Others expanded access and legal safeguards.
02:10Clinics closed across large regions. OB-GYNs have been slowly leaving red states.
02:14Do you ever have to turn women away? We are. We are turning women away.
02:18We're giving them numbers. We're referring them to, you know, Colorado. We're on the phones every
02:24day. People crying. I mean, you know, because they can't get in anywhere.
02:28Large swaths of rural America have become OB-GYN deserts, where women struggle to find basic
02:33prenatal or emergency care. The effects have rippled outward. Training for doctors has been affected,
02:38as has the availability of contraception. With the judiciary's conservative majority now firmly in place,
02:43legal battles over reproductive rights show no sign of ending.
02:46Ramifications of this abortion ban are going to be felt by generations of Texans.
02:51Trans people left out in the cold. The last decade opened with real gains for trans Americans.
02:56In protections for gender identity and gender expression in our anti-discrimination clauses,
03:02which is awesome and should be fought for on, like, everywhere. Federal courts and agencies
03:07increasingly recognize gender identity and civil rights protections. Advocates won key cases and policy
03:12concessions, including for trans military veterans. Then the culture war swallowed the issue whole.
03:17A coordinated wave of state and federal actions targeted health care, identification, school speech,
03:22bathrooms and military service. This is part and parcel of a longer term trend of stoking fears,
03:28spreading misinformation and pretending like there's some sort of trans panic that needs to occur in our
03:36state legislatures. Trans people represent a tiny share of the population. It became a political
03:41flashpoint far beyond their numbers. For most Americans, daily life didn't change. For trans
03:45people it meant denied care, lost jobs and heightened risk. A civil rights fight turned into a wedge strategy
03:51with real human costs. Culturally, open cruelty or disdain toward trans identities have become normalized.
03:56It feels disappointing, frustrating, knowing that so many people don't think that I should be allowed to be
04:07like anyone else, like I don't deserve to have the rights that everyone else has. Opinions shift on issues
04:13like marijuana, marriage equality. Not long ago, these two issues were political landmines. Politicians avoided
04:19them both like a plague. People's attitudes changed. Many of us went from opposing gay marriage to supporting
04:25it. And I include myself in that group. We changed. In barely a decade, American attitudes toward same-sex
04:32marriage and marijuana have done a total 180. National polls show overwhelming support for marriage equality,
04:37with approval staying strong since the Obergefell decision made it legal nationwide. Anticipating a possible reversal,
04:43Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022. Marijuana followed the same trajectory. Most
05:01Americans now back legalization for medical or recreational use, and several states like Colorado
05:06are even experimenting with psychedelics. The culture wars didn't vanish, but the battlefields have
05:10shifted. What once divided the nation is now largely normalized, reshaping everything from state laws
05:15to Sunday sermons. So it's not surprising that this is a topic of conversation, especially given where
05:22public support is for legalization. Climate disasters and awareness. Wildfire smoke chokes and blots out city
05:28skylines. Wildfire smoke, urban fire pollution, and extreme heat are all reshaping what we breathe. This is a
05:36smoke signal to humanity as we move forward in our warming world. Once in a century floods now happen
05:42twice a decade. Record smashing heat turns summer days into public health emergencies around the globe.
05:48What used to feel abstract now looks and smells like disaster. Scientific assessments link a warming
05:53climate to more frequent and intense extremes. Heat waves, heavy rainfall, drought, and fires are
05:58everywhere. Emergency managers now plan around climate risk, not just weather. As extreme weather becomes more
06:04common, some experts are warning it may impact your mental health as well. Humanitarian groups stress
06:11that heat is among the deadliest hazards and that simple preparedness can save lives. Public awareness
06:16has surged too. Global surveys show strong majorities recognize climate change and support action,
06:21even if policy lags. Climate change isn't some abstract fear for the future. It's here.
06:25We start with eco-anxiety being a normal and healthy response. And like all feelings, we want to
06:31express it and take action. Anxiety is just simply a signal to check out a threat. Socialism, capitalism,
06:38and fascism. America's political rhetoric has gotten darker in the age of social media. On the right,
06:43socialists became a catch-all slur for Democrats, hammered daily across partisan outlets for more
06:48than a decade. If we allow socialism to take over New York City, it will spread throughout this country.
06:54And that is why we need to stop it. Meanwhile, polling shows capitalism's image slipping,
06:59especially among younger Americans. They've shown growing openness to socialist-leaning policies.
07:04Rising inequality has driven calls for a stronger social safety net. Business leaders and
07:08conservatives in turn have doubled down on promoting the free market, framing it as essential
07:13to freedom itself. Capitalism is on the positive side of the ledger at plus 12 points. Socialism way,
07:19way, way underwater at minus 18 points. As these debates rage, a darker current runs beneath them.
07:25Strongman politics, scapegoating minorities, attacks on institutions, and tolerance for political
07:30violence. The left calls it fascism. The right insists it's the left better fascist. Either way,
07:35political rage is rising. Scholars of authoritarianism have been warning about this for years.
