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One year ago, the landscape was entirely different. Before the US presidential election, considerate citizens could recognize the nation's significant faults – its unfairness and disparity – yet they could still identify it as America. A democratic nation. A country where the rule of law held significance. A nation guided by a honorable and decent public servant, even with his elderly years and increasing frailty.

Nowadays, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans hardly identify the nation we reside in. People suspected of being unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and pushed into transport, occasionally denied due process. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition for an obscene ballroom. The president is targeting his opponents or perceived antagonists and demanding federal prosecutors transfer a massive sum of public funds. Armed military personnel are deployed to US urban areas on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, renamed the Department of War, has practically freed itself of regular press examination as it spends potentially totaling nearly $1tn in public funds. Institutions, attorney offices, news companies are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are regarded as nobility.

“The United States, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the brink toward dictatorship and fascism,” a noted author, wrote in August. “Finally, more quickly than I imagined possible, it occurred here.”

Each day begins to new horrors. It is hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we are, and how quickly it unfolded.

Yet, we understand that the leader was properly voted in. Even after his highly troubling previous administration and following the alerts that came with the knowledge of the conservative plan – despite Trump himself said publicly he would rule as a tyrant just on day one – sufficient voters elected him instead of Kamala Harris.

While alarming as the current reality is, it's more frightening to recognize that we’re only several months under this leadership. Where will another 36 months of this deterioration position us? And if the three years transforms into something even longer, since there is no one to stop this president from deciding that additional tenure is required, possibly for defense purposes?

Granted, not everything is hopeless. We will have congressional elections in 2026 that may bring a different balance of power, should Democrats recapture the Senate or House of the legislature. We have elected officials who are trying to impose some accountability, like lawmakers who are initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to cash appropriation from legal authorities.

And a leadership election three years from now could start the path to recovery just as the previous vote placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

There exist numerous residents demonstrating in the streets throughout communities, similar to recent recently in the No Kings rallies.

Robert Reich, stated lately that “the slumbering force of America is awakening”, just as it did following the Red Scare during the fifties or amid the Vietnam war protests or throughout the seventies crisis.

On those occasions, the listing ship ultimately corrected itself.

The author states he knows the signs of that revival and observes it occurring now. For proof, he cites the widespread marches, the extensive, multi-faction opposition regarding a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to agree to the defense department’s demands they solely cover what is sanctioned.

“The slumbering entity consistently stays inactive until certain corruption becomes so noxious, an specific act so offensive toward public welfare, certain violence so loud, that it is compelled but to awaken.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I respect Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.

In the meantime, the big questions persist: is the US able to ever recover? Can it reclaim its standing globally and its commitment to legal principles?

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

My pessimistic brain suggests that the final scenario is true; that everything might be lost. My hopeful heart, however, tells me that we need to strive, through all methods available.

In my case, working in journalism analysis, that means urging journalists to live up, more completely, to their mission of holding power to account. For some people, it might involve participating in congressional campaigns, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to protect electoral access.

Not even one year prior, we lived in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The truth is, we cannot predict. Our sole course is try to persevere.

What’s Giving Me Hope Now

The contact I experience during teaching with young journalists, who are equally hopeful and practical, {always