🔗 Share this article

One year ago, the landscape was entirely separate. Before the national election, considerate Americans could admit America's serious imperfections – its unfairness and disparity – yet they continued to identify it as the US. A democratic nation. A place where constitutional order meant something. A country headed by a respectable and upright public servant, even with his advanced age and declining health.

Currently, this autumn, countless Americans barely recognize the land we reside in. Individuals alleged as illegal immigrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The eastern section of the “people’s house” – is being torn down for an obscene dance hall. The president is persecuting his adversaries or supposed enemies and insisting legal authorities transfer a huge total of public funds. Uniformed troops are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The military command, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends possibly reaching close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Colleges, law firms, news companies are yielding from leader's menaces, and billionaires are handled as members of the royal family.

“The US, shortly prior to its 250-year mark as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the limit into autocracy and totalitarianism,” a noted author, wrote this past summer. “Finally, more quickly than I believed likely, it occurred here.”

One awakes to new horrors. And it's difficult to grasp – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we have become, and how quickly it has happened.

However, we understand that the president was legitimately chosen. Following his deeply disturbing initial presidency and even after the cautions linked to the understanding of Project 2025 – despite Trump himself stated openly he would act as an autocrat only on the first day – sufficient voters elected him over Kamala Harris.

Frightening as the present situation is, it’s even scarier to realize that we’re only three-quarters of a year into this administration. How will another 36 months of this downfall leave us? And what if that timeframe becomes an prolonged era, as there is not anyone to limit this ruler from opting that additional tenure is required, maybe for security concerns?

Admittedly, there is still hope. There are legislative votes in 2026 which might bring a different political equilibrium, in case Democrats recapture one or both houses of Congress. There exist public servants who are trying to exert some accountability, like Democratic congressmen that are starting a probe into the attempted money grab from the justice department.

And a presidential election in the next cycle could initiate us down the road toward restoration precisely as last year’s election set us on this unfortunate course.

There exist countless citizens protesting in urban areas of their cities, similar to recent in the past days in the No Kings rallies.

An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the slumbering force of the US is awakening”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or amid anti-war demonstrations or during the Watergate scandal.

In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

The author states he knows the signs of that awakening and sees it happening now. As evidence, he points to the recent massive protests, the widespread, cross-party resistance against a television host's removal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to accept government requirements they solely cover what is sanctioned.

“The sleeping giant always remains dormant until some venality becomes so noxious, an specific act so offensive of societal benefit, some brutality so noisy, that it is compelled but to awaken.”

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

At the same time, the major inquiries remain: can America ever recover? Is it possible to restore its standing internationally and its commitment to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the national endeavor functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My negative thoughts suggests that the latter is accurate; that everything might be finished. My hopeful heart, however, convinces me that we need to strive, by any means we can.

Personally, as a media critic, that involves encouraging reporters to live up, more completely, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For others, it might involve engaging with congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to protect electoral access.

Less than a year ago, we lived in an alternate reality. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The fact is, we cannot predict. All we can do is to strive to continue fighting.

What Offers Me Encouragement Today

The contact I encounter in the classroom with young journalists, who are equally idealistic and practical, {always