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One year ago, the landscape was entirely distinct. Ahead of the American presidential vote, thoughtful citizens could recognize America's serious imperfections – its inequities and inequality – however they continued to see it as the United States. A democracy. A place where constitutional order held significance. A nation led by a dignified and upright public servant, notwithstanding his advanced age and increasing frailty.

Nowadays, in late October 2025, numerous citizens scarcely know the land we live in. Persons believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and forced into vans, at times denied due process. The left side of the presidential residence – is being torn down to build a lavish dance hall. The president is persecuting his political rivals or alleged foes and insisting legal authorities transfer a massive sum of taxpayer money. Uniformed troops are dispatched into American cities on false pretexts. The Pentagon, renamed the War Department, has – in effect – liberated itself of routine media oversight while it uses possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars in public funds. Colleges, legal practices, news companies are buckling under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are handled as nobility.

“The United States, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the limit into authoritarianism and extremism,” an American historian, wrote recently. “In the end, swifter than I imagined possible, it transpired in this country.”

Every morning starts to new horrors. It is hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost we are, and the speed at which it unfolded.

However, it is known that the president was legitimately chosen. Despite his highly troubling previous administration and despite the warnings associated with the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – even after Trump himself said publicly he planned to act as an autocrat only on the first day – a majority of citizens elected him rather than his Democratic opponent.

Frightening as the current reality are, it's more frightening to realize that we’re only three-quarters of a year under this leadership. What will an additional three years of this decline find us? And suppose that timeframe turns into something even longer, because there is no one to restrain this leader from deciding that a third term is essential, perhaps for national security reasons?

Certainly, there is still hope. There will be congressional elections the coming year which might establish an alternate balance of power, in case Democrats recapture either chamber of Congress. There are government representatives who are striving to apply some accountability, like Democratic congressmen who are launching an investigation concerning the try to money grab from the justice department.

And a national vote in 2028 could begin us down the road to recovery precisely as the previous vote set us on this disappointing trajectory.

We see countless citizens marching in public spaces of their cities, like they performed recently at democracy demonstrations.

An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the US is awakening”, just as it did following the Red Scare in that decade or amid the sixties activism or throughout the Nixon controversy.

On those occasions, the unstable nation eventually was righted.

The author states he understands the signals of that revival and observes it occurring at present. As support, he references the recent massive protests, the extensive, bipartisan pushback against a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous rejection by reporters to sign military mandates they only publish what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force always remains asleep till certain corruption becomes so noxious, an specific act so contemptuous toward public welfare, certain violence so loud, that he has no choice except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect Reich’s experienced view. Possibly he may prove to be right.

At the same time, the crucial issues persist: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its position internationally and its devotion to constitutional order?

Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My pessimistic brain indicates that the second option is correct; that everything might be gone. My hopeful heart, however, convinces me that we must try, through all methods available.

For me, as a media critic, that’s about urging journalists to adhere, more fully, to their duty of holding power to account. For others, it could mean working on election efforts, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to defend voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we existed in an alternate reality. In the future? Or after another term? The reality is, we don’t know. All we can do is try to continue fighting.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The interaction I encounter in the classroom with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously idealistic and grounded, {always