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Twelve months back, the landscape was entirely separate. Before the US presidential election, considerate citizens could acknowledge the country's significant faults – its unfairness and disparity – but they continued to identify it as the US. A democracy. A country where legal governance carried weight. A country headed by a respectable and decent public servant, even with his advanced age and growing weakness.

Currently, in late October 2025, countless Americans hardly identify the country we reside in. People alleged as illegal immigrants are detained and pushed into vans, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the White House – is being destroyed for an obscene dance hall. Donald Trump is persecuting his adversaries or perceived antagonists and insisting legal authorities hand over an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has effectively liberated itself of regular press examination as it spends what could amount to nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Universities, law firms, media outlets are yielding under the president’s threats, and billionaires are handled as aristocracy.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250^th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has fallen over the limit into authoritarianism and fascism,” an American historian, stated this past summer. “Finally, faster than I believed likely, it did happen in America.”

Every morning starts to new horrors. And it is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it occurred.

Nevertheless, it is known that Trump was legitimately chosen. Even after his profoundly alarming initial presidency and following the alerts that came with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – following Trump himself stated openly he planned to rule as a tyrant only on the first day – a majority of citizens chose him instead of his Democratic opponent.

As terrifying as today's circumstances is, it's more daunting to recognize that we have only been several months into this administration. What will an additional three years of this deterioration leave us? And what if that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, since there is no one to restrain this president from opting that additional tenure is necessary, maybe for security concerns?

Granted, all is not lost. We will have congressional elections next year that may create a new governmental control, should Democrats retake one or both houses of parliament. There are government representatives who are attempting to apply certain responsibility, for example representatives currently starting a probe into the attempted fund seizure by federal prosecutors.

And a presidential election in 2028 could start us down the road to recovery just as the previous vote put us on this unfortunate course.

We see countless citizens protesting in the streets throughout communities, like they performed recently during anti-authority protests.

A former official, stated lately that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is rising”, similar to past following the Red Scare in that decade or amid the sixties activism or throughout the Nixon controversy.

In those instances, the listing ship ultimately corrected itself.

Reich says he recognizes the indicators of that resurgence and observes it occurring currently. As support, he cites the large-scale demonstrations, the widespread, multi-faction opposition against a broadcaster's firing and the almost universal defiance by media to accept the defense department’s demands they report only approved content.

“The dormant force perpetually exists dormant before some venality turns extremely harmful, some action so contemptuous toward public welfare, some brutality so noisy, that he is forced other than to stir.”

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

In the meantime, the major inquiries remain: will the nation ever recover? Can it retrieve its status internationally and its devotion to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the 250-year-old experiment succeeded temporarily, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My pessimistic brain suggests that the second option is accurate; that everything could be lost. My hopeful heart, however, convinces me that we must try, by any means available.

In my case, as a media critic, that means urging journalists to commit, more thoroughly, to their purpose of holding power to account. For others, it could mean engaging with election efforts, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to protect electoral access.

Not even one year prior, we were in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or after another term? The truth is, we don’t know. Our sole course is to strive to persevere.

What Provides Me Optimism Currently

The engagement I have with students with new media professionals, that are simultaneously idealistic and practical, {always