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Twelve months back, the landscape was entirely different. Ahead of the national election, considerate citizens could acknowledge the country's serious imperfections – its unfairness and disparity – but they could still perceive it as the US. A free society. A country where legal governance meant something. A state headed by a honorable and upright leader, even with his advanced age and declining health.

These days, in late October 2025, countless Americans barely recognize the nation we inhabit. People alleged as illegal immigrants are detained and forced into vehicles, occasionally denied due process. The eastern section of the White House – is being destroyed for an obscene ballroom. The leader is harassing his opponents or perceived antagonists and insisting federal prosecutors transfer a huge total of public funds. Armed military personnel are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The defense headquarters, rebranded the War Department, has effectively rid itself of routine media oversight during its expenditure of possibly reaching close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Colleges, law firms, news companies are submitting under the president’s threats, and wealthy elites are handled as aristocracy.

“The US, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the brink toward dictatorship and fascism,” an American historian, stated in August. “Finally, more quickly than I thought feasible, it did happen in this country.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it is hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – how severely declined our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.

However, we know that the leader was properly voted in. Despite his deeply disturbing previous administration and despite the alerts linked to the awareness of the rightwing blueprint – even after Trump himself stated openly he intended to rule as a tyrant only on the first day – sufficient voters selected him rather than his Democratic opponent.

As terrifying as the current reality are, it's more frightening to realize that we’re only several months under this leadership. How will another 36 months of this downfall leave us? And if the three years becomes a more extended duration, because there is nobody to limit this ruler from determining that a third term is necessary, maybe for defense purposes?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. There will be midterm elections the coming year that may create a new governmental control, if Democrats regain one or both houses of the legislature. There are elected officials who are trying to exert certain responsibility, for example representatives that are starting a probe into the attempted money grab by federal prosecutors.

And a national vote in 2028 could initiate the path toward restoration just as the prior selection placed us on this unfortunate course.

We see countless citizens protesting in urban areas of their cities, as they did last weekend in the No Kings rallies.

A former official, stated lately that “the slumbering force of the US is stirring”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism in that decade or amid the Vietnam war protests or throughout the Nixon controversy.

During those times, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.

The author states he understands the signs of that resurgence and observes it occurring now. For proof, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the broad, cross-party resistance to a television host's removal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to agree to the defense department’s demands they report only authorized information.

“The sleeping giant consistently stays inactive until certain corruption grows too toxic, an specific act so disrespectful of societal benefit, certain violence so noisy, that the giant is compelled except to rise.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I value Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll be validated.

At the same time, the big questions endure: can America ever recover? Can it reclaim its standing globally and its commitment to legal principles?

Or do we need to admit that the historical project worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My negative thoughts suggests that the final scenario is true; that all may indeed be lost. My positive feelings, though, convinces me that we need to strive, by any means we can.

In my case, as a media critic, that’s about pushing media professionals to commit, more fully, to their purpose of holding power to account. For some people, it could mean working on congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to defend ballot privileges.

Not even one year prior, we lived in a very different place. In the future? Or in several years? The fact is, we are uncertain. The only option is to strive to not give up.

What Offers Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I encounter in the classroom with young journalists, that are simultaneously visionary and practical, {always