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In late October 2024, the landscape was entirely distinct. Ahead of the US presidential election, thoughtful residents could admit the country's deep flaws – its injustices and disparity – yet they continued to perceive it as the United States. A free society. A place where the rule of law meant something. A country guided by a honorable and ethical official, despite his elderly years and increasing frailty.

These days, this autumn, many of us hardly identify the nation we live in. People believed to be undocumented migrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, at times blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is being torn down to build a lavish ballroom. The leader is harassing his political rivals or supposed enemies and demanding legal authorities hand over a massive sum of public funds. Uniformed troops are dispatched across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of possibly reaching nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Institutions, legal practices, journalism organizations are submitting under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are treated like nobility.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has fallen over the edge into authoritarianism and extremism,” a noted author, commented this past summer. “In the end, faster than I thought feasible, it transpired in this country.”

Each day begins to new horrors. And it's difficult to grasp – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.

Yet, we understand that the leader was legitimately chosen. Even after his profoundly alarming previous administration and even after the alerts associated with the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – following the leader directly declared plainly he planned to be a dictator solely at the start – sufficient voters elected him instead of Kamala Harris.

While alarming as the current reality is, it's more daunting to recognize that we are just three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. How will another 36 months of this downfall leave us? And suppose that period turns into a more extended duration, as there is no one to stop this ruler from deciding that additional tenure is essential, maybe for national security reasons?

Certainly, there is still hope. There are midterm elections in 2026 that could establish an alternate governmental control, should Democrats regain either chamber of parliament. There exist government representatives who are striving to exert some accountability, like lawmakers that are starting a probe into the attempted cash appropriation from legal authorities.

And a presidential election in 2028 could begin the path to healing precisely as the prior selection put us on this disappointing trajectory.

There exist countless citizens protesting in public spaces of their cities, like they performed in the past days at democracy demonstrations.

An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is stirring”, similar to past post-McCarthyism during the fifties or amid the Vietnam war protests or during the Watergate scandal.

In those instances, the listing ship ultimately corrected itself.

Reich says he understands the indicators of that awakening and sees it happening now. As support, he cites the widespread marches, the widespread, cross-party resistance against a broadcaster's firing and the largely united refusal by journalists to agree to the defense department’s demands they solely cover what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force perpetually exists inactive before some venality becomes so noxious, a particular deed so disrespectful toward public welfare, specific cruelty so noisy, that it has no choice except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll be validated.

Meanwhile, the big questions remain: is the US able to ever recover? Can it retrieve its position in the world and its commitment to legal principles?

Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My cynical mind suggests that the latter is true; that everything might be finished. My optimistic spirit, though, tells me that we have to attempt, through all methods possible.

In my case, as a media critic, that’s about encouraging reporters to commit, more fully, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it might involve engaging with election efforts, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to protect voting rights.

Not even one year prior, we existed in a very different place. In the future? Or three years from now? The fact is, we don’t know. All we can do is to attempt to continue fighting.

What Offers Me Hope Now

The engagement I experience with students with young journalists, who are equally hopeful and realistic, {always