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One year ago, the landscape was entirely distinct. Prior to the American presidential vote, considerate residents could recognize the country's deep flaws – its unfairness and imbalance – but they continued to see it as America. A democracy. A place where legal governance meant something. A country headed by a respectable and decent official, notwithstanding his advanced age and growing weakness.

These days, in late October 2025, many of us hardly identify the nation we live in. People believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and pushed into vans, occasionally denied due process. The eastern section of the “people’s house” – is undergoing demolition for a grotesque dance hall. Donald Trump is persecuting his political rivals or supposed enemies and insisting the justice department transfer a massive sum of public funds. Uniformed troops are deployed across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The military command, renamed the Department of War, has effectively freed itself of routine media oversight during its expenditure of what could amount to close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Institutions, attorney offices, media outlets are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are treated like aristocracy.

“The United States, shortly prior to its 250-year mark as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and extremism,” Garrett Graff, commented recently. “Ultimately, faster than I believed likely, it did happen in America.”

Each day begins to new horrors. And it's challenging to understand – and painful to realize – 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 deeply disturbing initial presidency and despite the cautions associated with the awareness of Project 2025 – following Trump himself said publicly he would be a dictator just on day one – enough Americans chose him over Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as the current reality may be, it’s even scarier to understand that we have only been several months into this presidential term. Where will an additional three years of this deterioration position us? And what if the three years transforms into an prolonged era, because there is not anyone to restrain this ruler from determining that additional tenure is necessary, perhaps for defense purposes?

Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. There will be congressional elections the coming year that may establish an alternate governmental control, in case Democrats regain one or both houses of parliament. There exist public servants who are trying to exert some accountability, for example representatives currently initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to cash appropriation from the justice department.

And a leadership election in the next cycle could begin us down the road to recovery exactly as the prior selection placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

We see numerous residents marching in urban areas across municipalities, similar to recent recently at democracy demonstrations.

Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the nation is rising”, just as it did post-McCarthyism in that decade or during the Vietnam war protests or in the seventies crisis.

On those occasions, the unstable nation eventually was righted.

Reich says he knows the signs of that revival and sees it happening now. As evidence, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, cross-party resistance regarding a broadcaster's firing and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to accept government requirements they only publish approved content.

“The slumbering entity always remains inactive till specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so offensive of the common good, some brutality so noisy, that he is forced except to rise.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll turn out correct.

At the same time, the crucial issues persist: is the US able to return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its standing globally and its commitment to the rule of law?

Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My negative thoughts tells me that the latter is true; that everything might be gone. My optimistic spirit, though, advises me that we need to strive, in whatever ways we can.

In my case, working in journalism analysis, that’s about urging journalists to adhere, more fully, to their mission of overseeing leadership. For some people, it might involve engaging with political races, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to protect electoral access.

Less than a year ago, we lived in an alternate reality. In the future? Or three years from now? The fact is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to attempt to continue fighting.

What Offers Me Optimism Currently

The contact I have during teaching with new media professionals, who are both idealistic and grounded, {always