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In late October 2024, the situation was entirely different. Prior to the American presidential vote, reflective citizens could admit the country's serious imperfections – its inequities and imbalance – yet they continued to identify it as the US. A democracy. A place where the rule of law meant something. A country guided by a respectable and ethical leader, even with his older age and declining health.

Nowadays, this autumn, many of us hardly identify the country we inhabit. People suspected of being illegal immigrants are detained and pushed into vans, at times denied due process. The eastern section of the “people’s house” – is being torn down for an obscene dance hall. The leader is harassing his opponents or alleged foes and requesting legal authorities hand over a huge total of taxpayer money. Uniformed troops are deployed into American cities on false pretexts. The military command, relabeled the Department of War, has effectively liberated itself of regular press examination while it uses potentially totaling nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Institutions, attorney offices, news companies are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are handled as members of the royal family.

“America, only a few months ahead of its 250^th birthday as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the edge into authoritarianism and fascism,” Garrett Graff, commented in August. “In the end, swifter than I thought feasible, it did happen in this country.”

One awakes with fresh terrors. And it is difficult to grasp – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we have become, and the speed at which it occurred.

Nevertheless, it is known that Trump was properly voted in. Following his profoundly alarming first term and despite the alerts that came with the knowledge of the conservative plan – following the leader directly declared plainly he would act as an autocrat solely at the start – enough Americans elected him over Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as the current reality is, it's more daunting to realize that we are just several months under this leadership. How will three more years of this deterioration position us? And if that period turns into something even longer, since there is no one to restrain this ruler from deciding that another term is necessary, possibly for national security reasons?

Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. There are midterm elections the coming year that may create a new political equilibrium, if Democrats regain either chamber of Congress. We have government representatives who are striving to exert a degree of oversight, like lawmakers that are starting a probe concerning the try to fund seizure from legal authorities.

And a presidential election in 2028 could start the path toward restoration exactly as last year’s election put us on this unfortunate course.

There are countless citizens marching in the streets throughout communities, as they did last weekend at democracy demonstrations.

Robert Reich, commented this week that “the slumbering force of America is stirring”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or amid the sixties activism or in the Watergate scandal.

In those instances, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.

The author states he understands the indicators of that awakening and notices it unfolding now. As support, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, cross-party resistance regarding a broadcaster's firing and the largely united defiance by media to accept the defense department’s demands they report only what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force perpetually exists asleep till specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so disrespectful of the common good, some brutality so disruptive, that he has no choice other than to stir.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will prove to be right.

Meanwhile, the big questions remain: can America regain its footing? Is it possible to restore its status globally and its devotion to the rule of law?

Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

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

For me, as a media critic, that involves encouraging reporters to adhere, more fully, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For others, it could mean working on congressional campaigns, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to defend voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we were in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we cannot predict. Our sole course is to attempt to not give up.

What Provides Me Hope Now

The contact I have in the classroom with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously visionary and practical, {always