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In late October 2024, the situation was utterly distinct. Before the US presidential election, thoughtful citizens could acknowledge the country's significant faults – its injustices and imbalance – yet they continued to identify it as the US. A democracy. A place where constitutional order meant something. A country guided by a honorable and ethical leader, even with his advanced age and increasing frailty.

Nowadays, this autumn, many of us hardly identify the nation we live in. Individuals alleged as illegal immigrants are rounded up and forced into vans, occasionally denied due process. The eastern section of the White House – is undergoing demolition for an obscene ballroom. The leader is targeting his opponents or supposed enemies and demanding the justice department surrender an enormous amount of public funds. Soldiers with weapons are deployed across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The military command, relabeled the Defense Ministry, has practically freed itself of routine media oversight while it uses potentially totaling almost one trillion dollars in public funds. Universities, attorney offices, news companies are submitting from leader's menaces, and wealthy elites are handled as nobility.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the edge into autocracy and extremism,” an American historian, commented this past summer. “Ultimately, more quickly than I thought feasible, it did happen here.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it is hard to comprehend – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.

Yet, we know that Trump was properly voted in. Following his profoundly alarming initial presidency and despite the alerts associated with the awareness of the conservative plan – following the leader directly stated openly he would act as an autocrat just on day one – sufficient voters selected him rather than the other candidate.

Frightening as the current reality are, it’s even scarier to understand that we have only been nine months under this leadership. Where will an additional three years of this downfall position us? And what if the three years transforms into a more extended duration, because there is not anyone to limit this ruler from deciding that another term is required, perhaps for national security reasons?

Granted, all is not lost. There are midterm elections next year that could bring a different balance of power, in case Democrats retake either chamber of parliament. There exist public servants who are striving to exert a degree of oversight, like Democratic congressmen that are launching an investigation into the attempted money grab from the justice department.

And a leadership election in 2028 could start the path toward restoration exactly as last year’s election put us on this disappointing trajectory.

There are countless citizens marching in urban areas of their cities, like they performed recently at democracy demonstrations.

A former official, stated lately that “the dormant powerhouse of the US is rising”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or during the Vietnam war protests or during the seventies crisis.

In those instances, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.

The author states he knows the signals of that resurgence and notices it unfolding currently. As evidence, he references the recent massive protests, the widespread, cross-party resistance regarding a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to agree to government requirements they solely cover what is sanctioned.

“The slumbering entity perpetually exists dormant before specific greed grows too toxic, some action so offensive of the common good, some brutality so disruptive, that it has no choice except to rise.”

It's a positive outlook, and I respect Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will be validated.

In the meantime, the big questions remain: is the US able to ever recover? Can it retrieve its standing globally and its adherence to legal principles?

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

My negative thoughts suggests that the final scenario is accurate; that everything might be lost. My positive feelings, though, convinces me that we must try, in whatever ways possible.

Personally, as an observer of the press, that involves pushing media professionals to commit, more fully, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For some people, it could mean working on election efforts, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to protect electoral access.

Under twelve months back, we existed in a separate situation. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we don’t know. Our sole course is to strive to persevere.

What Offers Me Optimism Currently

The engagement I have in the classroom with young journalists, who are both idealistic and realistic, {always