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One year ago, the landscape was completely distinct. Before the American presidential vote, considerate citizens could acknowledge the nation's significant faults – its unfairness and inequality – however they could still identify it as the United States. A democracy. A country where legal governance meant something. A state headed by a respectable and ethical leader, even with his advanced age and declining health.

Currently, as October 2025 ends, many of us hardly identify the nation we reside in. Individuals believed to be undocumented migrants are rounded up and forced into vans, sometimes refused legal rights. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed to build a lavish event space. The president is targeting his political rivals or supposed enemies and requesting legal authorities transfer an enormous amount of public funds. Armed military personnel are deployed to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, rebranded the War Department, has practically rid itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of potentially totaling nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Colleges, legal practices, media outlets are buckling under the president’s threats, and billionaires are handled as members of the royal family.

“The US, only a few months ahead of its 250^th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has fallen over the brink toward dictatorship and fascism,” Garrett Graff, wrote in August. “Ultimately, swifter than I thought feasible, it transpired in America.”

Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. It is hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – just how far gone we have become, and the speed at which it occurred.

Yet, we know that Trump was duly elected. Despite his deeply disturbing previous administration and following the alerts that came with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – even after Trump himself declared plainly he planned to be a dictator just on day one – enough Americans selected him instead of Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as today's circumstances may be, it’s even scarier to understand that we are just three-quarters of a year under this leadership. What will an additional three years of this decline find us? And suppose the three years transforms into something even longer, as there is not anyone to restrain this leader from opting that another term is necessary, perhaps for national security reasons?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. We will have congressional elections the coming year which might create a new balance of power, if Democrats regain the Senate or House of parliament. There exist government representatives who are striving to impose certain responsibility, such as Democratic congressmen who are starting a probe regarding the effort to cash appropriation from the justice department.

And a leadership election three years from now could start our journey to healing exactly as the prior selection placed us on this unfortunate course.

There are millions of Americans marching in urban areas of their cities, like they performed last weekend at democracy demonstrations.

A former official, wrote recently that “the dormant powerhouse of the US is rising”, just as it did following the Red Scare during the fifties or throughout the sixties activism or during the Watergate scandal.

During those times, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.

He claims he knows the signals of that awakening and sees it happening currently. As support, he cites the large-scale demonstrations, the broad, multi-faction opposition regarding a television host's removal and the almost universal rejection by reporters to accept government requirements they solely cover approved content.

“The sleeping giant always remains asleep till certain corruption grows too toxic, some action so contemptuous of societal benefit, certain violence so loud, that it is forced other than to stir.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may be validated.

In the meantime, the major inquiries remain: is the US able to ever recover? Is it possible to restore its position internationally and its adherence to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the historical project succeeded temporarily, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My pessimistic brain indicates that the second option is correct; that everything could be gone. My optimistic spirit, nevertheless, convinces me that we must try, in whatever ways we can.

Personally, working in journalism analysis, that’s about pushing media professionals to commit, more completely, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For some people, it could mean engaging with election efforts, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to safeguard voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we existed in a separate situation. A year from now? Or in several years? The fact is, we cannot predict. The only option is to strive to continue fighting.

What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I encounter in the classroom with young journalists, that are simultaneously idealistic and grounded, {always