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One year ago, the landscape was entirely distinct. Ahead of the national election, thoughtful citizens could acknowledge the nation's significant faults – its inequities and imbalance – however they still could identify it as America. A democratic nation. A place where legal governance carried weight. A state guided by a honorable and upright leader, despite his advanced age and growing weakness.

Currently, in late October 2025, countless Americans hardly identify the nation we inhabit. People believed to be undocumented migrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, occasionally denied due process. The East Wing of the White House – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish dance hall. The president is persecuting his political rivals or perceived antagonists and requesting legal authorities transfer an enormous amount of taxpayer money. Armed military personnel are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, renamed the War Department, has – in effect – rid itself of routine media oversight while it uses what could amount to close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Universities, attorney offices, media outlets are buckling from leader's menaces, and billionaires are regarded as members of the royal family.

“America, only a few months ahead of its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the limit into authoritarianism and fascism,” Garrett Graff, wrote recently. “Finally, more quickly than I imagined possible, it did happen in America.”

Each day begins amid recent atrocities. And it's difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – how severely declined we are, and the speed at which it occurred.

However, it is known that Trump was duly elected. Even after his profoundly alarming first term and following the warnings that came with the understanding of Project 2025 – following the president personally declared plainly he would rule as a tyrant only on the first day – sufficient voters elected him rather than Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as today's circumstances are, it's more daunting to realize that we have only been nine months under this leadership. Where will another 36 months of this deterioration find us? And suppose the three years becomes an prolonged era, since there is no one to restrain this ruler from deciding that additional tenure is necessary, possibly for security concerns?

Granted, there is still hope. There are legislative votes in 2026 that could establish an alternate governmental control, in case Democrats recapture the Senate or House of Congress. There are public servants who are attempting to apply some accountability, like Democratic congressmen currently starting a probe into the attempted money grab by federal prosecutors.

And a national vote in the next cycle could start our journey to healing just as last year’s election put us on this unfortunate course.

There are numerous residents protesting in urban areas of their cities, similar to recent in the past days at democracy demonstrations.

Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is rising”, similar to past post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or amid anti-war demonstrations or during the Watergate scandal.

In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

Reich says he recognizes the signs of that awakening and observes it occurring now. For proof, he cites the recent massive protests, the broad, bipartisan pushback to a broadcaster's firing and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to accept government requirements they solely cover authorized information.

“The sleeping giant consistently stays asleep till specific greed turns extremely harmful, a particular deed so disrespectful of the common good, certain violence so loud, that it is compelled other than to stir.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will prove to be right.

In the meantime, the crucial issues persist: will the nation ever recover? Can it reclaim its position in the world and its adherence to legal principles?

Or do we need to admit that the national endeavor worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My pessimistic brain indicates that the second option is correct; that everything might be gone. My positive feelings, nevertheless, advises me that we need to strive, by any means possible.

For me, working in journalism analysis, that’s about pushing media professionals to adhere, more fully, to their purpose of holding power to account. For different individuals, it might involve engaging with election efforts, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to protect ballot privileges.

Not even one year prior, we lived in an alternate reality. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The reality is, we cannot predict. All we can do is try to continue fighting.

What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I experience with students with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously hopeful and grounded, {always