ith less than four weeks to go before we bid farewell to 2025—amidst the fury, the din, the missiles, and the drones—it is inevitable that we pause and take stock of how, in our political and social sphere, we will close out the year. Now that the first quarter of the century is over, we understand that we are not living in exceptional circumstances. Each period leading up to the world wars was unique in its time, yet they all shared the same air of menace.