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Twelve months back, the situation was entirely distinct. Before the US presidential election, reflective Americans could acknowledge the country's serious imperfections – its unfairness and disparity – but they continued to see it as the United States. A democracy. A land where the rule of law carried weight. A country headed by a respectable and upright leader, notwithstanding his older age and growing weakness.

Currently, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens barely recognize the land we inhabit. Individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants are detained and pushed into vehicles, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being torn down for an obscene event space. The leader is harassing his political rivals or perceived antagonists and demanding legal authorities surrender a huge total of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are being sent into American cities under fabricated reasons. The defense headquarters, renamed the Defense Ministry, has effectively freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends potentially totaling close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Institutions, attorney offices, media outlets are submitting under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are treated like nobility.

“The US, only a few months ahead of its 250^th birthday as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the limit toward dictatorship and extremism,” a noted author, stated in August. “Ultimately, more quickly than I believed likely, it transpired in this country.”

Every morning starts to new horrors. It is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost we have become, and how quickly it unfolded.

Nevertheless, we know that the president was duly elected. Following his highly troubling previous administration and even after the warnings that came with the understanding of the conservative plan – following the leader directly stated openly he planned to be a dictator only on the first day – a majority of citizens elected him instead of Kamala Harris.

Frightening as the present situation may be, it's more frightening to realize that we are just nine months into this administration. What will three more years of this decline find us? And what if that timeframe becomes something even longer, since there is no one to stop this leader from opting that a third term is essential, maybe for security concerns?

Certainly, all is not lost. We will have congressional elections next year that could establish an alternate governmental control, should Democrats retake either chamber of Congress. We have government representatives who are attempting to exert certain responsibility, for example representatives currently starting a probe into the attempted cash appropriation from legal authorities.

And a presidential election three years from now could initiate our journey to healing precisely as last year’s election placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

We see countless citizens marching in urban areas of their cities, similar to recent in the past days during anti-authority protests.

Robert Reich, commented this week that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is awakening”, exactly as before following the Red Scare during the fifties or amid the sixties activism or during the seventies crisis.

In those instances, the unstable nation eventually was righted.

The author states he knows the signs of that awakening and sees it happening now. As evidence, he cites the large-scale demonstrations, the broad, bipartisan pushback to a broadcaster's firing and the largely united rejection by reporters to sign military mandates they solely cover approved content.

“The slumbering entity perpetually exists inactive until some venality becomes so noxious, a particular deed so disrespectful of societal benefit, some brutality so loud, that he is forced other than to stir.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I respect his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may be validated.

In the meantime, the crucial issues endure: can America return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its position in the world and its commitment to legal principles?

Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment worked for a while, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My pessimistic brain tells me that the second option is correct; that everything might be finished. My optimistic spirit, however, advises me that we have to attempt, through all methods possible.

For me, as a media critic, that involves urging journalists to adhere, more thoroughly, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For others, it could mean working on congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to protect voting rights.

Under twelve months back, we were in a separate situation. A year from now? Or three years from now? The truth is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to strive to persevere.

What Offers Me Optimism Currently

The engagement I have with students with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously idealistic and realistic, {always