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One year ago, the situation was completely different. Before the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could recognize the nation's serious imperfections – its inequities and disparity – yet they could still see it as the US. A free society. A place where the rule of law carried weight. A state headed by a honorable and decent public servant, despite his advanced age and growing weakness.

Currently, as October 2025 ends, many of us barely recognize the nation we live in. Individuals alleged as unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and forced into vehicles, sometimes refused legal rights. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being torn down for an obscene ballroom. The leader is harassing his opponents or perceived antagonists and requesting federal prosecutors transfer a massive sum of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, rebranded the War Department, has practically rid itself of regular press examination while it uses what could amount to close to a trillion USD in public funds. Universities, law firms, journalism organizations are submitting due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are regarded as members of the royal family.

“America, only a few months ahead of its quarter-millennium anniversary as the world’s leading democracy, has fallen over the limit toward dictatorship and fascism,” Garrett Graff, stated in August. “Ultimately, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here.”

Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it is hard to comprehend – and painful to realize – how severely declined we have become, and how quickly it occurred.

However, we know that the leader was properly voted in. Despite his deeply disturbing first term and following the cautions linked to the knowledge of Project 2025 – following the leader directly said publicly he would rule as a tyrant only on the first day – a majority of citizens chose him rather than his Democratic opponent.

As terrifying as today's circumstances is, it's more frightening to recognize that we are just several months under this leadership. How will an additional three years of this downfall leave us? And what if that period turns into an prolonged era, since there is nobody to restrain this ruler from deciding that additional tenure is required, perhaps for security concerns?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. There will be midterm elections in 2026 that may create a new governmental control, if Democrats recapture one or both houses of parliament. We have government representatives who are attempting to impose certain responsibility, for example representatives currently launching an investigation into the attempted money grab from the justice department.

And a national vote in the next cycle could initiate us down the road toward restoration just as last year’s election placed us on this unfortunate course.

We see numerous residents protesting in urban areas throughout communities, similar to recent last weekend during anti-authority protests.

A former official, commented this week that “the slumbering force of America is rising”, similar to past after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or throughout anti-war demonstrations or in the Watergate scandal.

During those times, the listing ship eventually was righted.

Reich says he understands the signals of that awakening and notices it unfolding at present. For proof, he references the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, multi-faction opposition against a personality's dismissal and the largely united rejection by reporters to accept government requirements they report only authorized information.

“The dormant force consistently stays inactive till some venality grows too toxic, a particular deed so disrespectful toward public welfare, some brutality so loud, that the giant has no choice except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I value Reich’s experienced view. Possibly he may prove to be right.

In the meantime, the major inquiries persist: is the US able to ever recover? Can it reclaim its standing in the world and its devotion to constitutional order?

Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor worked for a while, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My negative thoughts suggests that the latter is true; that everything might be gone. My positive feelings, though, advises me that we must try, in whatever ways we can.

For me, as an observer of the press, that means encouraging reporters to live up, more thoroughly, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it may be working on political races, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to defend ballot privileges.

Less than a year ago, we existed in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or after another term? The fact is, we are uncertain. All we can do is try to persevere.

What Offers Me Hope Now

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