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Twelve months back, the environment was utterly different. Prior to the American presidential vote, considerate residents could acknowledge the country's significant faults – its inequities and imbalance – however they still could identify it as the United States. A democratic nation. A place where constitutional order meant something. A country led by a respectable and upright public servant, notwithstanding his elderly years and declining health.

Nowadays, in late October 2025, numerous citizens scarcely know the nation we reside in. Persons suspected of being illegal immigrants are rounded up and shoved into vehicles, at times blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed to build a lavish ballroom. The president is persecuting his opponents or perceived antagonists and requesting legal authorities transfer a massive sum of public funds. Uniformed troops are dispatched into American cities on false pretexts. The Pentagon, renamed the Department of War, has practically rid itself of routine media oversight while it uses possibly reaching nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Universities, law firms, journalism organizations are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are treated like members of the royal family.

“The US, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the globe's top democratic nation, has fallen over the limit toward dictatorship and fascism,” a noted author, stated recently. “Finally, more quickly than I thought feasible, it transpired in America.”

One awakes with fresh terrors. It is difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – how deeply lost we have become, and the speed at which it occurred.

Nevertheless, we know that Trump was properly voted in. Following his deeply disturbing previous administration and even after the cautions that came with the knowledge of Project 2025 – even after the president personally said publicly he intended to be a dictator only on the first day – sufficient voters chose him rather than Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as the current reality is, it's more frightening to recognize that we have only been several months into this presidential term. What will an additional three years of this deterioration leave us? And suppose the three years becomes an prolonged era, since there is no one to limit this leader from determining that another term is required, maybe for national security reasons?

Admittedly, all is not lost. There are congressional elections in 2026 which might create a new balance of power, if Democrats retake the Senate or House of Congress. We have government representatives who are trying to apply certain responsibility, such as lawmakers who are initiating an inquiry concerning the try to cash appropriation from legal authorities.

And a presidential election three years from now could start the path to healing just as last year’s election placed us on this unfortunate course.

There exist millions of Americans protesting in public spaces of their cities, similar to recent in the past days at democracy demonstrations.

A former official, commented this week that “the slumbering force of the nation is awakening”, exactly as before following the Red Scare in that decade or during anti-war demonstrations or in the seventies crisis.

In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

He claims he understands the indicators of that revival and sees it happening now. For proof, he cites the widespread marches, the widespread, multi-faction opposition regarding a broadcaster's firing and the largely united refusal by journalists to accept the defense department’s demands they solely cover authorized information.

“The slumbering entity consistently stays asleep before specific greed grows too toxic, an specific act so contemptuous of the common good, specific cruelty so loud, that it has no choice except to rise.”

It's a positive outlook, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may be validated.

Meanwhile, the big questions remain: is the US able to regain its footing? Is it possible to restore its position globally and its devotion to legal principles?

Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My pessimistic brain suggests that the latter is true; that everything might be lost. My hopeful heart, however, tells me that we need to strive, by any means we can.

For me, working in journalism analysis, that involves urging journalists to commit, more thoroughly, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For some people, it may be participating in congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to defend ballot privileges.

Under twelve months back, we lived in a separate situation. In the future? Or three years from now? The reality is, we don’t know. The only option is to attempt to not give up.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The interaction I encounter during teaching with new media professionals, who are both visionary and realistic, {always