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In late October 2024, the landscape was utterly different. Prior to the national election, considerate residents could admit America's serious imperfections – its inequities and imbalance – however they still could identify it as the US. A democratic nation. A land where legal governance carried weight. A state guided by a honorable and decent leader, notwithstanding his advanced age and increasing frailty.

These days, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans scarcely know the country we reside in. People believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and shoved into transport, occasionally blocked from fair treatment. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is being destroyed for a grotesque event space. The president is harassing his opponents or perceived antagonists and requesting federal prosecutors transfer an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Armed military personnel are dispatched across metropolitan centers under fabricated reasons. The military command, relabeled the Defense Ministry, has effectively rid itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends what could amount to nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Institutions, legal practices, journalism organizations are yielding under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are treated like aristocracy.

“America, only a few months ahead of its 250^th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the limit into autocracy and fascism,” an American historian, stated this past summer. “Finally, more quickly than I believed likely, it occurred in America.”

One awakes to new horrors. It is challenging to understand – and painful to realize – how severely declined we are, and how quickly it has happened.

Nevertheless, we understand that the leader was legitimately chosen. Following his highly troubling first term and following the alerts linked to the knowledge of the conservative plan – despite Trump himself said publicly he would be a dictator solely at the start – a majority of citizens chose him rather than his Democratic opponent.

Frightening as the current reality are, it's more frightening to realize that we have only been several months under this leadership. How will another 36 months of this deterioration find us? And if the three years transforms into an prolonged era, since there is no one to restrain this president from opting that additional tenure is required, possibly for defense purposes?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. We will have legislative votes in 2026 that may bring a different balance of power, should Democrats recapture one or both houses of Congress. There exist elected officials who are striving to apply some accountability, such as representatives that are launching an investigation regarding the effort to cash appropriation by federal prosecutors.

And a national vote in 2028 could begin us down the road toward restoration exactly as last year’s election placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

There exist millions of Americans protesting in public spaces throughout communities, as they did in the past days during anti-authority protests.

A former official, wrote recently that “the dormant powerhouse of the nation is rising”, similar to past post-McCarthyism during the fifties or throughout the sixties activism or in the Nixon controversy.

On those occasions, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.

Reich says he knows the signs of that revival and sees it happening now. For proof, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, cross-party resistance regarding a broadcaster's firing and the largely united refusal by journalists to sign government requirements they solely cover what is sanctioned.

“The slumbering entity perpetually exists inactive till specific greed turns extremely harmful, an specific act so disrespectful toward public welfare, specific cruelty so noisy, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”

It's a positive outlook, and I respect his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will turn out correct.

At the same time, the crucial issues persist: is the US able to regain its footing? Can it reclaim its standing globally and its commitment to the rule of law?

Or do we need to admit that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My negative thoughts tells me that the second option is correct; that everything could be gone. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, convinces me that we must try, in whatever ways we can.

For me, as a media critic, that’s about pushing media professionals to commit, more thoroughly, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it may be engaging with election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to protect voting rights.

Under twelve months back, we lived in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The reality is, we cannot predict. All we can do is to attempt to persevere.

What Offers Me Hope Now

The interaction I have with students with new media professionals, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always