The Tragic Shift a Single Year Has Brought in the United States

One year ago, the situation was completely distinct. Prior to the national election, reflective citizens could recognize the nation's serious imperfections – its inequities and disparity – but they could still see it as the US. A democracy. A country where legal governance carried weight. A country guided by a dignified and decent leader, notwithstanding his advanced age and declining health.

Nowadays, in late October 2025, countless Americans scarcely know the land we live in. Persons alleged as illegal immigrants are collected and shoved into vans, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the White House – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish event space. The leader is targeting his adversaries or supposed enemies and demanding legal authorities transfer a huge total of taxpayer money. Uniformed troops are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, rebranded the Department of War, has effectively freed itself of regular press examination while it uses what could amount to almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Universities, law firms, media outlets are submitting due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are treated like aristocracy.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250^th birthday as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the edge toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, stated in August. “In the end, more quickly than I imagined possible, it transpired here.”

Every morning starts to new horrors. And it is difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – how deeply lost we are, and the speed at which it occurred.

Nevertheless, we understand that the leader was duly elected. Despite his profoundly alarming previous administration and despite the cautions that came with the understanding of Project 2025 – despite Trump himself said publicly he intended to act as an autocrat just on day one – sufficient voters elected him rather than Kamala Harris.

While alarming as today's circumstances are, it's more frightening to realize that we are just several months into this presidential term. What will another 36 months of this decline leave us? And suppose that timeframe transforms into something even longer, as there is not anyone to limit this president from deciding that a third term is essential, perhaps for security concerns?

Granted, not everything is hopeless. We will have midterm elections the coming year that may create a new governmental control, should Democrats retake the Senate or House of parliament. There are public servants who are trying to exert a degree of oversight, for example Democratic congressmen that are starting a probe into the attempted money grab from the justice department.

And a leadership election in the next cycle could start our journey to healing exactly as the previous vote set us on this regrettable path.

There exist numerous residents demonstrating in public spaces across municipalities, as they did last weekend in the No Kings rallies.

An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the slumbering force of the US is stirring”, just as it did following the Red Scare in the 1950s or throughout anti-war demonstrations or in the Watergate scandal.

On those occasions, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.

He claims he recognizes the signals of that resurgence and sees it happening currently. As evidence, he references the widespread marches, the extensive, bipartisan pushback regarding a broadcaster's firing and the near-unanimous defiance by media to agree to the defense department’s demands they only publish approved content.

“The dormant force consistently stays dormant till some venality grows too toxic, some action so contemptuous of societal benefit, some brutality so noisy, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll turn out correct.

In the meantime, the major inquiries remain: will the nation return to normalcy? Is it possible to restore its position globally and its adherence to legal principles?

Or do we need to admit that the historical project succeeded temporarily, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My pessimistic brain tells me that the final scenario is correct; that everything could be gone. My hopeful heart, 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 overseeing leadership. For others, it could mean engaging with congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to defend voting rights.

Under twelve months back, we existed in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The truth is, we are uncertain. The only option is to strive to persevere.

What’s Giving Me Hope Now

The contact I encounter with students with new media professionals, who are both idealistic and grounded, {always