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One year ago, the situation was completely different. Ahead of the US presidential election, considerate residents could recognize the country's serious imperfections – its injustices and disparity – yet they continued to perceive it as America. A free society. A place where constitutional order held significance. A state led by a respectable and ethical leader, notwithstanding his older age and growing weakness.

These days, as October 2025 ends, many of us scarcely know the land we inhabit. People suspected of being undocumented migrants are collected and forced into vehicles, at times denied due process. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed for a grotesque event space. Donald Trump is harassing his political rivals or supposed enemies and requesting legal authorities surrender an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Armed military personnel are being sent across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The defense headquarters, rebranded the Department of War, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends possibly reaching close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Colleges, legal practices, news companies are yielding under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are treated like nobility.

“The US, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the brink into autocracy and totalitarianism,” an American historian, commented recently. “In the end, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here.”

One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it's hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone we have become, and how quickly it occurred.

Yet, we understand that the president was legitimately chosen. Despite his profoundly alarming previous administration and following the alerts associated with the understanding of the conservative plan – despite Trump himself stated openly he intended to be a dictator solely at the start – enough Americans elected him rather than Kamala Harris.

Frightening as the current reality is, it’s even scarier to recognize that we have only been nine months under this leadership. Where will three more years of this downfall find us? And if that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, because there is not anyone to stop this president from opting that another term is required, perhaps for security concerns?

Admittedly, there is still hope. We will have congressional elections next year which might establish an alternate governmental control, in case Democrats regain either chamber of parliament. We have elected officials who are attempting to exert some accountability, like lawmakers that are starting a probe regarding the effort to money grab from the justice department.

And a presidential election three years from now could start the path to healing just as the previous vote placed us on this unfortunate course.

We see countless citizens protesting in public spaces throughout communities, like they performed last weekend in the No Kings rallies.

An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is stirring”, similar to past following the Red Scare in the 1950s or throughout the sixties activism or during the Watergate scandal.

In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

Reich says he recognizes the indicators of that resurgence and notices it unfolding at present. As support, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the widespread, bipartisan pushback against a television host's removal and the near-unanimous rejection by reporters to accept military mandates they solely cover approved content.

“The slumbering entity perpetually exists dormant before specific greed becomes so noxious, a particular deed so contemptuous of societal benefit, certain violence so loud, that it is compelled but to awaken.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will be validated.

Meanwhile, the major inquiries endure: will the nation return to normalcy? Is it possible to restore its standing in the world and its devotion to the rule of law?

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

My negative thoughts suggests that the latter is true; that everything could be lost. My hopeful heart, however, tells me that we need to strive, in whatever ways we can.

For me, as a media critic, that involves urging journalists to adhere, more thoroughly, to their mission of overseeing leadership. For others, it could mean participating in political races, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to safeguard ballot privileges.

Not even one year prior, we lived in a very different place. A year from now? Or after another term? The truth is, we are uncertain. Our sole course is try to not give up.

What Provides Me Encouragement Today

The engagement I experience during teaching with new media professionals, who are equally visionary and grounded, {always