07:41Every authoritarian ever waits for an atrocity to happen, a terrorist attack. And they have planned
07:48how they're going to use it. They're going to use it to target the political opposition.
07:53Department of War. The Department of War was renamed the Department of Defense to reflect
07:57the change in the structural organization of the armed forces. The Department of War
08:02and the Department of Navy were merged to create the national military establishment,
08:07but that didn't quite catch on and was renamed the Department of Defense back in 1949.
08:13Fast forward to 2025. In September, President Trump signed an executive order reversing that move,
08:18restoring the old title, Department of War. The decision stunned Pentagon officials and allies alike.
08:23We're going to Department of War. Backed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the rebrand was part of
08:28a broader push to emphasize masculinity and warrior ethos within the ranks. Critics called it dangerous
08:33nostalgia while proponents claimed it marked a new era of unapologetic American toughness.
08:38This is what he thinks is important? While Xi and Putin and Kim Jong-un and Modi are meeting in China
08:45and plotting against us? This is his answer to that? Views on Israel. American views on Israel have
08:51soured over the last decade. They have fractured utterly since October 7, 2023.
08:56There was this sense that Israel has this special relationship, which is really what
08:59you're saying, right, with the United States. And what we saw in this poll is, at least among the
09:04American people, that special relationship appears to be in tatters. These numbers were really, really
09:10striking. Originally driven by younger voters on the left, the anti-Israel sentiment is now coming from
09:15the flanks of both parties. Within the Jewish American community, many now believe that Israel
09:20has committed war crimes. According to one survey, 4 in 10 American Jews says Israel has committed
09:25genocide. And nearly 40% say the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians.
09:32Documented anti-Semitic incidents, meanwhile, have surged in the US and Europe since the war began.
09:37This has only intensified fear, fueling the debate over where critique ends and bigotry begins.
09:42Civil liberties voices, meanwhile, warn that equating all criticism of Israel
09:46with anti-Semitism chills speech. One thing is certain, Israel's actions are alienating the
09:51citizens of their greatest historic ally. There has just been growing dissatisfaction
09:57in the United States politically among voters here with how the Netanyahu government has conducted
10:05its military affairs. Cancel culture flipped. For years, conservatives rallied against cancel culture.
10:10Cancel culture is a form of boycott or public shaming of a person who has shared a questionable
10:16or unpopular opinion, or in more serious cases, someone whose behavior in their past is not only
10:22offensive, but unethical, illegal, and wrong. They fought tooth and nail against the left-wing
10:28assault on free expression. Whole movements, even an Austin-based anti-woke comedy scene,
10:33grew around defying social backlash. That script has flipped. The same faction that once cried censorship is
10:38using state power to punish dissenting voices. The shift is visible in recent actions. The FCC
10:43pressured Disney to suspend Jimmy Kimmel after criticism of Trump.
10:46This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to
10:52have a show like this. Attorney General Pam Bondi pledged to target perceived hate speech. Critics
10:57note the difference between social pressure and state suppression. The former is messy democracy. The latter
11:02is a first amendment crisis. What began as online outrage has become official policy. Cancel culture
11:07with real consequences. It just kind of flies in the face of everything of what it means to,
11:12I think, be a conservative. And it shows how much Donald Trump has eroded American conservatism.
11:18And then when he continues to erode these norms, all it does is hurt our democracy. And as you mentioned,
11:24so distrust in the system. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell
11:30to get notified about our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or
11:35all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
11:42DEI Flip In the wake of George Floyd's murder and a wave of social activism,
11:47companies scramble to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion.
11:50To address this problem, businesses turn to a solution called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,
11:56or DEI. It means more fair hiring policies, new anti-discrimination rules for the workplace,
12:02and sensitivity training seminars. Some saw it as good business, a broader
12:06talent base, fresher ideas, and fewer PR disasters. For others, it was just optics,
12:10slapping rainbows on logos every June, calling it progress. The tide has since turned. Under
12:15conservative backlash and pressure from the Trump administration, firms are scaling back.
12:19IBM, Google, and others have cut DEI programs. There's also state legislation, like in Alabama,
12:26and Tennessee, Arizona, and Texas, where they have absolutely banned all DEI efforts at the state
12:32level, as well as some corporations. Fortune 100 filings show steep drops in diversity language.
12:38In Washington, Trump vowed to eradicate anti-Christian bias, echoing through new faith-based initiatives.
12:44Supporters call this a correction to excess. Critics see a swing toward pro-white,
12:48pro-Christian favoritism. What began as culture wars now risks state-sanctioned exclusion.
12:53We must, as a nation, accept one or two pathways. We're going to have a democracy
13:00that's based on a constitution, or we're going to have something less than that,
13:04whether we throw the constitution out the window. For good or ill, change is inevitable.
13:09What changes in the U.S. over the last decade have shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments.
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