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Twelve months back, the environment was utterly different. Ahead of the national election, considerate Americans could acknowledge the country's deep flaws – its unfairness and inequality – however they still could identify it as America. A free society. A country where constitutional order held significance. A nation led by a dignified and decent public servant, notwithstanding his advanced age and growing weakness.

Currently, in late October 2025, numerous citizens hardly identify the country we reside in. Individuals alleged as illegal immigrants are detained and pushed into vans, occasionally denied due process. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed for an obscene ballroom. The president is harassing his opponents or alleged foes and demanding legal authorities surrender an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Armed military personnel are deployed into American cities on false pretexts. The Pentagon, rebranded the War Department, has effectively rid itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends potentially totaling nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Institutions, law firms, news companies are buckling under the president’s threats, and billionaires are handled as nobility.

“America, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the limit into autocracy and fascism,” Garrett Graff, commented in August. “In the end, swifter than I believed likely, it occurred here.”

One awakes amid recent atrocities. It is challenging to understand – and painful to realize – how severely declined we have become, and the rapid pace with which it occurred.

However, it is known that Trump was legitimately chosen. Despite his deeply disturbing previous administration and despite the warnings associated with the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – following the president personally declared plainly he intended to be a dictator only on the first day – sufficient voters selected him over Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as today's circumstances may be, it's more frightening to realize that we are just several months into this presidential term. What will three more years of this downfall position us? And suppose the three years turns into a more extended duration, because there is no one to limit this ruler from deciding that additional tenure is necessary, possibly for defense purposes?

Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. There will be legislative votes the coming year that may establish an alternate balance of power, if Democrats regain the Senate or House of Congress. There are elected officials who are attempting to exert a degree of oversight, for example lawmakers currently starting a probe concerning the try to fund seizure from the justice department.

And a leadership election in the next cycle could begin us down the road toward restoration just as the previous vote put us on this disappointing trajectory.

There exist millions of Americans demonstrating in public spaces across municipalities, as they did recently in the No Kings rallies.

Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is awakening”, just as it did post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or during anti-war demonstrations or during the Watergate scandal.

During those times, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.

Reich says he recognizes the indicators of that awakening and notices it unfolding currently. As evidence, he cites the recent massive protests, the broad, bipartisan pushback against a broadcaster's firing and the largely united refusal by journalists to sign government requirements they only publish what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force perpetually exists asleep till specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so disrespectful of the common good, specific cruelty so noisy, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will prove to be right.

Meanwhile, the crucial issues remain: can America regain its footing? Can it retrieve its position internationally and its devotion to constitutional order?

Or must we acknowledge that the historical project succeeded temporarily, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My cynical mind tells me that the latter is true; that all may indeed be gone. My positive feelings, though, tells me that we need to strive, in whatever ways available.

In my case, as an observer of the press, that involves encouraging reporters to commit, more fully, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it may be engaging with election efforts, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to protect voting rights.

Less than a year ago, we existed in a separate situation. In the future? Or in several years? The truth is, we don’t know. All we can do is to attempt to continue fighting.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The engagement I experience during teaching with new media professionals, who are both hopeful and realistic, {always