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Twelve months back, the environment was completely distinct. Prior to the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could acknowledge America's deep flaws – its inequities and imbalance – yet they could still see it as the US. A free society. A land where constitutional order meant something. A country headed by a respectable and upright official, notwithstanding his advanced age and declining health.

Currently, as October 2025 ends, numerous citizens hardly identify the nation we inhabit. People alleged as illegal immigrants are collected and forced into vans, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition for an obscene ballroom. Donald Trump is persecuting his political rivals or supposed enemies and demanding legal authorities surrender a massive sum of public funds. Uniformed troops are dispatched into American cities on false pretexts. The Pentagon, rebranded the War Department, has – in effect – freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of potentially totaling almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Universities, legal practices, media outlets are submitting from leader's menaces, and rich magnates are handled as members of the royal family.

“The US, only a few months ahead of its quarter-millennium anniversary as the world’s leading democracy, has fallen over the limit toward dictatorship and extremism,” Garrett Graff, wrote this past summer. “Ultimately, faster than I thought feasible, it occurred in this country.”

Every morning starts to new horrors. And it is hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost we have become, and the speed at which it has happened.

However, we know that the leader was legitimately chosen. Despite his profoundly alarming previous administration and despite the alerts associated with the knowledge of Project 2025 – despite Trump himself said publicly he would act as an autocrat only on the first day – enough Americans selected him rather than the other candidate.

While alarming as today's circumstances is, it’s even scarier to recognize that we’re only several months into this presidential term. What will three more years of this decline leave us? And suppose the three years turns into an prolonged era, as there is no one to stop this leader from opting that another term is essential, maybe for security concerns?

Admittedly, all is not lost. There will be congressional elections the coming year that may bring a different governmental control, in case Democrats retake either chamber of parliament. There are public servants who are trying to apply a degree of oversight, such as Democratic congressmen who are starting a probe regarding the effort to money grab from the justice department.

And a national vote in the next cycle could initiate the path to healing just as the previous vote placed us on this regrettable path.

There exist numerous residents protesting in the streets of their cities, similar to recent last weekend at democracy demonstrations.

A former official, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the US is stirring”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism during the fifties or during anti-war demonstrations or during the Watergate scandal.

During those times, the unstable nation eventually was righted.

He claims he recognizes the indicators of that awakening and sees it happening currently. For proof, he references the widespread marches, the broad, bipartisan pushback regarding a personality's dismissal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to sign military mandates they solely cover approved content.

“The dormant force always remains asleep until some venality becomes so noxious, a particular deed so contemptuous toward public welfare, some brutality so noisy, that the giant is compelled other than to stir.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may turn out correct.

At the same time, the major inquiries persist: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its position internationally and its adherence to legal principles?

Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My negative thoughts tells me that the second option is accurate; that everything could be gone. My positive feelings, however, advises me that we need to strive, by any means we can.

In my case, working in journalism analysis, that involves encouraging reporters to commit, more thoroughly, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For others, it may be participating in congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to safeguard voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we lived in a very different place. A year from now? Or after another term? The reality is, we cannot predict. Our sole course is to attempt to continue fighting.

What Provides Me Encouragement Today

The contact I have during teaching with young journalists, who are both idealistic and grounded, {always