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Twelve months back, the landscape was completely separate. Ahead of the national election, considerate citizens could admit the country's significant faults – its inequities and inequality – but they still could perceive it as the United States. A democracy. A place where the rule of law held significance. A country headed by a dignified and decent official, even with his elderly years and increasing frailty.

Currently, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans scarcely know the country we reside in. People believed to be illegal immigrants are collected and pushed into vans, occasionally refused legal rights. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is being torn down for a grotesque ballroom. The leader is targeting his adversaries or supposed enemies and requesting federal prosecutors transfer a huge total of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are being sent to US urban areas with deceptive justifications. The defense headquarters, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of what could amount to almost one trillion dollars from citizen taxes. Colleges, legal practices, media outlets are submitting under the president’s threats, and billionaires are treated like aristocracy.

“The United States, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the limit into authoritarianism and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, wrote recently. “Ultimately, more quickly than I thought feasible, it occurred in this country.”

One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it is challenging to understand – and painful to realize – how severely declined we have become, and the speed at which it unfolded.

However, it is known that Trump was legitimately chosen. Even after his profoundly alarming previous administration and following the alerts linked to the understanding of Project 2025 – despite the president personally declared plainly he planned to act as an autocrat solely at the start – enough Americans elected him instead of his Democratic opponent.

While alarming as the current reality is, it's more daunting to realize that we have only been nine months under this leadership. How will another 36 months of this decline position us? And if the three years transforms into something even longer, because there is not anyone to limit this president from opting that another term is essential, perhaps for security concerns?

Granted, not everything is hopeless. There are legislative votes the coming year which might establish an alternate governmental control, if Democrats retake one or both houses of parliament. There are government representatives who are trying to exert a degree of oversight, like representatives currently starting a probe concerning the try to fund seizure by federal prosecutors.

And a national vote three years from now could begin us down the road to recovery precisely as the prior selection placed us on this regrettable path.

There are numerous residents protesting in urban areas across municipalities, similar to recent last weekend in the No Kings rallies.

An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the slumbering force of America is awakening”, exactly as before following the Red Scare in that decade or during the sixties activism or throughout the Nixon controversy.

In those instances, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.

He claims he knows the signs of that revival and sees it happening at present. As support, he cites the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, multi-faction opposition against a personality's dismissal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to accept the defense department’s demands they report only what is sanctioned.

“The sleeping giant always remains asleep till specific greed becomes so noxious, a particular deed so offensive of societal benefit, certain violence so loud, that he is compelled except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may turn out correct.

Meanwhile, the major inquiries endure: can America regain its footing? Can it retrieve its position internationally and its devotion to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My negative thoughts tells me that the final scenario is accurate; that everything might be gone. My optimistic spirit, nevertheless, advises me that we have to attempt, in whatever ways possible.

For me, as an observer of the press, that means urging journalists to live up, more thoroughly, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For some people, it might involve participating in election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to protect ballot privileges.

Under twelve months back, we lived in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The truth is, we are uncertain. Our sole course is to attempt to persevere.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The engagement I experience during teaching with new media professionals, who are equally idealistic and grounded, {always