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Twelve months back, the situation was entirely different. Ahead of the national election, thoughtful citizens could admit the nation's significant faults – its injustices and inequality – but they still could identify it as the US. A democratic nation. A country where the rule of law carried weight. A nation guided by a dignified and upright official, even with his older age and increasing frailty.

These days, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens scarcely know the nation we reside in. Persons alleged as undocumented migrants are rounded up and shoved into transport, occasionally blocked from fair treatment. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being torn down to build a lavish event space. The president is harassing his adversaries or alleged foes and requesting federal prosecutors surrender a massive sum of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are being sent across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The military command, relabeled the Defense Ministry, has practically rid itself of regular press examination as it spends what could amount to nearly $1tn in public funds. Colleges, attorney offices, journalism organizations are submitting due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are treated like aristocracy.

“The United States, just months before its 250-year mark as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the edge toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” an American historian, commented this past summer. “In the end, swifter than I imagined possible, it did happen in America.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it's challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it occurred.

Yet, we understand that Trump was duly elected. Following his deeply disturbing initial presidency and despite the cautions that came with the understanding of the conservative plan – following Trump himself declared plainly he would be a dictator solely at the start – sufficient voters selected him instead of Kamala Harris.

While alarming as the current reality is, it's more daunting to recognize that we’re only nine months into this presidential term. Where will another 36 months of this downfall find us? And what if that timeframe becomes a more extended duration, since there is nobody to stop this leader from deciding that another term is essential, possibly for defense purposes?

Granted, all is not lost. There will be congressional elections the coming year that may establish an alternate balance of power, should Democrats recapture either chamber of the legislature. There exist elected officials who are attempting to apply a degree of oversight, such as Democratic congressmen that are starting a probe regarding the effort to fund seizure from legal authorities.

And a national vote in 2028 could initiate us down the road to healing just as last year’s election put us on this disappointing trajectory.

We see countless citizens marching in public spaces across municipalities, as they did in the past days at democracy demonstrations.

Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is rising”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism in that decade or during anti-war demonstrations or in the Nixon controversy.

In those instances, the listing ship eventually was righted.

Reich says he understands the indicators of that revival and sees it happening at present. As evidence, he points to the recent massive protests, the broad, cross-party resistance against a personality's dismissal and the largely united defiance by media to sign government requirements they only publish authorized information.

“The dormant force always remains dormant till certain corruption becomes so noxious, an specific act so offensive of societal benefit, specific cruelty so loud, that it is forced other than to stir.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will turn out correct.

Meanwhile, the crucial issues remain: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its status internationally and its adherence to the rule of law?

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

My pessimistic brain suggests that the latter is correct; that everything might be finished. My hopeful heart, however, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways we can.

In my case, as an observer of the press, that’s about encouraging reporters to commit, more thoroughly, to their duty of holding power to account. For others, it could mean participating in congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to protect voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we were in a very different place. A year from now? Or three years from now? The reality is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to strive to not give up.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The contact I encounter during teaching with young journalists, that are simultaneously visionary and realistic, {always