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In late October 2024, the situation was completely different. Before the US presidential election, considerate Americans could acknowledge America's deep flaws – its inequities and imbalance – however they still could perceive it as the United States. A democracy. A land where the rule of law held significance. A country guided by a dignified and upright official, even with his elderly years and declining health.

Nowadays, as October 2025 ends, many of us hardly identify the nation we live in. Individuals believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, at times refused legal rights. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish ballroom. The president is targeting his adversaries or alleged foes and demanding the justice department transfer a massive sum of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched across metropolitan centers under fabricated reasons. The defense headquarters, renamed the Department of War, has effectively liberated itself of routine media oversight as it spends possibly reaching close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Colleges, law firms, news companies are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are treated like nobility.

“America, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the brink toward dictatorship and fascism,” Garrett Graff, commented recently. “Finally, faster than I imagined possible, it occurred in this country.”

One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it's challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we are, and the speed at which it has happened.

However, we understand that the leader was properly voted in. Following his profoundly alarming initial presidency and even after the warnings that came with the awareness of the conservative plan – following the leader directly said publicly he would act as an autocrat solely at the start – enough Americans selected him instead of the other candidate.

Frightening as the present situation are, it’s even scarier to understand that we have only been several months into this presidential term. How will three more years of this decline leave us? And what if that timeframe becomes a more extended duration, because there is nobody to restrain this leader from opting that a third term is required, perhaps for security concerns?

Admittedly, there is still hope. There will be legislative votes the coming year which might bring a different governmental control, in case Democrats regain the Senate or House of parliament. There are public servants who are trying to impose a degree of oversight, such as lawmakers currently launching an investigation into the attempted money grab from legal authorities.

And a leadership election in 2028 could initiate our journey to recovery just as last year’s election put us on this regrettable path.

We see millions of Americans marching in public spaces across municipalities, similar to recent recently during anti-authority protests.

Robert Reich, stated lately that “the slumbering force of America is rising”, just as it did following the Red Scare in the 1950s or during the sixties activism or during the Nixon controversy.

On those occasions, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.

The author states he recognizes the signs of that awakening and observes it occurring now. For proof, he points to the widespread marches, the broad, multi-faction opposition against a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to sign government requirements they only publish what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force consistently stays asleep till specific greed grows too toxic, an specific act so contemptuous toward public welfare, certain violence so disruptive, that he has no choice but to awaken.”

It's a positive outlook, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may prove to be right.

At the same time, the big questions remain: can America ever recover? Can it reclaim its position in the world and its adherence to constitutional order?

Or do we need to admit that the national endeavor functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My cynical mind indicates that the latter is accurate; that everything might be gone. My optimistic spirit, though, tells me that we need to strive, by any means we can.

Personally, as a media critic, that’s about urging journalists to commit, more thoroughly, to their mission of holding power to account. For others, it could mean engaging with political races, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to safeguard electoral access.

Not even one year prior, we were in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we are uncertain. The only option is try to continue fighting.

What Offers Me Optimism Currently

The contact I have in the classroom with new media professionals, that are simultaneously idealistic and grounded, {always