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One year ago, the landscape was entirely distinct. Before the American presidential vote, thoughtful citizens could recognize the country's deep flaws – its unfairness and inequality – but they continued to perceive it as the US. A democracy. A country where constitutional order meant something. A nation led by a dignified and decent leader, notwithstanding his elderly years and increasing frailty.

Currently, this autumn, numerous citizens hardly identify the nation we live in. Individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the White House – is being destroyed for an obscene event space. The leader is harassing his political rivals or alleged foes and demanding legal authorities hand over a huge total of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are being sent into American cities on false pretexts. The Pentagon, relabeled the Department of War, has effectively liberated itself of regular press examination while it uses possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars from citizen taxes. Colleges, attorney offices, news companies are buckling from leader's menaces, and rich magnates are handled as members of the royal family.

“The US, shortly prior to its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the edge into autocracy and extremism,” Garrett Graff, stated this past summer. “Ultimately, swifter than I imagined possible, it transpired here.”

One awakes to new horrors. It is difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – just how far gone we have become, and how quickly it occurred.

However, we know that the president was duly elected. Despite his deeply disturbing first term and following the cautions associated with the understanding of Project 2025 – despite the president personally declared plainly he would act as an autocrat only on the first day – enough Americans elected him rather than the other candidate.

While alarming as today's circumstances is, it's more frightening to realize that we are just three-quarters of a year into this administration. Where will an additional three years of this deterioration leave us? And suppose that period becomes a more extended duration, because there is nobody to stop this president from deciding that a third term is necessary, perhaps for national security reasons?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. We will have legislative votes in 2026 that could create a new governmental control, should Democrats regain the Senate or House of Congress. There are elected officials who are striving to apply a degree of oversight, for example Democratic congressmen currently launching an investigation regarding the effort to money grab from legal authorities.

And a national vote three years from now could begin our journey toward restoration just as last year’s election placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

There are millions of Americans protesting in public spaces of their cities, similar to recent in the past days during anti-authority protests.

An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the nation is awakening”, exactly as before following the Red Scare in that decade or during the sixties activism or throughout the seventies crisis.

During those times, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.

The author states he knows the indicators of that revival and sees it happening now. As support, he cites the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, cross-party resistance regarding a television host's removal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to sign military mandates they report only what is sanctioned.

“The sleeping giant consistently stays inactive until some venality becomes so noxious, a particular deed so disrespectful of societal benefit, specific cruelty so noisy, that it has no choice other than to stir.”

It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will be validated.

In the meantime, the crucial issues endure: is the US able to ever recover? Can it retrieve its standing in the world and its devotion to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My cynical mind tells me that the latter is accurate; that all may indeed be gone. My positive feelings, though, advises me that we have to attempt, by any means we can.

For me, as an observer of the press, that’s about encouraging reporters to commit, more fully, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it may be engaging with political races, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to defend voting rights.

Less than a year ago, we lived in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to strive to persevere.

What’s Giving Me Hope Now

The interaction I experience with students with aspiring reporters, who are both hopeful and realistic, {always