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Twelve months back, the situation was utterly different. Ahead of the American presidential vote, reflective residents could recognize America's serious imperfections – its unfairness and inequality – however they could still perceive it as the United States. A democratic nation. A place where legal governance meant something. A state headed by a respectable and upright public servant, even with his older age and increasing frailty.

These days, this autumn, numerous citizens barely recognize the nation we inhabit. Individuals believed to be undocumented migrants are collected and pushed into transport, sometimes refused legal rights. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is undergoing demolition for an obscene ballroom. Donald Trump is targeting his opponents or alleged foes and insisting legal authorities transfer a huge total of public funds. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched into American cities under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – rid itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends possibly reaching nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Institutions, attorney offices, journalism organizations are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are treated like aristocracy.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the edge toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” an American historian, wrote this past summer. “In the end, swifter than I thought feasible, it transpired here.”

Each day begins amid recent atrocities. And it is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we are, and how quickly it has happened.

However, it is known that the president was properly voted in. Following his highly troubling initial presidency and following the warnings linked to the understanding of the conservative plan – despite the leader directly declared plainly he intended to act as an autocrat solely at the start – sufficient voters selected him instead of Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as the current reality is, it's more daunting to understand that we have only been several months under this leadership. Where will three more years of this downfall find us? And what if that period turns into something even longer, as there is not anyone to restrain this president from deciding that a third term is necessary, perhaps for defense purposes?

Granted, all is not lost. There will be congressional elections in 2026 that could create a new political equilibrium, if Democrats retake the Senate or House of Congress. There are elected officials who are attempting to impose a degree of oversight, for example lawmakers currently starting a probe regarding the effort to fund seizure from the justice department.

And a presidential election in the next cycle could begin the path to recovery just as the prior selection placed us on this unfortunate course.

There are numerous residents marching in public spaces throughout communities, similar to recent in the past days in the No Kings rallies.

An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the dormant powerhouse of the US is rising”, just as it did following the Red Scare during the fifties or throughout the Vietnam war protests or throughout the Nixon controversy.

On those occasions, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

He claims he understands the signs of that awakening and notices it unfolding at present. As support, he cites the recent massive protests, the broad, cross-party resistance to a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous defiance by media to sign the defense department’s demands they report only what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force consistently stays dormant until some venality turns extremely harmful, a particular deed so offensive toward public welfare, certain violence so disruptive, that it has no choice except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll be validated.

At the same time, the crucial issues endure: is the US able to regain its footing? Can it retrieve its standing internationally and its adherence to the rule of law?

Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My pessimistic brain tells me that the second option is correct; that everything might be finished. My optimistic spirit, nevertheless, advises me that we need to strive, in whatever ways available.

In my case, as a media critic, that means encouraging reporters to live up, more thoroughly, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For some people, it might involve working on congressional campaigns, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to defend electoral access.

Not even one year prior, we were in a separate situation. In the future? Or in several years? The truth is, we cannot predict. All we can do is try to continue fighting.

What’s Giving Me Optimism Currently

The interaction I experience with students with new media professionals, who are equally idealistic and grounded, {always