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Twelve months back, the landscape was completely different. Prior to the US presidential election, considerate citizens could admit America's deep flaws – its inequities and inequality – yet they still could identify it as the US. A democratic nation. A land where constitutional order meant something. A country headed by a dignified and ethical leader, even with his advanced age and growing weakness.

Currently, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens scarcely know the nation we live in. People believed to be undocumented migrants are collected and forced into vans, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the presidential residence – is being torn down for a grotesque event space. Donald Trump is persecuting his opponents or alleged foes and insisting legal authorities transfer a massive sum of public funds. Uniformed troops are deployed to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, renamed the Department of War, has effectively rid itself of regular press examination as it spends possibly reaching close to a trillion USD in public funds. Colleges, attorney offices, journalism organizations are yielding from leader's menaces, and rich magnates are handled as nobility.

“America, only a few months ahead of its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the limit into autocracy and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, stated in August. “In the end, more quickly than I imagined possible, it transpired in this country.”

Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it's hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we have become, and the speed at which it has happened.

However, it is known that the president was duly elected. Despite his profoundly alarming first term and despite the warnings that came with the awareness of the conservative plan – despite the leader directly said publicly he would rule as a tyrant solely at the start – enough Americans selected him over Kamala Harris.

Frightening as the current reality may be, it's more daunting to recognize that we’re only nine months under this leadership. Where will three more years of this decline position us? And if that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, as there is nobody to stop this leader from deciding that additional tenure is required, perhaps for security concerns?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. There are legislative votes next year that could create a new political equilibrium, in case Democrats recapture either chamber of Congress. We have government representatives who are striving to apply some accountability, such as Democratic congressmen currently launching an investigation concerning the try to cash appropriation by federal prosecutors.

And a leadership election in the next cycle could initiate our journey toward restoration exactly as last year’s election set us on this regrettable path.

There exist numerous residents marching in urban areas of their cities, like they performed in the past days in the No Kings rallies.

A former official, commented this week that “the great sleeping giant of the US is rising”, similar to past after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or during anti-war demonstrations or during the seventies crisis.

In those instances, the listing ship ultimately corrected itself.

Reich says he knows the indicators of that resurgence and sees it happening at present. For proof, he cites the widespread marches, the extensive, bipartisan pushback against a television host's removal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to accept government requirements they solely cover what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force perpetually exists inactive before specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so disrespectful toward public welfare, some brutality so noisy, that it is forced other than to stir.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will prove to be right.

At the same time, the crucial issues endure: can America ever recover? Can it reclaim its standing internationally and its commitment to legal principles?

Or do we need to admit that the historical project worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My cynical mind tells me that the second option is correct; that everything could be gone. My hopeful heart, however, tells me that we must try, through all methods we can.

In my case, as an observer of the press, that involves encouraging reporters to commit, more fully, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For some people, it could mean engaging with political races, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to safeguard voting rights.

Under twelve months back, we lived in a separate situation. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we don’t know. The only option is try to continue fighting.

What Provides Me Encouragement Today

The contact I encounter during teaching with new media professionals, who are equally idealistic and realistic, {always