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Twelve months back, the environment was completely distinct. Ahead of the national election, thoughtful citizens could acknowledge the nation's serious imperfections – its injustices and disparity – but they continued to see it as the United States. A democratic nation. A country where legal governance carried weight. A state led by a honorable and decent public servant, despite his advanced age and growing weakness.

Currently, this autumn, many of us barely recognize the land we inhabit. People alleged as unauthorized foreigners are detained and pushed into vehicles, occasionally denied due process. The left side of the White House – is being destroyed for a grotesque ballroom. The leader is targeting his political rivals or perceived antagonists and demanding the justice department transfer an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are deployed to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The military command, rebranded the Department of War, has – in effect – freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends what could amount to close to a trillion USD in public funds. Colleges, law firms, journalism organizations are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are regarded as members of the royal family.

“America, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the limit into autocracy and totalitarianism,” an American historian, stated in August. “In the end, faster than I believed likely, it transpired in America.”

Each day begins amid recent atrocities. And it is challenging to understand – and painful to realize – just how far gone our nation is, and the speed at which it has happened.

Yet, we know that the president was duly elected. Even after his highly troubling first term and even after the warnings linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – even after the leader directly stated openly he planned to rule as a tyrant only on the first day – a majority of citizens chose him instead of his Democratic opponent.

As terrifying as the present situation are, it's more frightening to understand that we have only been nine months into this presidential term. How will an additional three years of this decline leave us? And if the three years transforms into something even longer, as there is not anyone to limit this ruler from deciding that another term is necessary, perhaps for national security reasons?

Certainly, all is not lost. There are midterm elections next year which might bring a different political equilibrium, if Democrats regain the Senate or House of the legislature. There exist public servants who are striving to impose certain responsibility, like Democratic congressmen who are launching an investigation into the attempted cash appropriation by federal prosecutors.

And a leadership election three years from now could start the path to healing precisely as the previous vote placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

There exist numerous residents demonstrating in public spaces throughout communities, as they did last weekend during anti-authority protests.

A former official, stated lately that “the slumbering force of America is awakening”, just as it did following the Red Scare during the fifties or amid the Vietnam war protests or during the Nixon controversy.

In those instances, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.

He claims he knows the signals of that revival and notices it unfolding now. For proof, he references the recent massive protests, the widespread, cross-party resistance to a broadcaster's firing and the largely united rejection by reporters to agree to the defense department’s demands they only publish authorized information.

“The slumbering entity consistently stays dormant before specific greed grows too toxic, an specific act so contemptuous toward public welfare, certain violence so loud, that it is forced except to rise.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.

Meanwhile, the big questions endure: is the US able to return to normalcy? Can it retrieve its standing in the world and its adherence to the rule of law?

Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor succeeded temporarily, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My pessimistic brain indicates that the second option is accurate; that all may indeed be gone. My hopeful heart, though, convinces me that we have to attempt, through all methods possible.

In my case, as a media critic, that means encouraging reporters to commit, more thoroughly, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it might involve engaging with political races, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to protect voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we were in an alternate reality. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The truth is, we cannot predict. The only option is to attempt to persevere.

What Provides Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I experience with students with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously visionary and realistic, {always