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Twelve months back, the situation was utterly different. Prior to the national election, reflective residents could acknowledge the nation's serious imperfections – its injustices and inequality – but they could still identify it as the US. A free society. A country where constitutional order meant something. A state guided by a dignified and ethical official, even with his advanced age and declining health.

Nowadays, this autumn, numerous citizens scarcely know the country we live in. Persons believed to be illegal immigrants are detained and pushed into transport, at times blocked from fair treatment. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish event space. The president is harassing his political rivals or supposed enemies and insisting legal authorities hand over a massive sum of public funds. Uniformed troops are deployed to US urban areas with deceptive justifications. The military command, renamed the Department of War, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses possibly reaching close to a trillion USD in public funds. Colleges, law firms, journalism organizations are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are handled as members of the royal family.

“The US, just months before its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the limit into autocracy and fascism,” Garrett Graff, wrote in August. “Finally, swifter than I believed likely, it did happen in America.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how severely declined our nation is, and how quickly it occurred.

However, we understand that the leader was duly elected. Despite his profoundly alarming previous administration and despite the warnings linked to the awareness of the conservative plan – despite Trump himself said publicly he intended to be a dictator only on the first day – sufficient voters chose him over his Democratic opponent.

As terrifying as the current reality are, it's more daunting to understand that we’re only three-quarters of a year into this administration. Where will another 36 months of this decline position us? And suppose that period transforms into something even longer, because there is no one to stop this president from deciding that another term is required, maybe for security concerns?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. There are legislative votes next year that may bring a different balance of power, if Democrats recapture the Senate or House of Congress. There exist public servants who are trying to apply certain responsibility, like lawmakers currently initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to fund seizure from the justice department.

And a leadership election in 2028 could begin the path to healing precisely as last year’s election put us on this regrettable path.

We see millions of Americans demonstrating in the streets across municipalities, like they performed recently during anti-authority protests.

An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the US is rising”, exactly as before after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or throughout the sixties activism or during the seventies crisis.

During those times, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.

He claims he understands the signals of that resurgence and notices it unfolding at present. As support, he cites the recent massive protests, the widespread, cross-party resistance against a personality's dismissal and the almost universal rejection by reporters to agree to the defense department’s demands they report only authorized information.

“The slumbering entity always remains dormant until some venality turns extremely harmful, an specific act so contemptuous of the common good, specific cruelty so noisy, that the giant is compelled except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I value Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll turn out correct.

At the same time, the crucial issues remain: is the US able to regain its footing? Can it reclaim its status internationally and its commitment to legal principles?

Or do we need to admit that the national endeavor worked for a while, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My cynical mind tells me that the latter is correct; that everything might be finished. My optimistic spirit, however, tells me that we need to strive, through all methods we can.

For me, as a media critic, that’s about pushing media professionals to commit, more completely, to their mission of holding power to account. For some people, it might involve participating in political races, or organizing rallies, or developing approaches to safeguard ballot privileges.

Under twelve months back, we lived in a very different place. A year from now? Or after another term? The truth is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to strive to continue fighting.

What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today

The engagement I encounter during teaching with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously visionary and grounded, {always