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Twelve months back, the situation was completely distinct. Prior to the national election, thoughtful citizens could acknowledge the nation's deep flaws – its inequities and imbalance – yet they could still identify it as the United States. A democracy. A place where the rule of law carried weight. A nation headed by a respectable and upright public servant, notwithstanding his advanced age and increasing frailty.

Currently, in late October 2025, countless Americans barely recognize the nation we reside in. Persons suspected of being undocumented migrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, sometimes refused legal rights. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is being torn down for a grotesque dance hall. The president is persecuting his adversaries or supposed enemies and requesting legal authorities transfer a huge total of taxpayer money. Armed military personnel are deployed across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, relabeled the Department of War, has – in effect – freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses possibly reaching nearly $1tn in public funds. Institutions, law firms, media outlets are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are handled as members of the royal family.

“America, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the edge toward dictatorship and fascism,” Garrett Graff, wrote in August. “Finally, faster than I believed likely, it did happen here.”

One awakes with fresh terrors. And it is difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – how severely declined our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.

Yet, we know that Trump was properly voted in. Even after his profoundly alarming first term and despite the alerts linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – even after the president personally declared plainly he would rule as a tyrant only on the first day – enough Americans chose him instead of Kamala Harris.

Frightening as today's circumstances are, it's more daunting to recognize that we have only been nine months into this administration. How will three more years of this deterioration leave us? And suppose that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, as there is not anyone to limit this ruler from opting that a third term is essential, possibly for security concerns?

Admittedly, all is not lost. There will be midterm elections next year which might create a new balance of power, in case Democrats retake the Senate or House of parliament. We have public servants who are striving to exert certain responsibility, such as lawmakers currently starting a probe into the attempted cash appropriation from legal authorities.

And a leadership election three years from now could begin us down the road to healing precisely as last year’s election put us on this unfortunate course.

There exist countless citizens demonstrating in public spaces of their cities, similar to recent recently at democracy demonstrations.

Robert Reich, commented this week that “the slumbering force of the nation is awakening”, just as it did post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or amid the sixties activism or throughout the seventies crisis.

On those occasions, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.

Reich says he recognizes the signs of that awakening and notices it unfolding currently. For proof, he references the recent massive protests, the extensive, multi-faction opposition regarding a broadcaster's firing and the almost universal rejection by reporters to sign government requirements they report only what is sanctioned.

“The sleeping giant consistently stays asleep till certain corruption becomes so noxious, an specific act so contemptuous toward public welfare, specific cruelty so disruptive, that the giant has no choice except to rise.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Possibly he may prove to be right.

Meanwhile, the major inquiries endure: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its status globally and its devotion to the rule of law?

Or should we recognize that the national endeavor functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My pessimistic brain indicates that the latter is accurate; that everything could be finished. My optimistic spirit, nevertheless, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways possible.

For me, as a media critic, that involves urging journalists to commit, more completely, to their duty of holding power to account. For different individuals, it could mean engaging with political races, or coordinating protests, or finding ways to protect voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we existed in a very different place. A year from now? Or in several years? The reality is, we cannot predict. The only option is to strive to persevere.

What Provides Me Optimism Currently

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