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Twelve months back, the situation was entirely separate. Ahead of the US presidential election, reflective residents could acknowledge America's deep flaws – its injustices and disparity – however they still could identify it as the US. A democracy. A land where the rule of law held significance. A country guided by a honorable and decent leader, despite his older age and increasing frailty.

These days, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens scarcely know the land we inhabit. Persons believed to be unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and pushed into transport, at times refused legal rights. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is being torn down for a grotesque event space. The president is harassing his opponents or perceived antagonists and requesting federal prosecutors hand over an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched across metropolitan centers under fabricated reasons. The military command, renamed the War Department, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of possibly reaching nearly $1tn in public funds. Universities, law firms, news companies are yielding under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are handled as nobility.

“The US, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism,” a noted author, wrote in August. “Finally, faster than I believed likely, it transpired here.”

Each day begins to new horrors. And it is difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – how severely declined we are, and how quickly it has happened.

Yet, we know that the leader was duly elected. Following his highly troubling initial presidency and even after the alerts associated with the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – following the leader directly said publicly he would act as an autocrat just on day one – enough Americans elected him instead of Kamala Harris.

While alarming as the present situation may be, it's more frightening to realize that we have only been nine months into this presidential term. What will three more years of this downfall position us? And suppose that timeframe turns into a more extended duration, since there is nobody to limit this ruler from determining that a third term is necessary, perhaps for defense purposes?

Granted, there is still hope. There will be congressional elections in 2026 that may establish an alternate governmental control, should Democrats recapture either chamber of Congress. There exist elected officials who are striving to apply some accountability, like representatives who are launching an investigation into the attempted cash appropriation from the justice department.

And a presidential election in the next cycle could begin our journey toward restoration just as the previous vote placed us on this regrettable path.

There exist numerous residents protesting in public spaces throughout communities, similar to recent in the past days at democracy demonstrations.

A former official, wrote recently that “the dormant powerhouse of the US is stirring”, just as it did following the Red Scare in that decade or throughout the sixties activism or in the Watergate scandal.

On those occasions, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.

Reich says he knows the signals of that revival and notices it unfolding at present. For proof, he cites the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, bipartisan pushback regarding a broadcaster's firing and the almost universal refusal by journalists to sign the defense department’s demands they only publish approved content.

“The slumbering entity consistently stays asleep till some venality turns extremely harmful, some action so disrespectful of the common good, some brutality so disruptive, that he is forced except to rise.”

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

In the meantime, the major inquiries remain: will the nation regain its footing? Can it reclaim its status globally and its commitment to the rule of law?

Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment succeeded temporarily, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My negative thoughts suggests that the latter is true; that all may indeed be gone. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, advises me that we must try, in whatever ways possible.

In my case, as an observer of the press, that means pushing media professionals to commit, more fully, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For others, it could mean participating in congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to safeguard ballot privileges.

Not even one year prior, we existed in an alternate reality. In the future? Or three years from now? The truth is, we cannot predict. All we can do is try to persevere.

What’s Giving Me Hope Now

The contact I have during teaching with young journalists, who are both hopeful and grounded, {always