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Twelve months back, the environment was utterly different. Prior to the US presidential election, considerate citizens could acknowledge America's deep flaws – its injustices and disparity – however they continued to see it as the US. A free society. A country where the rule of law meant something. A country headed by a dignified and upright official, even with his elderly years and growing weakness.

Nowadays, this autumn, many of us hardly identify the country we live in. Persons alleged as unauthorized foreigners are collected and shoved into transport, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being torn down to build a lavish event space. Donald Trump is targeting his political rivals or supposed enemies and requesting legal authorities transfer a massive sum of taxpayer money. Armed military personnel are being sent across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, renamed the War Department, has practically freed itself of regular press examination while it uses possibly reaching close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Universities, law firms, journalism organizations are submitting due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are treated like members of the royal family.

“America, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has fallen over the brink toward dictatorship and fascism,” Garrett Graff, wrote in August. “Ultimately, swifter than I believed likely, it transpired in this country.”

Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. It is hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we have become, and how quickly it occurred.

However, it is known that the leader was legitimately chosen. Even after his deeply disturbing previous administration and despite the cautions that came with the understanding of the conservative plan – despite Trump himself stated openly he intended to rule as a tyrant solely at the start – sufficient voters selected him over the other candidate.

While alarming as the current reality are, it's more daunting to understand that we have only been three-quarters of a year under this leadership. Where will three more years of this downfall find us? And suppose that period transforms into an prolonged era, since there is no one to restrain this leader from determining that additional tenure is necessary, possibly for security concerns?

Certainly, all is not lost. We will have legislative votes in 2026 that could create a new political equilibrium, if Democrats recapture one or both houses of Congress. There exist government representatives who are trying to apply some accountability, for example Democratic congressmen that are initiating an inquiry into the attempted fund seizure from legal authorities.

And a presidential election three years from now could initiate us down the road to healing just as the prior selection placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

There are numerous residents protesting in public spaces of their cities, like they performed in the past days during anti-authority protests.

A former official, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is awakening”, just as it did post-McCarthyism during the fifties or during the sixties activism or in the Watergate scandal.

On those occasions, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.

He claims he recognizes the signals of that awakening and observes it occurring at present. For proof, he points to the recent massive protests, the broad, multi-faction opposition against a broadcaster's firing and the largely united defiance by media to accept military mandates they only publish authorized information.

“The dormant force perpetually exists inactive before certain corruption becomes so noxious, an specific act so contemptuous toward public welfare, certain violence so noisy, that it has no choice but to awaken.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.

At the same time, the big questions remain: will the nation return to normalcy? Can it retrieve its position globally and its adherence to constitutional order?

Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My pessimistic brain suggests that the latter is accurate; that all may indeed be lost. My positive feelings, however, tells me that we must try, in whatever ways available.

In my case, as an observer of the press, that means pushing media professionals to adhere, more fully, to their mission of holding power to account. For different individuals, it may be participating in political races, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to defend voting rights.

Under twelve months back, we were in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The truth is, we are uncertain. All we can do is try to continue fighting.

What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I encounter in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally idealistic and grounded, {always