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Twelve months back, the situation was utterly different. Prior to the US presidential election, considerate residents could admit America's deep flaws – its inequities and imbalance – but they could still identify it as the United States. A free society. A land where legal governance meant something. A state led by a dignified and ethical leader, notwithstanding his older age and growing weakness.

These days, in late October 2025, many of us barely recognize the nation we reside in. Individuals suspected of being undocumented migrants are rounded up and forced into vans, at times refused legal rights. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is being torn down for an obscene dance hall. Donald Trump is harassing his opponents or perceived antagonists and insisting federal prosecutors transfer an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are deployed across metropolitan centers under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of possibly reaching nearly $1tn in public funds. Institutions, law firms, media outlets are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are treated like aristocracy.

“The US, just months before its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge toward dictatorship and fascism,” an American historian, commented in August. “Ultimately, more quickly than I believed likely, it did happen in America.”

One awakes to new horrors. And it's challenging to understand – and painful to realize – how severely declined we have become, and how quickly it unfolded.

Yet, we know that Trump was legitimately chosen. Following his highly troubling first term and despite the warnings linked to the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – following the leader directly said publicly he planned to act as an autocrat solely at the start – a majority of citizens elected him rather than his Democratic opponent.

While alarming as today's circumstances may be, it’s even scarier to understand that we have only been nine months under this leadership. How will three more years of this deterioration position us? And suppose that timeframe transforms into a more extended duration, because there is no one to stop this leader from deciding that additional tenure is essential, perhaps for security concerns?

Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. We will have congressional elections the coming year which might create a new balance of power, in case Democrats regain one or both houses of Congress. There exist elected officials who are trying to exert a degree of oversight, such as representatives currently starting a probe into the attempted fund seizure from the justice department.

And a national vote in 2028 could begin us down the road toward restoration just as the prior selection set us on this unfortunate course.

There exist countless citizens protesting in urban areas throughout communities, like they performed in the past days in the No Kings rallies.

An ex-cabinet member, commented this week that “the dormant powerhouse of the nation is stirring”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or amid anti-war demonstrations or throughout the Nixon controversy.

In those instances, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.

Reich says he knows the indicators of that awakening and notices it unfolding currently. For proof, he references the large-scale demonstrations, the widespread, cross-party resistance regarding a television host's removal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to sign government requirements they only publish authorized information.

“The dormant force perpetually exists dormant till some venality becomes so noxious, an specific act so disrespectful toward public welfare, certain violence so noisy, that he has no choice other than to stir.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may prove to be right.

In the meantime, the big questions endure: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its position internationally and its adherence to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My pessimistic brain suggests that the second option is accurate; that everything might be lost. My hopeful heart, though, tells me that we need to strive, by any means available.

Personally, working in journalism analysis, that’s about pushing media professionals to commit, more fully, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For some people, it might involve working on election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to safeguard ballot privileges.

Under twelve months back, we existed in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The fact is, we are uncertain. All we can do is try to persevere.

What Provides Me Encouragement Today

The contact I experience in the classroom with young journalists, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always