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Twelve months back, the landscape was entirely separate. Ahead of the American presidential vote, considerate Americans could recognize America's significant faults – its inequities and imbalance – yet they could still identify it as the US. A democracy. A country where constitutional order meant something. A country headed by a dignified and upright leader, even with his elderly years and declining health.

Currently, in late October 2025, numerous citizens scarcely know the land we live in. People believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and pushed into vans, occasionally denied due process. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is being torn down for a grotesque dance hall. The president is targeting his opponents or supposed enemies and requesting the justice department surrender an enormous amount of public funds. Armed military personnel are being sent to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The military command, renamed the War Department, has effectively rid itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of what could amount to close to a trillion USD in public funds. Colleges, attorney offices, journalism organizations are submitting due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are treated like nobility.

“The US, just months before its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has tipped over the brink toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, commented in August. “Finally, more quickly than I believed likely, it did happen in this country.”

One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it's hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone we have become, and how quickly it occurred.

Nevertheless, we understand that Trump was duly elected. Following his deeply disturbing initial presidency and despite the warnings linked to the understanding of Project 2025 – despite Trump himself declared plainly he intended to rule as a tyrant just on day one – sufficient voters elected him rather than his Democratic opponent.

While alarming as the present situation is, it's more daunting to recognize that we are just several months under this leadership. Where will an additional three years of this downfall find us? And what if that timeframe transforms into an prolonged era, as there is no one to stop this leader from determining that a third term is necessary, maybe for security concerns?

Granted, all is not lost. There are midterm elections in 2026 which might bring a different political equilibrium, if Democrats regain either chamber of Congress. There are elected officials who are attempting to exert some accountability, for example representatives currently starting a probe regarding the effort to fund seizure from the justice department.

And a leadership election in 2028 could initiate our journey toward restoration precisely as the previous vote put us on this regrettable path.

There are numerous residents marching in public spaces across municipalities, like they performed recently at democracy demonstrations.

A former official, commented this week that “the slumbering force of America is rising”, just as it did post-McCarthyism in that decade or throughout the Vietnam war protests or throughout the Watergate scandal.

During those times, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.

The author states he knows the indicators of that resurgence and sees it happening at present. As support, he references the recent massive protests, the extensive, cross-party resistance to a broadcaster's firing and the near-unanimous rejection by reporters to agree to government requirements they report only what is sanctioned.

“The sleeping giant always remains asleep till certain corruption turns extremely harmful, a particular deed so offensive toward public welfare, certain violence so disruptive, that he is forced except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I value the author's seasoned opinion. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.

Meanwhile, the crucial issues endure: is the US able to ever recover? Can it retrieve its position globally and its adherence to the rule of law?

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

My pessimistic brain tells me that the final scenario is correct; that everything could be gone. My optimistic spirit, though, convinces me that we need to strive, by any means possible.

In my case, as an observer of the press, that involves pushing media professionals to commit, more completely, to their mission of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it might involve engaging with congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to safeguard ballot privileges.

Less than a year ago, we lived in a very different place. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we cannot predict. The only option is to attempt to persevere.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The engagement I have with students with new media professionals, who are equally visionary and grounded, {always