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One year ago, the environment was entirely separate. Prior to the US presidential election, considerate residents could recognize America's deep flaws – its unfairness and inequality – but they could still see it as the United States. A democracy. A country where constitutional order held significance. A country guided by a honorable and upright leader, even with his older age and increasing frailty.

These days, as October 2025 ends, many of us scarcely know the country we live in. Persons suspected of being undocumented migrants are collected and forced into vans, at times denied due process. The left side of the White House – is undergoing demolition for an obscene event space. The leader is harassing his political rivals or perceived antagonists and insisting the justice department hand over a massive sum of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are deployed into American cities with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has practically rid itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of possibly reaching close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Universities, legal practices, news companies are yielding under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are treated like aristocracy.

“The US, only a few months ahead of its 250^th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the edge into autocracy and fascism,” Garrett Graff, stated recently. “Ultimately, more quickly than I thought feasible, it occurred in this country.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone our nation is, and the speed at which it occurred.

Nevertheless, we know that Trump was properly voted in. Following his highly troubling first term and despite the cautions linked to the understanding of Project 2025 – despite the leader directly said publicly he would be a dictator just on day one – enough Americans elected him instead of the other candidate.

While alarming as the current reality are, it's more frightening to understand that we have only been three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. How will an additional three years of this decline position us? And suppose the three years becomes a more extended duration, since there is no one to stop this leader from opting that additional tenure is essential, maybe for national security reasons?

Granted, all is not lost. We will have midterm elections in 2026 that could create a new balance of power, in case Democrats retake one or both houses of the legislature. We have government representatives who are striving to exert certain responsibility, like representatives who are starting a probe concerning the try to cash appropriation from legal authorities.

And a leadership election three years from now could start us down the road toward restoration precisely as the previous vote put us on this unfortunate course.

There are countless citizens protesting in the streets across municipalities, like they performed recently at democracy demonstrations.

Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the US is rising”, exactly as before after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or throughout the sixties activism or during the Watergate scandal.

In those instances, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.

Reich says he recognizes the indicators of that awakening and observes it occurring currently. As support, he cites the widespread marches, the extensive, cross-party resistance regarding a personality's dismissal and the largely united rejection by reporters to sign military mandates they report only authorized information.

“The sleeping giant consistently stays inactive until certain corruption grows too toxic, an specific act so disrespectful of the common good, certain violence so noisy, that the giant is compelled other than to stir.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll be validated.

At the same time, the big questions persist: is the US able to ever recover? Can it retrieve its standing in the world and its devotion to constitutional order?

Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My negative thoughts tells me that the final scenario is accurate; that everything might be finished. My positive feelings, though, tells me that we must try, in whatever ways possible.

Personally, working in journalism analysis, that involves pushing media professionals to live up, more thoroughly, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For some people, it might involve working on election efforts, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to safeguard ballot privileges.

Under twelve months back, we were in a separate situation. In the future? Or three years from now? The truth is, we don’t know. All we can do is to strive to persevere.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The contact I experience during teaching with new media professionals, who are both idealistic and practical, {always